Khaira demands White Paper on AAP govt’s 56,000 job claims

In a sharply worded statement issued on Monday, Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira demanded that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should immediately release a white paper on the AAP government’s claim of providing 56,000 government jobs.

Khaira alleged that the figures repeatedly presented by the Mann administration were “highly inflated and misleading”, intended only to create a favourable public perception rather than reflect the ground reality.

Khaira further claimed that a significant proportion of these jobs may have been secured by candidates from outside Punjab, owing to the state’s lack of a domicile-based recruitment law. He pointed out that several states, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, and Rajasthan, have stringent domicile requirements that protect employment opportunities for their own youth. In contrast, he accused the government of “complete apathy” towards Punjabi job seekers, despite thousands of qualified local candidates still being unemployed.

The MLA reminded that many states not only protect government jobs for their residents, but also restrict the purchase of agricultural land and voter registration for non-domiciles. “Unfortunately, in Punjab, the government has refused to enact any such law to safeguard the rights and future of the youth,” he said.

Khaira also challenged Mann to clarify why his Private Member’s Bill, submitted to Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan in January 2023, demanding domicile-based reservation in government jobs, had neither been taken up for discussion, nor moved forward in the Assembly. “Why is this bill lying untouched in the drawer? Is this silence a result of pressure from Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, who, despite being outsiders and non-Punjabis, continue to control political and administrative strings in Punjab?” Khaira asked.

Questioning the credibility of the government’s employment claims, Khaira asserted that Punjabis have “a full right to know” who has actually benefited from the recruitment drive. He demanded that the Chief Minister release a district-wise and domicile-wise breakdown of all 56,000 appointments made so far. Only then, he said, will the public know whether the government’s announcements were genuine or merely political propaganda.

Khaira announced, “No government has the moral authority to sell the future of our youth into the hands of outsiders. I will keep fighting for Punjab and Punjabi youth.”