BJP blaming Punjab farmers for Delhi smog to hide its own failures, says AAP’s Baltej Pannu

Chandigarh. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has hit back at the BJP over Delhi’s air pollution row. It claims Punjab has cut stubble burning by nearly 90% this year, and it called BJP leader Kapil Mishra’s claim that 1,200 people burnt stubble in one night “completely baseless and ridiculous”.

AAP Punjab media in-charge Baltej Pannu said BJP leaders were blaming Punjab’s farmers to cover up their own failure to deal with Delhi’s pollution. He said the BJP started blaming Punjab even before the paddy harvest began.

“Even before the paddy harvesting season had begun in Punjab, BJP leaders in Delhi had started making noise that smoke in Delhi was coming from Punjab,” Pannu told the media. “To cover up the gas chamber-like conditions that developed in Delhi during Diwali and their own administrative failures, BJP leaders are making new baseless allegations every day.”

Pannu turned Mishra’s claim against the BJP’s own Delhi leadership. “If there is any truth in Kapil Mishra’s claims, he should seek answers from his own party leader, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who has been making statements for several days about smoke coming from Punjab,” he said. Sirsa is Delhi’s Environment Minister.

Pannu claimed the Centre’s own figures back Punjab. “Punjab has achieved nearly 90% control over incidents of stubble burning this year, while an 80% reduction was recorded last year. Evidence of this is available in the Central Government’s reply recorded in the official proceedings of Parliament,” he said.

The figures are part of a running fight between Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s government and the BJP-led Delhi government. On November 5, Sirsa accused the Punjab government of misleading people on stubble burning. He claimed 584 farm fires were reported in Punjab on November 3, the season’s highest single-day count so far.

Pannu also raised the farm law protests. “Even today, the BJP has not given any answer regarding the nearly 750 farmers who were martyred during the protest against the black farm laws at Delhi’s borders. This exposes the anti-farmer mindset of the BJP, which continues to target and defame the very farmers who feed the nation,” he said.

“Every day, some BJP leader or another comes forward and makes an unsuccessful attempt to defame the hardworking farmers of Punjab,” Pannu said. “Punjab has almost completely brought incidents of stubble burning under control. The BJP should stop making false statements, stop maligning Punjab’s farmers and focus on its own administrative failures.”