Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab while addressing a rally in Moga, declaring that the BJP has begun its campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.
Moga falls in the politically significant Malwa belt of Punjab, which accounts for 69 of the 117 assembly seats in the state.
Shah said the BJP had traditionally contested elections in Punjab as a "junior partner" in alliances and had never formed a government in the state. However, he announced that the party will now contest the next Assembly elections with the aim of forming its own government, ending speculations over alliance with Akali Dal in Punjab polls.
"We are starting our preparations for the Punjab Assembly elections from today. Earlier we came before you as the younger partner and never formed a government here. But for the first time, the BJP will fight to form its own government in Punjab in 2027," Shah, sporting a yellow turban, said while addressing a "Badlav" rally in the Killi Chahlan village.
Taking aim at the AAP government, Shah claimed that Punjab is suffering from drug abuse, religious conversions and the growing influence of gangsters. He asserted that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP can free the state from the drug menace.
"If Punjab has to be freed from drugs, it can only be done by a double-engine BJP government," he said.
Shah alleged that farmers are struggling and industries are leaving Punjab, blaming successive governments of the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and AAP for the situation.
Referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Shah said the BJP secured around 19 per cent of the vote share in Punjab and claimed that wherever the party reaches such a level of support, it eventually goes on to form the government.
He also attacked the AAP leadership, alleging that the Punjab government is being run from Delhi. Shah said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spends his time accompanying AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to political events across the country at the expense of the state exchequer.
"The Aam Aadmi Party came to power on the promise of change. I want to ask the leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party: What exactly is your Chief Minister doing? Across the entire country, wherever Kejriwal needs to travel, this Chief Minister has done nothing other than chartering aircraft at the Punjab government's expense and flying him there as his personal pilot," Shah said.
"The Punjab government has turned into an ATM for Arvind Kejriwal," Shah alleged, adding that the chief minister should feel ashamed for allowing leaders from Delhi to control the state's administration.
Highlighting law-and-order concerns, Shah said that at the beginning of the year three sarpanches were killed in Punjab, gangsters are carrying out extortion and a police sub-inspector was also murdered.
"Give us a chance and I promise the people of Punjab that within two years we will uproot the drug trade from the state," he said.
The Union Home Minister also announced that if the BJP forms the government in Punjab, the first bill brought in the Assembly will be against religious conversions.
He said that conversions had been encouraged in the past for vote-bank politics and invoked the sacrifice of Guru Tegh Bahadur, who laid down his life to protect religious freedom.
"Give the BJP one opportunity. We will not only end the drug menace but will also bring a law to stop religious conversions in Punjab," Shah said.
In the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, the AAP secured a landslide victory, winning 92 out of 117 seats in the state Assembly. The Congress won 18 seats, while the Shiromani Akali Dal managed three seats and the BJP secured two seats.
