In a scathing attack on Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over the alleged sacrilege video, BJP national president Nitin Nabin said on Sunday that the “people of Punjab will not tolerate the disrespect of their Gurus” and that the “time has come to punish him for the act”.
With the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections drawing closer, Mann has been embroiled in a major controversy over an alleged sacrilege video purportedly showing him sprinkling liquor on images of Sikh Gurus. The Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, has declared the video “authentic” on the basis of forensic reports and described Mann as “Guru dokhi” (anti-Guru) and “panth virodhi” (anti-panth). Mann, however, has maintained that the person in the video was not him but an actor used to defame him.
Nabin, who is on a three-day visit to Punjab, addressed a karyakarta sammelan in Ludhiana on Sunday. Attacking Mann, he said from the stage: “It would be better if I do not comment on the working style of Punjab’s Chief Minister. It feels disheartening to see that a man who represents and leads Punjab disrespects Gurus in this manner. But the people of Punjab will not tolerate this. It is now time to punish him for the act. People of Punjab have always held respect for their Gurus above all else. Politics is secondary for them. People will stand against this disrespect. Punjab is proud of its history and its Gurus and will always place them above anyone else.”
Nabin also blamed the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab for allegedly misusing Rs 1.87 lakh crore provided by the Centre for the state’s development.
BJP national president Nitin Nabin addressing workers meet in Ludhiana, Sunday. (Express Photo)
“This amount, given over the past 10 to 12 years, was meant for the welfare of the people of Punjab. It was provided by the BJP-led Centre, but the state government indulged in ‘bandarbaant’ (misappropriation). Now, every single rupee of this amount will have to be accounted for and the government will have to explain where it went,” he claimed.
Nabin’s visit comes at a time when the BJP, after parting ways with its former ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), is preparing to contest all 117 Assembly seats in Punjab. Recently, the BJP appointed former Congress leader Kewal Singh Dhillon as its Punjab president, replacing another former Congressman, Sunil Jakhar.
Invoking his Bihar roots, Nabin said he came from the pious land where Guru Gobind Singh was born.
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“Today, I have arrived on the sacred soil of Guru Nanak. Punjab is a state that not only protects and secures the entire country but is also our cultural shield. The martyrs of this land have shed their blood to protect us,” he said.
“People ask us what the BJP’s roadmap for Punjab is. Let me say today that we have resolved to put Punjab back on the path of progress and development. Many parties have taken Punjabis for granted, deceived them and treated them like ATMs.”
Targeting the AAP government over the law-and-order situation in Punjab, Nabin said: “This government has put the lives of people at risk. I come from Bihar, a state that once witnessed complete jungle raj. People were killed over small amounts of money. Today, I say with great sorrow that those in power here have similarly put the lives of Punjabis at stake. We have to save Punjab.”
Nabin said Punjab held a special place in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s heart.
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“That the people of Punjab also have Modi in their hearts will be proven in the coming elections,” he said.
The BJP leader said there was a time when people from Bihar came to Punjab to work in its fields and industries, but now all he could see was “darkness”.
“I came to Ludhiana in 2012 and saw a flourishing industrial city. Today, there is darkness. Punjab was once an industrial hub, but it has now been turned into a drug hub,” he said.
Reiterating his criticism of the state government, Nabin said: “People ask what the BJP-led Centre has done for Punjab over the past 12 years. We have always tried to contribute to Punjab’s development, but the government here has only looted. At least Rs 1.87 lakh crore was given to Punjab over the past decade, and the state government indulged in ‘bandarbaant’. The money was meant for the people of Punjab, not for anyone’s luxuries. People will now demand an explanation for every single rupee.”
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He further alleged that people in Punjab were not receiving the benefits of several central welfare schemes.
“People in other states get the benefits of Central schemes such as PM Awas Yojana and Ayushman Bharat, but not in Punjab. The current government is a curse on the state. It has drowned Punjab in debt of nearly Rs 4 lakh crore. Other states also borrow for infrastructure development, but they have plans to repay those loans through revenue models. This government has no such model. It takes debt only to act as an ATM for its bosses in Delhi. We will make Punjab debt-free through our revenue model,” he said.
Among the senior BJP leaders present on the stage were Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon, former state presidents Sunil Jakhar and Ashwani Sharma, senior advocate and human rights activist H S Phoolka, who recently joined the BJP, industrialist and Rajya Sabha member Rajinder Gupta, who switched from AAP to the BJP, Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, Iqbal Singh Lalpura and Vijay Sampla.
“SAD-BJP alliance was a great sacrifice made by BJP for Punjab’s peace”
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Meanwhile, former Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar said the BJP’s erstwhile alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal was a “great sacrifice” made by the party in the interest of Punjab’s peace and communal harmony.
“Despite being a national party, the BJP accepted the role of a junior partner in the alliance with SAD to protect Punjab’s peace and harmony. Today, that spirit of sacrifice is needed once again,” Jakhar said from the stage.
Asked later by The Indian Express whether he was advocating a revival of the SAD-BJP alliance, Jakhar said over the phone: “No. I meant that the BJP is now ready to shoulder greater responsibility. We have to work hard, connect with people and pull Punjab out of the mess into which the AAP government has pushed it.”
In his address, Jakhar accused the AAP and the Congress of attempting to create divisions in Punjab’s social fabric.
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“They do not see Punjabis as Punjabis but as Hindus and Sikhs. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal is trying to divide people along Hindu-Sikh lines, something that never happened before in Punjab’s history. They are spreading the poison of hatred. Punjab’s greatest strength has always been its communal harmony and social fabric. Rajinder Gupta’s contribution to Punjab’s industry can never be forgotten, but Mann and Kejriwal now view him as a ‘Hindu man’. For us, he is simply a Punjabi, just like all of us,” said Jakhar.
In a sharp attack on former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi, Jakhar said while addressing Nabin: “You have arrived in Ludhiana, a city whose soil carries the fragrance of Bihar at every step. Agriculture and industry here cannot function without a workforce from Bihar. They are our bhai (brothers), but the Congress insults them by calling them ‘bhaiyye’. A Congress chief minister once said these Bihar bhaiyyas should be thrown out. Can he now answer whether Punjab’s farmers can sow paddy without these workers?”
