The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on July 13 hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, accusing it of failing to fulfil its pre-poll promises, and adopting anti-people policies that have left every section of the society in dismay.
BJP national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said since the AAP has taken over the reins of Punjab, frequent protests (dharnas) across the State have become a routine affair. “Besides, various employees’ unions, farmers, teachers, unemployed youth, villagers, doctors, and industrialists have been staging protest dharnas in various parts of the State against the State government for not paying any attention to their genuine demands,” he said in a statement.
Taking a jibe at Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the BJP leader said, “During the Assembly election campaign, Mr. Mann had categorically promised to make Punjab dharna mukt [protests-free] but shockingly, because of its misgovernance, the AAP government has instead turned Punjab into a dharna yukt State.”
“In the context of farmers, sometime back, Mr. Mann had stated that farmer organisations sit on dharna without any reason, which shows his insentivity. He stated that Pehle dharne ke liye wajah dhoondte thee aur ab dharne ke liye jagah dhoondte hai [Earlier they (farmers) used to find reasons to protest and now they find places to protest]. Such remarks are completely unacceptable,” he said, adding that Mr. Mann should not forget that AAP was also born out of dharnas itself.
Mr. Shergill said, “On July 1, peacefully protesting teachers in Sangrur were lathi-charged. Their only demand from the government was to regularise their services. Farmers in Punjab are also up in arms against the AAP government and are staging protests. Besides other issues, the protesting farmers are demanding canal water for every agricultural field in Punjab and the withdrawal of cases registered against their leaders by the AAP government. The failure of the government could well be gauged from the fact that recently, sewage and sanitation workers of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation had to stage a protest on account of delayed salaries.”
Referring to the recent rains, Mr. Shergill said the AAP government was completely unprepared to tackle the situation because of which people in both the urban and rural areas of Punjab had to face extreme hardships and financial loss.
