An official and a cop are standing in the middle of a Punjab farm field, silhouetted by smoke rising behind them. The picture is being presented with contrasting interpretation by the BJP and the ruling AAP in the state, teeing off the latest row between the two rival parties.
Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa accused the Punjab government of deliberately encouraging stubble burning to worsen pollution in the national capital.
At a press conference, he played a video purportedly showing farm fires and claimed to have brought copies of 271 FIRs from Punjab districts.
"They claim that no stubble burning is taking place," he said, adding that more than 1,000 incidents had been reported.
"The police are getting fires lit and even setting them themselves, only to register FIRs against unidentified persons," Sirsa alleged. "This is because it was not the farmers who started these fires, but the police personnel themselves."
"They are taking revenge on the people of Delhi," he added.
The AAP in Punjab, which goes to polls early next year, countered the accusation, claiming that officials were "extinguishing a stubble fire".
"BJP can stoop to any level, even lie blatantly, to defame Punjab's farmers and cover up the incompetence of its own government in Delhi. A photograph showing officials extinguishing a stubble fire is being twisted to make it appear that Punjab Police was enabling it. Mr. Sirsa, stop manufacturing lies about Punjab's farmers and police and answer why your BJP govt has failed miserably in controlling pollution in Delhi despite no stubble burning in Punjab," the AAP posted on X, with a news report suggesting the same.
Sirsa pointed to Delhi recording 220 'Good to Moderate' air-quality days between January and October, a figure confirmed by the Union Environment Ministry. October's average AQI stood at 166.
He also questioned the appointment of AAP spokesperson Reena Gupta as Punjab Pollution Control Board chairperson in May 2025, alleging that she was related to Arvind Kejriwal.
Sirsa further claimed Rs 20-25 crore had been spent on advertisements suggesting there was no stubble burning in Punjab.
1,612 Farm Fires, 423 FIRs In Punjab
Punjab reported 1,612 farm fires between September 15 and November 2, according to official figures. Tarn Taran accounted for 489 incidents, followed by Ferozepur with 193 and Amritsar with 192.
Authorities registered 423 FIRs and imposed more than Rs 29 lakh in environmental compensation across 573 cases.
Four show-cause notices had been issued to nodal and supervisory officers early in the season. By November 1, the combined tally of such notices had risen to 536.
The AAP-led Punjab government has previously cited a decline in farm fires from 36,663 in 2023 to 5,114 in 2025.
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