Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, his nephew and Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar, along with former minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani were taken into custody by police at Balluana in the border district of Fazilka on Friday when they were attempting to hold an awareness camp in Abohar.
Around 11am, Jakhar and other BJP leaders gathered at the toll plaza on the Abohar-Situ road, where they addressed party supporters. As soon as Jakhar’s speech ended, police took him into custody, escorting him separately in a police vehicle. The other BJP leaders and workers were escorted into a bus. By late afternoon, Jakhar had been shifted to the Sadar Abohar police station.
The confrontation follows Thursday’s meeting between a Punjab BJP delegation and governor Gulab Chand Kataria. The party accused the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government of using “coercive tactics” to obstruct its outreach efforts. The row escalated after the police detained nearly 500 BJP activists on Thursday to thwart their plan to hold awareness camps in 39 rural constituencies of the state.
The BJP has claimed that its campaign seeks to connect people with central government schemes, such as Ayushman Bharat and Kisan Samman Nidhi, ensuring that benefits reach the poor, farmers, women and marginalised groups. The AAP government, however, countered that intelligence reports suggested private operators, allegedly linked to the BJP, were illegally gathering sensitive data from residents on the pretext of welfare enrolments.
On Thursday, Jakhar had hit out at chief minister Mann, alleging that the government had failed to serve the underprivileged while blocking central welfare initiatives. He announced that the BJP would restart its camp at Raipur village in Fazilka and dared the CM to arrest him.
Friday’s developments came after that challenge with the police acting swiftly to foil the party’s outreach programme.
Meanwhile, BJP workers are protesting across the state against the police crackdown on the outreach programme.
Arrests unconstitutional: Capt Amarinder
Former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh condemned the arrest of BJP workers across Punjab, where welfare camps delivering central government schemes were forcibly dismantled by the state police on the instructions of the Mann government.
Capt Amarinder said that instead of strengthening law and order, curbing the rampant drug trade, and addressing the growing incidents of crime, the Punjab Police is being “shamefully misused as a political tool to suppress the BJP’s lawful and democratic initiatives”. “The BJP has been organising welfare camps across villages to ensure that poor families, farmers, women, Dalits, and youth can directly avail the benefits of the Narendra Modi government’s schemes, such as Ayushman Bharat, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, pension and insurance benefits. But the Mann Government, out of sheer political insecurity, is obstructing these efforts,” he said.
Highlighting the failure of the AAP government, Capt Amarinder added: “It is because of the total collapse of governance under Bhagwant Mann that BJP has had to step in and connect people with central government schemes. Instead of welcoming this outreach, the state government is resorting to high-handed tactics of arrests, harassment, and disruption. This reflects nothing but the AAP government’s deep fear of the BJP’s growing connect with the common people of Punjab.”
He further questioned whether Mann is truly governing Punjab or merely entertaining directions from Delhi. “By stopping welfare camps and arresting workers, the AAP government has not only exposed its insecurities but also betrayed the trust of the people who are already reeling under unemployment, poor infrastructure, and the unchecked drug crisis,” Capt Amarinder said.
He urged the Punjab governor and the Union home ministry to take note of the misuse of Punjab Police for political vendetta. “The people of Punjab deserve governance, not dictatorship. The BJP will continue to fight for the rights of every section of society and ensure that the benefits of central schemes reach every household, no matter how many obstacles the Mann Government creates,” he added.