The Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday hit out at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party over the suspension of its Maur MLA Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana, saying the action showed the government was unwilling to face questions over teacher shortages and the functioning of government schools.
Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa said chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s repeated claims of transforming Punjab’s government schools stood sharply contradicted by the concerns raised by Maiserkhana over teacher shortage and functioning of government schools in his constituency.
“Bhagwant Mann can continue to repeat the slogan of ‘Sikhya Kranti’, but the reality inside Punjab’s government schools is increasingly difficult to hide. When a sitting AAP MLA goes public, says his own children study in a government school and raises concerns about a shortage of teachers affecting students, it exposes the widening gap between AAP’s publicity and the reality on the ground,” Bajwa said.
Questioning the action taken against Maiserkhana, Bajwa said, “The AAP leadership has chosen to act against the messenger instead of addressing the message. Shortage of teachers is a governance issue, not an anti-party activity. If an elected representative raises concerns about the education of children in his constituency, the government should listen, investigate and fix the problem—not silence him.”
Newly appointed Punjab Congress president Pargat Singh termed AAP’s suspension of MLA Maiserkhana as “dictatorship”, alleging that the move reflected the ruling party’s unwillingness to accept criticism over ground realities in the state.
“I call this a dictatorship; it is not a true democracy. Kejriwal is essentially a dictator because he refuses to agree with anyone who speaks about the ground reality,” he said.
Maiserkhana was suspended on Saturday hours after he publicly raised concerns over teacher vacancies and other basic issues in schools in his constituency. In a video, the MLA had said he had repeatedly urged the government to fill vacant posts so that students could study properly. The AAP cited “anti-party activities and indiscipline” while announcing the suspension.
BJP leader RP Singh from Delhi alleged that the AAP legislator was punished merely for speaking the truth about the condition of government school infrastructure: “Maiserkhana held up a mirror to the AAP chief minister, which is why he got him suspended from the party.”
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP minister Ashish Sood said the legislator’s public concerns over schools in his constituency exposed what he termed the “hollowness” of the party’s governance claims.
Reacting to his suspension, Sood said, “An AAP MLA is expressing his distress regarding the schools in his constituency; he mentions having requested the deployment of teachers to a particular school or the construction of a building for another. The so-called ‘model of governance’ of the AAP was similarly exposed in Delhi.”
(With agency inputs)