The Opposition on Monday stepped up their attacks on Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, health minister Dr Balbir Singh and education minister Harjot Singh Bains over alleged paper leaks and irregularities in recruitment examinations in the state, a charge denied by the AAP government.
Event Context
Team Analysis
Upping the ante, Punjab Congress MPs staged a protest outside the Parliament in New Delhi, where they demanded the chief minister’s resignation and an apology for paper leaks and police action against sanitation workers in Barnala.
The MPs, including Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Dr Amar Singh, Gurjeet Singh Aujla and Sher Singh Ghubaya, accused the chief minister of lying by denying any paper leaks in Punjab during the AAP tenure, alleging that at least six paper leaks had taken place during the past four-and-a-half-years.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that about 5 lakh students and job aspirants were affected by paper leaks that took place in Punjab.
Asking the chief minister to apologise to the affected students and their parents, Warring asked him to either sack the minister concerned or own the moral responsibility and resign himself. “Accountability has to be fixed,” he asserted.
Harsimrat demands judicial inquiry, SAD holds protest
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court into the pharmacy officer recruitment exam irregularities.
Earlier, SAD and its youth wings staged a protest outside the main gate of Faridkot-based Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, demanding the cancellation of the pharmacy officer recruitment examination, alleging it was leaked in an organised manner.
During the protest, SAD activists demanded the resignation of health minister Balbir Singh and education minister Harjot Singh Bains for the alleged irregularities and security lapses.
Chugh seeks CBI probe
BJP leader Tarun Chugh sought a CBI probe into the alleged cheating racket, which he alleged had exposed the “double standards” of the AAP leadership.
He alleged that the party that built its entire politics on the promise of clean governance was now “protecting the very network that is auctioning government jobs to the highest bidder, while the chief minister looks the other way”.
On July 19, nearly 7,000 candidates appeared for 454 pharmacy officer posts across 25 exam centres in Faridkot and Ferozepur, in an exam conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences on behalf of the Punjab health and family welfare department.
Investigators uncovered a sophisticated cheating racket operating inside the exam halls with recovery of pen cameras, earpieces and battery-operated wireless devices through which answers were being dictated in real time to candidates. At least 33 accused were subsequently arrested.
No paper leak in Punjab: Kejriwal
Denying any paper leak in Punjab, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of trying to tarnish Punjab’s transformation from 27th to number one in the country’s education rankings under the AAP government.
The AAP chief said not a single paper leak took place during 10 years of the AAP government in Delhi or in five years of its government in Punjab, while it had been a recurring feature in BJP-ruled states.
He asserted that with no real issue to raise against the Punjab government, the BJP was resorting to lies.
Health minister Dr Balbir Singh termed Opposition allegations as false propaganda and politically motivated misinformation.
“They have nothing. This is the first government to fulfil all its promises and present its report card to the people. Previously, they used to claim that women hadn’t received their payments. Now, that has been done too. So, they are left with nothing. They are resorting to baseless propaganda and lies,” he said.
Punjab minister Barinder Kumar Goyal also termed the Opposition allegations as baseless. “There was no paper leak; there was cheating. Everyone guilty of cheating has been caught.”
Match Outlook
Stating that only an impartial probe could bring out the truth in the matter and ensure justice to nearly 7,000 students who attempted the paper, Harsimrat said a sitting high court should be entrusted with probing the case and bringing all the guilty to book.
The Bathinda MP also called for the immediate resignation of education minister Harjot Bains. “The schools where the pharmacy officers’ paper was held are under Bains. Also the school teachers on invigilating duty are also under him, so he cannot escape responsibility,” said the MP.
