The AAP may have won a landslide in Punjab but the road ahead is tricky
Finally, the AAP successfully installed its first Government in a full-fledged State outside Delhi when its leader Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday took the oaths of office and secrecy as the Punjab Chief Minister. After the ceremony, held at the ancestral village of Bhagat Singh, Mann made his priorities clear when he quoted the legendary freedom fighter: “Ishq karna sabka paidaishi haque hai; Kyun na iss baar watan ki sarzameen ko mehboob bana liya jaye.” So far, so good. The verdict in the Punjab Assembly election has been unprecedented; in fact, the State has never witnessed a landslide like this. But winning by a landslide does not mean a smooth ride ahead for the nascent party, with mostly inexperienced leaders pitted against past masters of State politics. It’s not going to be easy, what with the Congress, BSP, the SAD, BJP and Capt Amarinder Singh’s newly-launched party, the Punjab Lok Congress — with decades of experience of ruling Punjab among them — likely to be snapping at the heels of the newbie. The party must now come good on its promises of better public services, good-quality schools and hospitals, end of bribery and corruption, creating job opportunities and a drugs-free State.
All these pledges had remained the party’s constant campaign theme on the lines of Delhi where the AAP has won two consecutive terms. However, the truth is that with Punjab’s financial crisis set to worsen and the debt likely to touch Rs 252,880 crore by this fiscal, the incoming Government is likely to face a tough task fulfilling its poll promises of investment in health and education, besides near-free supply of regular power and water to 35 lakh households. Banking largely on freebies to woo the electorate, the party had promised Rs 1,000 a month to all adult women. But the State’s coffers betray a disappointing scenario. The ever-increasing salary and pension burden and rising debt and interest leave little scope for development. The total outstanding debt of Punjab as on March 31 is projected at Rs 252,880 crore, which is 42 per cent of the GSDP for 2020-21, and the outstanding debt is likely to be Rs 273,703 crore in 2021-22, which is 45 per cent of the GSDP. In this light, it is critical for the AAP to fulfil its pre-poll assurances; else it can forget about foraying into any other State. As they say, higher the expectation, greater the disappointment!