The Punjab Police Thursday detained five senior BJP leaders for continuing to hold outreach camps under the party’s flagship campaign, ‘BJP de Sewadar Aa Gaye Ne Tuhade Dwaar’. The campaign, which has been running for the past three months, aims to spread awareness about the Central government welfare schemes in rural areas, claim BJP leaders.
Those detained include Sunny Kainth, president of BJP Rural (Ludhiana) from his Flower Enclave office; former Jalandhar MP Sushil Kumar Rinku from Adampur; senior BJP leader K D Bhandari from Shahkot in Jalandhar; Pathankot district BJP president Suresh Kumar; and Preetpal Sharma from Gidderbaha, who switched from the AAP to the BJP in November last year.
The crackdown came a day after the BJP alleged that its outreach efforts were obstructed at 39 locations on Wednesday. Despite this, the party continued its drive on Thursday, covering villages where its camps have been drawing massive participation. So far, the BJP claims to have reached over 1,700 villages in Punjab through this campaign.
Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu lashed out at the AAP government, calling the action an assault on democracy. “Our central government’s schemes like PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, Ayushman Bharat Sehat Bima Yojana, PM Awas Yojana and many others have not been implemented properly in Punjab. We are reaching out to the masses through these camps. It is strange that AAP is preventing these camps by using police force. We will sit in these camps and see who stops us. We will make it a public movement,” Bittu said in a video message.
BJP state spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal said, “The campaign is intended to help the needy avail the benefits of Central schemes. We are updating the data of beneficiaries and making people aware of welfare programs. Every camp is getting a huge response and this has panicked the ruling party,” he said.
The Punjab government, meanwhile, justified its move, claiming that ‘data breach’ concerns triggered the clampdown, as Aadhaar details were allegedly being used for scheme updation. BJP dismissed this reasoning as an excuse.
Meanwhile, BJP state president Sunil Jakhar hit out at the AAP government, questioning Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s intent. “The CM must clarify whether he is acting on the instructions of Delhi leaders—those who Delhi voters have already rejected. Your turn is coming in 2027.”
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“While the police fail to control drug mafias and gangsters, they are busy stopping BJP camps meant to benefit the poor through central government schemes that the state is not implementing properly. We will oppose this diktat tooth and nail and will continue organising these camps. Let’s see who stops us,” Jakhar added.
Former Patiala MP Preneet Kaur also condemned the action, alleging deliberate disruption by the state government. “The people preparing beneficiary cards at these camps are authorised personnel from the central government. But on Thursday, Punjab Police forced beneficiaries to flee from camps in Sanaur and Patran. The government is panicking over the success of these camps.”
“It seems the effect of Manish Sisodia’s ‘sam, dam, dand, bhed’ policy is visible here,” said Kaur while sitting on protests with BJP supporters in the Sanaur area where the camp was disrupted. He was referring to AAP leader Sisodia’s controversial remarks on the party’s strategy to win the Assembly polls in 2027.
“This is an anti-people and dictatorial act. The Punjab government forcibly stopped a campaign where poor and needy people were getting information about central welfare schemes,” said Anil Sarin, BJP state general secretary.
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The party delegation met Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria to seek his intervention. BJP leaders alleged that the state’s deliberate disruption of the outreach program was aimed at denying people access to central benefits. “This is a conspiracy to block welfare schemes in Punjab,” said working president Ashwani Sharma.
