Following the footsteps of Arvind Kejriwal, On 1 April 2022, Punjab’s CM Bhagwant Mann made a controversial claim in the Punjab assembly. According to him, after the Pathankot airbase attack, he received a letter from the Centre. In that letter, Punjab was asked to pay Rupees 7.5 crore for the deployment of the military after the attack in the state. He further said that after receiving the letter, he and Sadhu Singh went to Rajnath Singh and told him to deduct the amount from his MPLAD and give in writing that Punjab is not the country’s part and took the military from India on rent.
Here is the video of Bhagwant Mann’s assembly speech
This is what we found
During his statement in the assembly, Bhagwant Mann tried to portray that the Central Government always does some kind of injustice to Punjab and that Punjab is the only state which was asked to pay the bills for the deployment of the military, which is not true. As per the 2017 Memorandum of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the truth is that every state is billed for Central forces. The deployment of CAPF (not the military as he is claiming) has been chargeable for many years now. Every state in which these central forces are deployed has to pay this bill, Punjab is no exception. Also in point of fact, as per the report of Time of India, the Centre recently reduce the charges of CAPF deployment.
There are many states that have large amounts to pay to the MHA for taking the services of central forces in their respective States. As per the report of News 18 Some of these states are Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Chattisgarh. According to news18, Uttar Pradesh has to pay more than Rs 4000 crore whereas Delhi has to pay close to Rs 1533 crore for the deployment of Central forces in the state over the years.
So, this proves that Bhagwant Mann’s claims of the Central Government’s unjust and separate behaviour with Punjab are completely false. As a responsible CM, he must not spread lies and try to run a false narrative as this could create disharmony in the state and evoke separatists sentiments. However, we are determined to debunk all these lies and evil narratives in the National interest and for the unity of Our beloved Nation.
