A video posted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on social media showing senior citizens dancing during an Independence Day tableau has sparked a political controversy in Punjab, with the Opposition questioning the manner in which elderly people were presented as beneficiaries of the state government’s Rs 10 lakh health protection scheme.
The video quickly became a political flashpoint, with Opposition leaders questioning whether some of the elderly people shown dancing had actually undergone knee replacement surgery
The video, shared by the AAP, shows elderly citizens performing bhangra as part of a tableau showcasing the government’s health card scheme. The presentation appears to suggest that senior citizens were celebrating after receiving free treatment, including knee replacement procedures, under the scheme. Majithia alleged that people who had never undergone knee replacement surgery were made to dance and presented as patients who had successfully undergone the procedure. He accused the government of using Independence Day celebrations for publicity and political propaganda. He further claimed that health department employees were presented as beneficiaries and questioned the government’s portrayal of the tableau as evidence of a healthcare revolution. The controversy was further fuelled by Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who also reacted to the video. Khaira accused the government of using senior citizens for political gains and urged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann not to turn them into part of a political publicity exercise. “We @INCIndia urge @BhagwantMann not to humiliate our senior citizens and the pride of Punjab by making them do ‘Bhangra’ for your cheap political gains! Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring too reacted saying, “Our elders are our pride, not props for political publicity. If these allegations are true, this is not just misleading propaganda – it is an insult to the dignity of our elders and an attempt to mislead the people of Punjab.”
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikramjit Singh Majithia launched a sharp attack on the Bhagwant Mann government, describing the episode as a “spectacle of lies in the name of August 15.
Khaira said in his video reaction.
Elderly people were made to dance before the cameras and then projected as beneficiaries of the government’s so-called health revolution.
