Addressing the party’s ‘Badlav’ rally in Mogajilicharan village, Shah said the BJP has virtually launched its campaign for the Punjab elections to be held early next year and appealed to voters to give the party a chance after supporting the Congress, Akalis and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).“Whenever we come before you, we appear as a younger brother. We cannot form the government (on our own),” Shah said, referring to the BJP’s past alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal.“But today we are going to contest the elections on the 27th (2027) and the BJP will contest the elections to form the government (BJP will now contest the 2027 elections to form the government in Punjab),” he said, according to news agency PTI.
BJP blows poll horn from Moga
Shah said that Punjab has given many chances to the Congress, Akalis Party and AAP and now it should give a chance to the BJP.“We will bring change in Punjab,” he said.Shah claimed that the BJP secured 19 per cent votes in the 2024 Punjab Lok Sabha elections and believed that wherever the party achieves this target, it will eventually go on to form the government.“In 2024, the BJP got 19 per cent votes. This is our record, the BJP got 19 per cent votes and the next government is formed by the BJP. This happened in Odisha, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Uttarakhand and now it is Punjab’s turn,” he said.The BJP failed to contest all 13 assembly seats in Punjab in 2024, but its vote share rose to nearly 19% from 9.6% in 2019.
A fierce attack on the Man government
Shah used the wider ‘Badraf’ rally to attack the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government, accusing it of causing a breakdown in law and order and failing to tackle drugs, corruption and unemployment.“Today, Punjab is devastated by debt, drugs, religious conversions, corruption and the terror of gangsters,” Shah claimed.Shah also claimed that the Mann government had become an “ATM” for AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and said the chief minister was just Kejriwal’s “pilot”.“There is no government in the state. If there had been a government, the law and order situation would not have been like this; the state would not have been threatened by drugs and farmers would not have suffered… Mann was just acting as Kejriwal’s pilot,” he said.He also promised to eliminate the drug trade in Punjab within two years if the BJP comes to power.“Please give us your blessings in February and we will eradicate drug trade from Punjab within two years,” Shah said, PTI reported.
Religious conversions also surfaced
While the main thrust of Shah’s speech was the BJP’s sole push for the 2027 target, he also raised the issue of religious conversions in Punjab. Shah said if the BJP forms the government in 2027, it will bring in a law to check religious conversions in the state.“The entire state of Punjab is facing the problem of religious conversions. I say to all our Hindu and Sikh brothers and sisters, as soon as you form the BJP government, we will bring a bill to check religious conversions,” he said.
Akali split background
Shah’s remarks are politically significant as they strongly suggest that the BJP does not intend to revive its long-term partnership with Shiromani Akali Dal.In September 2020, the SAD ended its 24-year alliance with the BJP over the now-defunct farm laws.The two parties had campaigned together for years before the split, with the BJP usually contesting 23 parliamentary seats and the Akalis 94. The alliance formed governments in Punjab in 1997-2002, 2007-12 and 2012-17.The BJP currently has two MLAs in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.
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