Chandigarh, January 29
Bharatiya Janata Party’s Punjab unit president Sunil Jakhar has cautioned Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann against indulging in petty politics in the name of Sri Guru Ravidas, saying that such behaviour does not befit someone holding the office of Chief Minister. He said the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, was well aware of the sentiments of the people of Punjab, and that is why he had already announced in 2024, during his Punjab visit, that Adampur Airport would be named after Sri Guru Ravidas. Now that the Prime Minister is coming to formally inaugurate the naming of the airport, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, instead of welcoming him, has started indulging in cheap politics.
The BJP president said that on February 1 the Union Budget is to be presented in Parliament, yet Prime Minister Narendra Modi is still coming to Punjab on the occasion of Sri Guru Ravidas’s Prakash Purab. It is surprising, he said, that the Chief Minister is still unable to understand or respect the Prime Minister’s reverence.
Jakhar recalled that when the Prime Minister visited Hoshiarpur on May 23, 2024, he had announced on the same day in his speech that Adampur Airport would be named after Sant Shiromani Sri Guru Ravidas. He said that now, when Modi is coming to Punjab to formally name the airport after Sri Guru Ravidas and when the Prime Minister’s Office has already officially released the programme for the airport’s naming ceremony, the Chief Minister has resorted to petty politics by tweeting and demanding that the airport be named after Sri Guru Ravidas. He said such small-minded politics does not suit a person occupying the Chief Minister’s chair—especially when the Prime Minister’s visit has already been scheduled, the announcement has already been made and it has already been decided that the naming will take place—yet the Chief Minister tries to mislead people by tweeting an already fulfilled demand.
The BJP president said that had the Chief Minister raised any new demand genuinely in the interest of Punjab, he would have supported him even above party lines. But by repeating a demand that has already been announced, it is unclear what the Chief Minister is trying to prove. Jakhar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always listened to and accepted Punjab’s demands on a priority basis, and this particular demand had already been fulfilled through an earlier announcement. He added that the people of Punjab today are looking towards the Bharatiya Janata Party with great hope, because the AAP government has pushed Punjab into decline on every front. This, he said, is what the AAP Chief Minister cannot tolerate—that people are increasingly turning towards the BJP.
