BJP slams AAP for blocking Central welfare camps

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday staged a protest march in Phagwara, condemning what it called the Punjab government’s efforts to block its awareness campaigns on central welfare schemes.

The demonstration, led by former Union minister Som Parkash, Anita Som Parkash, BJP Punjab general secretary Rajiv Pahwa, former mayor Arun Khosla, and party leader Pankaj Chawla, began at the Rest House Phagwara and concluded at Hargobind Nagar Chowk.

Addressing party workers during the march, Som Parkash launched a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, referring to it as the “PAAP government” of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann. He alleged that the state government was deliberately obstructing BJP workers from conducting outreach camps in villages, where the party aimed to spread awareness about Union government welfare schemes. According to him, these schemes were meant to provide direct benefits to the poor and needy via Aadhaar linkage, but the state government was working to hinder such efforts.

Som Parkash further alleged that the Mann government sought to misappropriate funds allocated under central welfare grants, diverting them for electoral purposes.

He claimed that obstructing BJP’s awareness activities was part of this larger strategy. “Our workers only want to ensure that benefits from the Centre reach the rightful beneficiaries, but instead of cooperating, the state government is putting up hurdles,” he said. He also claimed that some BJP leaders and activists had been placed under house arrest to prevent them from organising camps.

The BJP leader also criticised the state’s land pooling policy, stating that it had sparked widespread public anger and was yet another example of the Punjab government’s failure. “The people of Punjab themselves have rejected such anti-people policies,” he remarked.

Following the march, BJP activists burned an effigy of the AAP government at Hargobind Nagar Chowk and raised slogans against the Mann-led dispensation. The protest ended peacefully, with no untoward incidents reported. Police maintained that law and order were fully under control.