Moga, March 14 (IANS) Sounding the poll bugle in Punjab, where the Assembly elections are due early next year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that under the current Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government religious conversions have reached alarming levels. 

"A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Punjab will bring its first Bill to ban religious conversions," he told a large gathering in Moga that falls in the politically significant Malwa belt which accounts for 69 of the 117 Assembly seats.

Making it clear that the era of the BJP playing second fiddle in the state is over, the Union Home Minister said, "Whenever we (BJP) came before you (people of Punjab) in the past, we were the junior political ally. But from today, the BJP begins its campaign to form its own government in Punjab."

Donning the Sikh turban, Home Minister Shah promised that the BJP, if voted to power, will make Punjab drug-free within two years.

Saying that the AAP government has become an ATM for AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, the Union Home Minister said, "The AAP formed a government with the promise of a change. But in reality what is the Chief Minister here doing? He is serving as the pilot of Kejriwal, splurging the state's coffers by flying him across India. He has done nothing other than that."

"The AAP government promised to give 25 lakh jobs. They (AAP) promised to end the scourge of drugs in four months, build 16,000 government medicine shops, increase widow pension and old-age pension to Rs 2,500 per month, build 16 medical colleges, increase mining revenue by Rs 20,000 crore, promise MSP (minimum support price) on every crop, and give Rs 5 lakh compensation to the victims of the Sikh riots," Home Minister Shah said, adding, "They (AAP) could fulfill none of these promises."

"The AAP government here is the government of broken promises and corruption. They are submerged up to their necks in corruption. They can do no good for Punjab. The Chief Minister should be ashamed of his silence in the face of the loot of the coffers of Punjab by leaders in Delhi."

Taking another jibe at the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government, Home Minister Shah said, "The AAP government has become the ATM of Kejriwal, and this is a mockery of Punjab's honour. Entire Punjab is today struggling with the problem of drugs; law and order has ended; three sarpanches have been killed right at the beginning of 2026; the gangsters are extorting money; and an ASI has been killed right in the police station."

Quoting one report, the Union Home Minister said 45 per cent of the heroin trade in India takes place in Punjab alone.

"We (BJP) promise you that if you bless us in the upcoming election, then we will free Punjab from the scourge of drugs within two years."

Criticising the AAP, the Congress, and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for misleading the farmers about the trade deal signed with the US, Home Minister Shah said, "They are saying that the deal has harmed the farmers. This is a sheer lie. Rather, it is the UPA that agreed to stop paying MSP to farmers in 2013."

"The Narendra Modi government has made the biggest buying at MSP from the farmers of Punjab. Along with that, the money reaches the bank account of the farmers within just two days."

"During the UPA government the agriculture budget of India amounted to Rs 22,000 crore. But the Narendra Modi government increased it to Rs 140,000 crore. Every farmer is paid Rs 6,000 every year. As many as 13.5 crore people receive funds under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana."

"The Congress never bought pulses at the MSP. But we (BJP) arranged for 100 per cent purchase of pulses at MSP through NAFED. We are buying maize at the MSP," Home Minister Shah said.

He concluded by saying, "Punjab does not need a Chief Minister, who can make people laugh but someone who can give good governance."

--IANS