Learn from Haryana CM Nayab Saini, Amit Shah tells Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann over MSP

Karnal. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday told Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to take governance lessons from his Haryana counterpart. He said Punjab’s farmers are still on the streets demanding MSP, while Haryana already pays it on 24 crops.

“Bhagwant Mann ji, learn how to run a government from Nayab Saini ji,” Shah said at a BJP rally in Karnal. “In Punjab, farmers are still fighting for MSP. Haryana has given MSP on 24 crops.”

Shah was speaking on the final day of the BJP’s nationwide “Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao” (Save Democracy, End Anarchy) campaign. He addressed the crowd after leading the padyatra from Sector 12, and spoke for nearly 28 minutes. Most of the speech was an attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. He said Mann should follow the Haryana model and run his government in the interest of farmers.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana BJP president Dr Archana Gupta, BJP national general secretary and Haryana in-charge Smriti Irani, and Haryana co-in-charge and MP Dr Bhola Singh shared the stage with Shah, along with other senior party leaders.

Guarantees: Himachal vs Haryana

Shah compared Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh with BJP-ruled Haryana. He said Rahul Gandhi had promised during campaigns that all guarantees would be delivered “khatakhat, khatakhat, phatafat.” Congress gave 10 guarantees in Himachal, Shah said, “but not a single one has been fulfilled.” In Haryana, he said, the Saini government had worked to deliver the guarantees made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Detect, delete, deport”

On SIR, Shah said most of the 13 crore names that Congress says were removed from voter lists had clear reasons behind them. By his count:

– About 2.8 crore names belonged to dead voters. “Can the dead vote?” he asked.

– About 6.25 crore voters had moved to other states, so their names went off their old state’s list.

– About 1 crore names were registered at three or more places.

That accounts for about 10 crore names, he said. He alleged that the remaining 3 crore people did not come before the Election Commission for verification “out of fear,” and that infiltrators whose names Congress had got added were among them.

“Rahul ji, beat your chest for infiltrators as much as you want. Modi ji’s resolve is clear: detect, delete and deport,” Shah said. “We will find them, strike them off the list and throw them out of the country.”

“Name any chowk in Haryana”

Shah said the government had offered a special session of Parliament to debate SIR, an offer he first made on Tuesday. He said Rahul Gandhi should write to the Prime Minister instead of challenging him to a debate.

“Rahul ji, laws are made and the country’s problems are discussed in Parliament, not on the road. But if you are so fond of it, name any chowk in Haryana. The president of our Yuva Morcha will come and debate you there,” he said. He also said Congress must “stop lying.”

The kabaddi story

Shah told a story from his school days. He said his Class 7 kabaddi team kept winning the championship. The Class 9 team, tired of losing, held a meeting and decided to call the referee dishonest. “It seems Rahul Gandhi has learnt from this example,” he said.

“There was no SIR in 2014, 2019 or 2024, and none in Haryana or Maharashtra either. You still lost,” Shah said. He listed the states where he said voters had rejected Congress since 2024: Haryana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Delhi, Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry. He said the BJP returned to power in Delhi after three decades and Mamata Banerjee’s party lost in Bengal.

Hooda’s sweets, Selja feud

Recalling Haryana’s last Assembly election, Shah said former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other Congress leaders arrived at the party office on counting day in new clothes, with boxes of sweets. “They had hope for four rounds. In the fifth round, it was all washed away,” he said. Haryana then voted the BJP in for a third straight time, with Khattar as chief minister twice and Saini the third time.

He also asked where Congress’s booth-level agents were when the Election Commission was running SIR. “They were busy in the tug-of-war between Hooda and Kumari Selja,” he alleged.

“Can a son be older than his father?”

Shah said Rahul Gandhi was not the only one who had seen errors in voter lists. “Can a 10-year marriage have 12 children? Can a son be older than his father in the voter list? Can 132 people live in a 600-gaj house?” he asked. He said such entries pointed to fake voters, and cleaning up the list was the Election Commission’s constitutional duty.

On EVMs, he asked why Congress formed governments and took oath in Kerala, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh if the machines and lists were faulty. “Where they win, the list is fine. Where they lose, the EVM is at fault,” he said, using the Hindi saying “naach na jaane, aangan tedha” (a poor dancer blames the floor).

1,200 MLAs to 600

Shah said Congress shrank as Rahul Gandhi rose in the party. According to him, Congress had 1,200 MLAs when Rahul became general secretary in 2007, 900 when he became vice-president, 700 when he became president, and 600 by the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022. Over the same period, he said, the BJP kept adding MLAs and MPs under Modi.

Vietnam trip question

Shah asked Rahul Gandhi to make public the details of his recent Vietnam visit: how many days he stayed, whom he met, why he went and what the programme was. “Leader of Opposition is a constitutional post. The people have a right to know,” he said. “People in public life have very little private life.”

Delhi rally and the 1984 date

Shah said Congress claimed 10 lakh people would attend its Delhi rally, but a ground that holds about 70,000 people stayed half empty. He also attacked Congress for holding the rally on November 1, the day the 1984 anti-Sikh riots began under Congress rule, in which thousands of innocent Sikhs were killed.

He said noise and boycotts had become Congress’s “culture.” He accused Rahul Gandhi of stalling Parliament and spreading anarchy on the streets. He also said Rahul insults Parliament, the Lok Sabha Speaker and the courts while carrying the Constitution in his hand. “Does Rahul Gandhi think India’s 80-year-old democracy will be shaken by this?” he asked. BJP workers, he said, would answer Congress in Parliament, Assemblies, villages, fields and on the streets. He called the turnout at rallies held across 600 districts a fitting reply.

Welfare numbers, Congress record

Shah cited World Bank data to say crores of people had come out of poverty under Modi. He said 81 crore people get free ration, over 49 crore have received free treatment up to ₹5 lakh, 16 crore homes have tap water, 13 crore farmers get Kisan Samman Nidhi, 12 crore toilets have been built, 10.5 crore families got Ujjwala gas connections and over 3.5 crore people got pucca houses.

He said Indira Gandhi gave the “Garibi Hatao” slogan, but poverty did not go. He said Rajiv Gandhi came to power promising to end corruption, but Bofors and other scams followed. He alleged scams worth ₹12 lakh crore during the 10-year UPA rule.

Shah asked Haryana BJP workers to go door to door and tell people “the truth about SIR.” He said the Congress campaign was about protecting infiltrators, not voter lists.

The other side

The BJP campaign is a counter to the Congress-led opposition’s “vote chori” protests. Congress held its ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1, and had said it expected one million people to join. Congress leaders allege the BJP is behind “vote theft,” with 13 crore votes deleted. The opposition has also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Neither Mann, AAP nor Congress had responded to Shah’s remarks at the time of filing.