Chandigarh: The Punjab Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) Tuesday filed what it calls a “cost sheet” in opposition to the Bhagwant Mann-led authorities for “monumental collapse of governance, preparedness and accountability” in tackling the current floods within the state.

The distinctive “cost sheet” isn’t a authorized indictment, however extra of a political doc that’s a part of the occasion’s broader “rural outreach” technique to extend its foothold in areas the place it has just about no political presence or is going through lively antagonism.

Releasing the 10-page so-called “cost sheet”, Ashwani Sharma, working president of the occasion within the state, launched a scathing assault on the AAP authorities, alleging that regardless of repeated warnings, knowledgeable reviews and huge sources at its disposal, the Punjab authorities failed miserably to guard its folks or reply successfully.

Regardless of the horrors of the 2023 floods, no classes had been realized, Sharma stated.

“No inquiry was ever accomplished, and key suggestions had been ignored. Even when the meteorological division issued early warnings, the AAP authorities’s response remained reactive somewhat than proactive. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was busy touring outdoors the state whereas Punjab drowned in misery,” he stated.

Final month, state occasion chief Sunil Jakhar took on the federal government, alleging that Mann and his officers had been mendacity to the folks over using the Centre’s Rs 12,000 crore catastrophe aid funds to Punjab. The state finance minister, Harpal Cheema, denied that any such funds existed as claimed by the centre, whereas state chief secretary Okay.A.P. Sinha stated that the funds existed solely as financial institution entries.

Through the Meeting’s particular session final month to debate the impression of floods, the BJP held a parallel session in its workplace in Chandigarh, squarely blaming the federal government for not being ready for the catastrophe.

“The BJP has been ostensibly making an attempt to make its presence felt within the areas most affected by the floods. It’s consistent with their general efforts to attempt to patch up with farmers,” stated Dr Kanwalpreet Kaur of the Division of Political Science at DAV School Sector 10, Chandigarh.

“The BJP’s relationship with Punjab’s peasantry had touched all-time low through the Delhi-Singhu border protests, and now, after three years, they’re hoping to undo among the injury,” she added.

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Taking over the agricultural problem

BJP leaders say the occasion has determined to take Punjab’s rural problem head-on.

“The BJP already has a base in city and semi-urban areas. So whereas strengthening them, we’re working in villages. It’s not simply all discuss. Our leaders have been within the discipline, aiding throughout floods. I’ve personally gone to locations the place villagers try to construct examine dams to assist,” Vineet Joshi, the occasion’s spokesperson, advised ThePrint.

In Might this 12 months, the occasion launched a six-month-long marketing campaign in villages titled “BJP de sevadar aa gaye tuhade dwaar” (BJP’s employees have arrived at your door) that concerned internet hosting particular camps in villages to register beneficiaries for central schemes.

As a part of the marketing campaign, the occasion aimed to cowl 50 constituencies and attain 1.57 lakh folks enrolled in numerous Union authorities schemes similar to Kisan Samman Nidhi, Ayushman Bharat and Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao. Aside from guaranteeing that the beneficiaries had been getting financial help beneath these schemes immediately from the Authorities of India, the BJP additionally needed to enroll recent beneficiaries.

Nonetheless, the BJP’s outreach efforts met with appreciable resistance from the state authorities, which requested the occasion’s leaders to not intrude in governance. In August, Jakhar was detained in Fazilka after the federal government ordered that the outreach marketing campaign be ceased.

“The explanation why the Mann authorities compelled us to close down the programme was that it was so profitable. We managed to finish over 1,443 villages throughout 39 constituencies. Between 150 and 200 folks benefited from these camps in each village. We are going to revive the camps as soon as the flood-related actions cut back,” Punjab BJP spokesperson Anil Sarin advised ThePrint Wednesday.

“The federal government shut us down on the pretext that we had been gathering knowledge. We had been serving to eligible beneficiaries get from the federal government of India what’s their proper,” stated Sarin.

For the BJP, breaking into Punjab’s agriculture-centric rural areas has been a tricky problem. For the years that the BJP remained in energy in Punjab, whereas in alliance with the SAD, its maintain was restricted to some city belts in Pathankot, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Hoshiarpur.

The allies complemented one another, with the Akalis targeted on the agricultural Sikh Jat peasantry and the BJP holding some sway over the Hindu city voters. The occasion lacked an organisational construction in villages, with no illustration even on the block degree.

When the allies broke away in 2021 over the three contentious farm legal guidelines introduced in by the BJP on the Centre, farmers’ unions declared the occasion their ‘enemy primary’.

BJP leaders had been chased away from villages, and it was virtually not possible for them to marketing campaign within the 2022 meeting elections, and it continued to be troublesome within the 2024 parliamentary polls. However the scenario has modified since. Occasion leaders say they don’t face resistance anymore and the native unit has strengthened its organisational construction.

“From these days when villagers would chase our leaders out of the village, issues have modified. Throughout our outreach camps, our banners and posters with photographs of the prime minister had been put up, and never a single individual protested. After we halted the camps, we had an inventory of not less than 100 villages that had approached us for the camps,” stated Sarin.

“And it was not nearly stopping in a village and creating the BJP’s visibility; the villagers had been actively cooperating. Bulletins had been made out of gurdwaras, village sarpanch had been producing consciousness,” he added.

“We now have a community right down to the sales space degree, even within the villages. A number of villages collectively represent a Shakti Kendra, which additionally has its head. Then there are over 615 mandals which have a head and 30 members beneath it. The mandal is assisted by half a dozen morchas. Our organisational construction in Punjab is full,” stated Sarin.

However what has actually given the BJP a lift in Punjab is the rise in its vote share within the 2024 parliamentary polls. The occasion doubled its share to 18.5 % from 9.63 % within the 2019 elections.

“The BJP believes that it will likely be in a position to pull a rabbit out of the hat in Punjab simply the best way they did in Haryana in 2014. And the parliamentary elections outcomes confirmed that they only should preserve at it,” stated Dr Kaur.

“Based mostly on showcasing its centralised farmer-friendly schemes and agenda, the BJP’s technique has been persistent. BJP leaders have been on the transfer, assembly folks in villages, organising native occasions, and most significantly, predominantly selecting native faces in villages because the occasion’s representatives, not outsiders,” she added.

(Edited by Sugita Katyal)

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