Chandigarh/New Delhi: Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday questioned why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was repeatedly blaming Punjab, governed by the Aam Aadmi Party, for Delhi’s air pollution while staying silent on Haryana, where the BJP is in power.
His remarks came as the BJP intensified its attack on the AAP, with Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari asking whether farm fires were part of a “conspiracy to ruin Diwali”.
Punjab Finance Minister questions BJP’s focus on AAP-ruled Punjab as Delhi’s AQI nears ‘severe’; BJP MP Manoj Tiwari asks if farm fires are a “conspiracy to ruin Diwali”
“Is this a conspiracy to ruin Diwali, a festival of Sanatan Dharma? Tiwari asked, accusing the AAP of secretly opposing the Hindu religion. “What revenge are you taking on Delhi? Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa shared a district-wise map of satellite-detected active fire counts in Punjab. The map placed Tarn Taran and Ferozepur in its highest count band. At a press conference, he showed a video and alleged that Punjab Police personnel and government officials were setting crop residue on fire.
On November 3, Sirsa also accused the Punjab government of deliberately encouraging stubble burning to worsen Delhi’s air.
Cheema said Delhi’s BJP government should focus on controlling pollution in the national capital instead of shifting the blame to Punjab. Why are you harming the people of Punjab as well?” he said, as a question to Kejriwal. “These satellite-detected stubble fires demand accountability, not political excuses,” Sirsa wrote in a post on X, targeting Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the state’s environment minister. The AAP rejected the accusation and said the officials shown in the images were trying to put out a fire, not start one, and accused the BJP of blaming Punjab’s farmers to cover up its failure to control pollution in Delhi.
