Chandigarh: A day after the controversial inauguration of Punjab’s first ‘School of Eminence’ by Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal, the ruling party was in for further embarrassment Thursday as one of its MLAs termed the opening of the school in Amritsar as “mere eyewash”.
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, the AAP MLA from Amritsar North and a former IPS officer of the 1998 batch, wrote on the Facebook timeline of his party colleague Inderbir Singh Nijjar — the AAP MLA from Amritsar South — that only ‘cosmetic changes’ had been made to an existing state-run ‘Smart School’ in Amritsar that was already doing exceedingly well.
This comes a day after the inauguration of the ‘School of Eminence’ kicked up a row, with the Opposition accusing AAP chief Kejriwal of placing Sippy Sharma, the leader of a union of physical training instructors (PTI), under house arrest to thwart any protests during the event. Sharma is the face of a union of physical training instructors who were hired to teach at state-run schools in 2011 but are yet to get their appointment letters.
On Thursday, Nijjar posted pictures of the ‘School of Eminence’ and termed its inauguration the “beginning of an education revolution in Punjab”.
Reacting to the post, Singh wrote in Punjabi: “Congratulations Dr Sahib. Do show me the school if it is a newly constructed one. According to my information, this school is already an excellent school and was made a Smart School by earlier governments.” Adding that he had visited the school before, he conceded that “a few renovations have been done now”.
“As far as I know Shri Satyapal Dang (Communist Party of India leader from Punjab) had brought about a complete makeover of the school,” he wrote.
“I have been noticing for a long time that the results of the school are excellent. We had promised to construct new schools of excellence. Kindly shed some light on this.”
Though the comment was later removed from Nijjar’s timeline, a screenshot of it has since been doing the rounds on social media. The Opposition too highlighted the exchange to accuse AAP national convener Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann of taking the “public for a ride” with their pre-poll promise of building new schools of excellence in the state.
‘Squandering public money’
The AAP MLA’s post drew appreciation from the Opposition, which also alleged that the government had “squandered” money on an existing school.
Reacting to Singh’s comment, Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said he appreciated Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh’s courage. “The other MLAs of the party (each one of whom is a diamond) should also consider doing the same once in a blue moon at least,” Bajwa wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
ਮੈਂ, ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਦੇ ਵਿਧਾਇਕ @Kvijaypratap ਨੂੰ ਸੱਚ ਬੋਲਣ ਦੀ ਹਿੰਮਤ 'ਤੇ ਦਾਦ ਦਿੰਦਾ ਹਾਂ।
ਮੇਰੀ ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਦੇ ਹੋਰਨਾਂ ਵਿਧਾਇਕਾਂ (ਹੀਰਿਆਂ) ਨੂੰ ਵੀ ਅਪੀਲ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਉਹ ਵੀ ਕਦੇ ਹਾੜੀ-ਸਾਉਣੀ ਸੱਚ ਬੋਲਣ ਦੀ ਹਿੰਮਤ ਕਰ ਲਿਆ ਕਰਨ? pic.twitter.com/EX3IskhNgY— Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) September 14, 2023
Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira accused Kejriwal and Mann of wasting public money to the tune of crores. “So why this Tamasha yesterday by misusing teachers and 750 buses to ferry Baukar workers? Punjab needs an answer,” wrote Khaira.
Shame on @ArvindKejriwal & @BhagwantMann for squandering crores of public exchequer money to re-inaugurate School of Eminence yesterday as his own @AamAadmiParty Mla @Kvijaypratap has totally trashed their claims by replying to @NijjarDr Mla on his Facebook that the school was… pic.twitter.com/eimWDuAlGy
— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) September 14, 2023
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, without referring to the Amritsar North MLA, wrote on X that the AAP was “shamelessly cheating Punjabis”.
He claimed that in contrast, the 10 ‘Meritorious schools’ set up by the SAD government in 2014 were being criminally neglected for “political reasons”.
“Punjabis have been observing this ‘Badlav’ and they will surely give a befitting reply to this govt of looters, dupers, and scamsters,” wrote Badal.
This @AamAadmiParty govt which shamelessly cheated Punjabis by repainting Sewa Kendra as #AamAadmiClinics, now “opened” one #SchoolOfEminence in Amritsar in the same manner. The reality is that this school was opened by the erstwhile @Akali_Dal_ govt which has now been simply… pic.twitter.com/KFbCPzFpFd
— Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) September 14, 2023
‘Me versus Bhagwant Mann’
This was not the first time that Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who resigned from the civil services to join politics, was critical of his party’s government in the state.
In an interview earlier this month with Punjab Tak, Singh aired his displeasure over the manner in which the Mann government was dealing in courts with cases pertaining to the 2015 ‘sacrilege’ of the Guru Granth Sahib. These cases involve the prosecution of multiple police officers and also Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was then the deputy chief minister with the home portfolio.
Singh said in the interview that he hired advocates from his own pocket to ensure that the cases reach their logical conclusion. He added that ever since the AAP came to power in the state, none of its top leaders had bothered to talk to him about the Bargari cases.
“In some of these cases which are being heard in the district courts, I have to hire lawyers to counter the government lawyers… so in a way it is me versus the government or me versus Bhagwant Mann,” the AAP MLA had said in the interview.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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