Chandigarh/New Delhi, Nov 9 (PTI) Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday hit back at the BJP on stubble burning issue, dubbing as "lies" Delhi minister Kapil Mishra's claims that farmers in the AAP-ruled state have alleged that their fields were deliberately being set on fire while they were celebrating Diwali.
"Is Punjab the only paddy producing state?" Cheema asked, questioning whether the BJP believed no stubble burning incidents were taking place in BJP-ruled Haryana that borders Delhi.
A political blame game has erupted over the worsening air quality in the national capital, with Delhi minister Mishra alleging a "suspicious" sudden spike in stubble-burning incidents in Punjab on Diwali.
Speaking to reporters in Chandigarh, Cheema alleged that the BJP has spared no effort to defame Punjab farmers and said the state is unfairly blamed for Delhi's pollution whereas the national capital is surrounded by states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Punjab witnessed its sharpest single-day spike in paddy stubble-burning incidents this season on Diwali with 1,152 fresh farm fires, which pushed the state's total count to 4,459 from 3,307 on November 7, according to official data.
Cheema was also asked to comment on Mishra alleging that a sudden spike in stubble-burning incidents in Punjab on Diwali was "suspicious".
On Mishra's claims that his office and other government representatives received calls from Punjab with farmers alleging that their fields were deliberately being set on fire while they were celebrating Diwali with their families, the AAP leader said that the Delhi minister was lying.
"Kapil Mishra is lying," he said.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Mishra said the Delhi government had examined satellite data on stubble-burning incidents and found that the number of reported fire locations in Punjab rose sharply on Diwali compared to the three preceding days.
Satellite data showed around 100 to 125 fire incidents each on November 5, 6 and 7, while the figure sharply rose to nearly 1,200 on November 8, he claimed.
Mishra questioned the sudden rise in farm fires and said the matter needed to be investigated to establish the circumstances behind the incidents.
He appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to order an inquiry and register FIRs in cases where fields were deliberately set on fire. He also called for the examination of phone records of local representatives in the affected areas.
Lashing out at the BJP, AAP's Cheema alleged they left no stone unturned in defaming Punjab.
"Between Punjab and Delhi, more than 300 km stretch of Haryana falls where there seems to be no activity. Uttar Pradesh which covers Delhi from various sides, but there is nothing there too," he said.
"They are deliberately defaming Punjab farmers because they fought a long-drawn battle forcing the Centre to rollback the three black farm laws. Now, the BJP is taking revenge for this," Cheema claimed.
"They (BJP) say Punjab's smoke directly reaches Delhi. I want to ask that does Haryana's smoke go to Pakistan...has separate route been given for the smoke to cover 300-km stretch," he said.
"Is Punjab the only paddy producing state?" the AAP minister asked, while claiming that Punjab's farm fires are comparatively far less than what they used to be until a few years back.
He said the Punjab government has taken all steps to encourage farmers not to burn stubble which include providing modern machinery and equipment for stubble management.
Punjab AAP media in-charge Baltej Pannu also tore into the BJP for "repeatedly targeting and defaming Punjab's farmers to divert attention from its own administrative failures in tackling Delhi's pollution crisis".
Pannu claimed that even before paddy harvesting began, BJP leaders had started blaming Punjab for Delhi's pollution, despite the state achieving nearly "90 per cent control" over stubble burning this year.
"Punjab has achieved nearly 90 per cent control over incidents of stubble burning this year, while an 80 per cent reduction was recorded last year. Evidence of this is available through the Central government's reply in Parliament," he said.
"The BJP's anti-farmer mindset stood exposed as the party, which still has no answer for the nearly 750 farmers martyred during the protest against its black farm laws, continues to malign Punjab's hardworking farmers," Pannu alleged.
Cheema also took on the BJP on the gangster issue, alleging it has "nurtured" gangsters and has kept gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is lodged in a jail in Gujarat, like a "state guest".
"Wherever the BJP is in power, it has nurtured gangsters. The objective is to send these gangsters in states governed by the opposition to disrupt law and order," the AAP leader alleged.
Referring to Bishnoi, Cheema said the entire country is aware of the individual ?currently held in Guajarat's Sabarmati Jail, ?who is being "used to issue constant threats, thereby intimidating and terrorising opposition-ruled states".
"Lawrence Bishnoi has been kept like a state guest by the BJP...," he alleged.
"Whether it is Punjab, Himachal, or any other state where opposition (non-BJP) parties are in power, BJP people carry out their agendas by leveraging these gangsters and anti-social elements, ?using them to make threat calls, instill fear, and coerce others," he said.
Cheema said that the Bhagwant Mann government has initiated big action against gangsters ever since it came to power.
He said that sustained efforts by the Punjab Police has resulted in many gangsters being deported over the past few years.
Cheema claimed that the AAP government has been highly successful in apprehending the very gangsters who were "nurtured" by the previous Akali Dal-BJP and the Congress dispensations.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)