Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Thursday criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s “Shukrana Yatra”, saying the ruling party should instead undertake a “paschatap yatra” to apologise to the people for “ruining Punjab and failing to curb the drug menace and gangster culture”.
Reacting to chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s thanksgiving outreach programme, Warring said the AAP government should be grateful to the people for giving it a decisive mandate in 2022, but added that it also owed Punjabis an explanation for what he described as “unfulfilled promises and failed governance”.
Calling the “Shukrana Yatra” a “political exercise in self-praise”, the Congress leader alleged that the AAP government was attempting to claim credit for measures that had already been initiated by previous governments. Referring to the recently passed anti-sacrilege legislation, he said stringent legal provisions on the issue had existed earlier as well, and accused the government of merely repackaging old laws.
Warring alleged that Punjab had witnessed a rise in drug abuse and gangster-related activities. He said the government should focus on addressing public concerns instead of organising celebratory political campaigns.
“The people of Punjab do not need symbolic yatras. They want answers on employment, law and order, drugs and governance,” he said, while urging the state government to explain what it had achieved during its tenure beyond “repeated announcements and promises”.
{{/usCountry}}“The people of Punjab do not need symbolic yatras. They want answers on employment, law and order, drugs and governance,” he said, while urging the state government to explain what it had achieved during its tenure beyond “repeated announcements and promises”.
{{/usCountry}}The ruling AAP has maintained that the “Shukrana Yatra” is aimed at thanking people for their continued support and highlighting key decisions taken by the government during its tenure.