Khaira accuses Punjab CM of ‘bulldozer justice,’ alleges alignment with BJP

CHANDIGARH: Chairman of the All India Kisan Congress, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, accused Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann of emulating the BJP’s “bulldozer justice” approach. “Mann is trying to be more loyal than the king,” Khaira remarked, suggesting that the Chief Minister was going out of his way to appease the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress Bhawan, alongside state Kisan Congress President Kiranjit Singh Mitha, Khaira strongly condemned the use of brute force against peaceful farmers who, he said, were only demanding what was promised to them by the Prime Minister.
The senior Congress leader alleged that Mann was not only mirroring the BJP’s “authoritarian and dictatorial” governance model but already aligned himself with the saffron party. He accused the Chief Minister of adopting BJP-like tactics, including suppressing critics, political opponents, and the media, as seen in BJP-ruled states.
“Now, he has taken another page from the BJP’s book—running bulldozers over helpless people,” Khaira said, pointing out that even the homes of marginalised individuals were being demolished under the guise of an anti-drug campaign. He further accused Mann of misusing the police to suppress dissent in Punjab, condemning what he described as the "brutal and barbaric" use of force against farmers protesting peacefully.
Khaira rejected claims that farmers were responsible for blocking the highway, asserting that it was, in fact, the BJP govt in Haryana that erected a concrete wall to prevent them from reaching Delhi. “The Haryana govt has not only stopped farmers from moving forward but has effectively suffocated Punjab with a concrete blockade,” he alleged.
He argued that if Haryana had not constructed the barricades, the farmers would have reached Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan to stage their protest without causing disruption. He maintained that the economic losses suffered by Punjab’s trade and industry were a direct result of the Haryana govt’s blockade—not the farmers' protests.