The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday launched the campaign “Sansad vich vi Bhagwant Mann, Khushhal Punjab te vadegi shaan” (With Bagwant Mann in Parliament, Punjab will prosper with grandeur) for the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab. In Mohali, AAP’s National Convenor and Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann made the official announcement of the election campaign.
Speaking on the occasion, CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that we are thankful to you for giving us 92 out of 117 seats in the Assembly, similarly give us all the 13 seats in the Lok Sabha. We are asking for these seats for the prosperity and progress of Punjab. There was a time when there was negativity all around in Punjab. There was inflation, electricity was expensive, farmers and traders were unhappy, industries were moving out. But after our government came, today everyone is getting free electricity 24 hours a day, excellent schools and hospitals are being built and government jobs are available. Now there is positivity all around. He said, in the Delhi Assembly elections, we had said that I should vote only if I have worked. Today, with the same confidence, we want to tell Punjab that if we have worked in the last two years, then only vote for us.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal thanked the people of Punjab for electing ordinary people like them by giving them such a huge majority two years ago. He said by defeating all the big leaders of that time _ MLAs for 20-25 years, ministers, affluent people _ the people of Punjab had created history and given us 92 seats out of 117. No matter how much we thank the people of Punjab, we cannot return their favour. To repay their favour, only one effort is going on for the last two years that our government, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, all our ministers, all the MLAs are working for the people of Punjab 24 hours a day. “I am very happy to say that today after two years, ask every child of Punjab, even ask people from other parties, everyone says the same thing _ we have not seen such a government in 75 years. A child from Punjab says that we have not seen such an honest, hardworking, innovative government working for the public in 75 years,” he said.
Drawing a comparison between the times in Punjab before and after the AAP government came to power, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said there was a time when there was complete negativity in Punjab, there was law and order problem, inflation, electricity bills were rising, electricity was not coming, farmers were unhappy, businessmen were unhappy, businessmen and industrialists were leaving the state. There was negativity all around in Punjab. “Today, there is positivity all around. Traders are coming back, industrialists are coming back, many industrialists want to open their industries in Punjab, youth are getting employment, jobs are getting confirmed, so many mohalla clinics are being inaugurated every day, electricity is free in Punjab. What else is needed? Earlier, there used to be power cuts of 8-10 hours, now electricity is available 24 hours, wonderful schools are being built, people do not believe that such government schools can exist. A lot of work is happening all around,” he said.
The AAP National Convenor said earlier the employees would climb up the water tanks and they became permanent teachers, and they are teaching in their schools. Now you will not find employees atop the tanks. A lot of work is going on but there is still a lot of work left to do. We consider the people of Punjab as our parents, the government is your servant. In a democracy, the government is the servant, the public is the master. “We consider the people of Punjab as our masters, we are servants, the public is God. We are devotees of God. So just as a devotee goes to God and asks for more and more, similarly we have now come to the people of Punjab to ask for more. You gave us 92 seats out of 117, we are very thankful to you. Now the second big election is coming, there are 13 seats, we want these 13 seats out of 13. We don’t want it for ourselves, don’t want it for your children, don’t want it for your family, I don’t want it for myself, Maan Saheb doesn’t want it for himself, these ministers don’t want it for themselves, more work for your family. To make your family happier, to make Punjab a colourful place, for Punjab’s progress, we need these 13 seats,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said the public is seeing every day how the Central Government, Governor, BJP people are harassing Mann Saheb, harassing our government every day, harassing our ministers in various ways. “The central government has withheld Rs 8000 crore which was the right of Punjab. Rs 8000 crore is a lot. How many schools, how many roads, how many hospitals, how many mohalla clinics could have been built. How much work we could have done with Rs 8000 crore. The Governor is hindering every work that we do,” he said.
The AAP National Convenor said on 26th January, the people of Punjab wanted to take out their tableau in Delhi on 26th January (Republic Day parade). A glimpse of Punjab should also have been shown. Punjab prepared and sent its tableau, in that tableau there was Sardar Bhagat Singh, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Lala Lajpat Rai, the stories of all the freedom fighters of Punjab were there in that tableau. “When the tableau of Punjab was sent to the Central Government, the Central Government wrote a letter to them (Punjab government) saying that the tableau of Punjab is rejected. Who are these people sitting in the Central Government to reject Sardar Bhagat Singh, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Lala Lajpat Rai? They rejected the tableau of Punjab, now every day they approach some MLA to topple the government in Punjab, they want to topple the government, added Shri Arvind Kejriwal.
“To fight this, today only Bhagwant Mann is struggling for you. Bhagwant Mann is fighting with the Central Government, these BJP people, the Governor. Your son, your brother is fighting alone for you 24 hours a day. Will you leave him alone, you will not support him. Today, if you give him 13 seats out of 13, then these 13 will become the hands of Bhagwant Maan. These 13 hands will go to Parliament in Delhi and fight the BJP and the central government,” said the Delhi Chief Minister.
The National Convenor of AAP stated, “These 13 MPs will raise your voice, Punjab’s voice, in the Lok Sabha and in the Parliament. I want to ask you, even today, Punjab has sent their 13 MPs to the Lok Sabha but have you ever heard their voice? Has any one of them ever talked about you? Does it even feel like you have your representatives, your 13 MPs there? What have they done for you so far? When the Central Government stopped your funds to the tune of ₹8000 crores, what were these MPs doing then? Where were these 13 MPs when this was happening? You can only hear Rinku’s (Sushil Kumar Rinku) voice from Jalandhar since the last one year, ever since he’s won the elections. Where are the remaining 12 MPs whenever Punjab is in need?”
“When Punjab’s tableau of 26th January 2024 was rejected, where were these 12 MPs from other parties, what were they doing? They were having fun, doing nothing for Punjab. If you choose 13 MPs from AAP this time, all these 13 MPs will raise your concerns in the Lok Sabha. Not just that, if any of your work stops in the future, including the work related to Rural Development Fund, these MPs will take the protests to the house or office of the minister concerned, if need be. But they will ensure that your work is done. The MPs have access to all the ministers and if you give all these 13 seats to the AAP, these 13 MPS will not let them live peacefully. There won’t just be the 13 MPs from Punjab, there will be 4 from Delhi, one from Kurukshetra, some from Gujarat, and some from Assam, we will have 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha. If we have 30 MPs in total, think of the strength we will have in the Parliament,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal further appealed to the people of Punjab to support the AAP candidates in the upcoming elections. “He said that we are here to appeal to you again, we request you to shower your love on us. You have already given us immense love and support in the past. We were just some ordinary people, still you gave us your blessings. I would request you again to make us win 13 out of 13 seats in this election,” he said.
He further said, “I remember saying this 2 months prior to the 2020 elections in Delhi that vote for me only if I have worked for you. I would like to say the same thing to the people of Punjab with the same confidence today. We have completed two years of governance in Punjab today. Within these two years, if you feel that I have worked for you, only then vote for me, otherwise not. We appeal for your votes based on the work we do. We do not play blame game or fight with others; we don’t do that kind of work.”
“We don’t have any interest in abusing others, we are only interested in the work. When I did not enter politics, I saw that these party people keep abusing each other and no one talks about work. The public just keeps watching these people fighting with each other on TV. We only talk about work, we do not know how to abuse others, fight with others, or do corruption”, he continued.
The National Convenor of AAP stated, “Another thing is that these (BJP) people keep saying that they’ll get 370 seats, irrespective of your votes. They’re boasting that they’ll get 370 seats whether you vote or not. They’re publicly claiming that they don’t need your votes. We need your votes and I have come all the way from Delhi to appeal for your votes. We need the support of Punjab, we need votes from the people of Punjab. We respect you and consider you God, your support and blessings are extremely important to us. Please vote for people who need your votes, and not for people who don’t value your votes. Why waste your votes on such arrogant people? Let them rely on their 370 votes, no matter where they’re getting those votes from.”
Shri Arvind Kejriwal concluded the speech by launching the election campaign in Punjab. He launched the campaign slogan “Sansad Vich Vi Bhagwant Mann, Khushhaal Punjab te Vadhegi Shaan”. He also reiterated the ongoing slogan “Punjab Banega Hero, Iss Baar 13-0”.
Central Government has withheld Rs 8,000 crore from rightful share of people of Punjab: Bhagwant Mann
On the same occasion, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said that just as they are troubling Delhi, they are troubling Punjab too. They have blocked funds to the tune of Rs 8000 crores of Punjab. They have not printed that money themselves, that money belongs to Punjabis only. It is because of Captain Amarinder Singh, sitting in BJP, that today the Central Government has stopped our RDF (Rural Development Fund) amounting to Rs 5500 crore. This money is necessary for the development of the Mandis (wholesale market) and the roads leading to the Mandis. When last time the Rural Development Fund money came, they (Capt Amarinder Singh government) spent it elsewhere and did not spend it on the roads in the mandis. As a result, the central government stopped the money (coming to the state). After this, we got a bill passed in the Assembly that from now on the funds coming for the mandis will be spent only on the mandis. But even after that they tell us to reduce our market fees from 3 percent to 0. We provide grains to the entire country, feed them, we should get the market fees. They are saying that here also fees will be charged like in UP and Bihar. There is a market every 4 kilometres in Punjab, it cannot be compared with UP Bihar, where Mandis are situated hundreds of kilometres away. Every road in Punjab leads to Mandi, we will make the roads more beautiful.
Today, I have to fight with the BJP and the Governor for this. Our NHM (National Health Mission) money is also stuck. If we get that money, many employment opportunities can be created for our youth. With this, many new mohalla clinics, hospitals and schools for children can be opened.
I am loyal to Punjab, my heart beats for Punjab: Bhagwant Mann
CM Bhagwant Mann said that I am loyal to Punjab, my every heartbeat is dedicated to Punjab. Our government works honestly. Right now, I am fighting alone, if you give me 13 more seats then there will be 30-40 seats, including Delhi, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana. We also have 10 members in Rajya Sabha. Then no one will have the courage to withhold even a single rupee from Punjab. He said electricity and water were already free in Delhi, now in Punjab also 90 percent of the people have zero electricity bill. Our government has purchased a new thermal power plant in Punjab, now industries will also get cheap electricity. Our government gave jobs to 42,992 people. Big companies are coming to Punjab. We are continuously working for the people. Making people go on pilgrimage. In Punjab and Delhi, if any soldier is martyred, his family gets a martyr’s honour amount (Shaheed Samman Rashi) of Rs 1 crore. At the same time, the central government treats Agni Veers like labourers. We are paying respect to the martyrs and these people did not allow the tableau of Punjab showcasing the sacrifices of our martyrs and our culture to participate in the Republic Day parade. If they have their way, they will remove the name of Punjab from the national anthem of the country. Therefore, we need your cooperation to keep the pride of Punjab high. We had to go to the Supreme Court even to present our budget. With Aam Aadmi Party coming 13-0, there will be more rapid development in Punjab, and no work in the interest of the people will stop
