Malik, Jiyani, Sharma, Sareen, Bajwa, Babbu, among several BJP leaders arrested by the police
CHANDIGARH: A state-wide campaign by the Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced a major crackdown on Sunday as police detained several party leaders and workers and forcibly stopped their proposed “public welfare camps.”
Despite heavy rain and police action, BJP workers attempted to hold camps across different districts, but authorities intervened and prevented the events. The BJP accused the Bhagwant Mann-led state government of “forcefully suppressing” their outreach drive aimed at spreading awareness about central government schemes.
“After promising health, education, and employment, the same government is now blocking information about central schemes from reaching the people, exposing its anti-common-man agenda, ” said Ashwani Sharma, Working State President of Punjab BJP.
In Fazilka district’s Amar Pura village, police halted the camp and arrested former minister Surjit Jiyani, MLA Sandeep Jakhar, BJP leader Vadna Sangwan, and district president Kaka Kamboj along with several workers.
At Dasuya constituency’s Haler village, police confiscated laptops from a camp site, prompting protests by former state BJP president and ex-MP Shwait Malik, MLA Jangi Lal Mahajan, and other party members.
In Amargarh constituency’s Manak Majra village, police turned the area into a virtual cantonment and detained BJP state general secretary Anil Sareen with other leaders, later shifting them to the CIA police station.
In Mohali’s Mullapur village, state vice president Dr. Subhash Sharma was arrested with party workers at the Punjab–Chandigarh border and taken to Derabassi police station.
Similar incidents were reported from Rupnagar, Barnala, Muktsar, Mansa, and Patiala districts, where BJP leaders, including Fateh Jang Bajwa, Yadvinder Shanti, Satish Seja,
Rajesh Pathela, Goma Ram Poonia, and Bikramjit Singh Chahal, were either detained, placed under house arrest, or saw their tents and equipment seized by police.
In Sujanpur constituency’s Chak Madho Singh village, former deputy speaker Dinesh Singh Babbu and ex-district president Vijay Sharma led a protest in the rain after police blocked their planned camp.
The BJP has vowed to continue its outreach initiative despite what it termed “undemocratic and high-handed tactics” by the Punjab government.