Arvind Kejriwal bid to woo Punjabis faces criticism

Despite facing flak for the full page ad in the national dailies for promoting Punjabi language, the AAP government is leaving no stone unturned to appease the community. The party has again rolled out ads to announce that it was naming the Barapulla flyover in the city after Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, a Sikh icon.

The consecutive full page ads in the national dailies shows how much determined the AAP is to do well in Punjab in next year’s Assembly election. The AAP, which won all its four seats in the northern state in the last general election, is aiming to change the bipolar political equation in Punjab by challenging both the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine and the Opposition Congress.

In the past two days, the party has successfully managed to capture the attention of people both in Punjab and elsewhere. AAP’s advertisement pertaining to the naming of a flyover after a Sikh icon and sops for Punjabi teachers in Delhi have not been received amicably by the Opposition and nor by the people in Delhi.

BJP member R.P. Singh said that the AAP government was wasting taxpayers’ money and was indu-lging in unethical votebank politics before the Punjab polls. Amid news of AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal rooting for establishment of power in the state of Punjab, the AAP’s recent ads pertaining to sops for Punjabi teachers might point at the party’s intention to “appease” Punjabis.