Punjab’s cardboard of a chief minister, unknown till the other day, mocks “bhaiyas” of UP and Bihar even as his own State has become a wasteland.
Punjab is so poor that an average Haryanvi earns 15 times more in comparison, the manufacturing clusters of Jalandhar and Ludhiana are suffering rampant closures; unemployment rate at 21.6 is way above the national average; alcohol and drugs have mentally crippled tens of lakhs; etc etc.
The State he mocks is the most improved one in India on most parameters; multinationals such as Samsung, Pepsi are putting up tents; 50 lakhs have received direct or indirect jobs; and in the states’ list of India’s GDP, Uttar Pradesh is third to Punjab’s 15th rank.
He only had to remember the gleaming highways of Uttar Pradesh and see the pothole ahead of his convoy to avoid the ridicule which is coming his way. How many metros Punjab has to UP’s seven? Zilch. The one due in Ludhiana has been scrapped. While Uttar Pradesh tops in investments, Punjab was busying torching the Jio towers and shutting down the Adani logistics parks.
It’s this misery which sent truckloads to Delhi’s gates with greased palms; to do the bidding of rich Jat farmers if not Khalistanis; to scuttle the very farm laws which could’ve pulled Punjab up from the floor.
But no, mock he must the eight lakh “bhaiyas” who work on the farm fields of Punjab; the grocery and milk-sellers, autowallahs and security guards; even as the reverse migration is happening in earnest.
Younger generation is leaving Punjab in tens of thousands, either as students bankrolled by their parents; or sold on whispers from secessionists in the wrapper of glorious past. Anyone on where Punjab is in literacy rate?
Once the bread-basket of India, Punjab today is more debt-ridden than any other Indian state; it’s water table has been sucked dry; it’s fertile lands are turning arid.
Punjab is not just a problem to itself but a worry for the nation: A border state with free supply of drugs, fake currency and arms from across the border couldn’t be anything else.
When have paupers resisted freebies as the likes of Kejriwal, Congress and SAD have well understood?
And how much could they care about Punjab? Only if vote-going populace is wiser before they exercise their right on February 20.
