I belong to Punjab, and what I am witnessing today has shaken me deeply. My State is suffering its worst floods in more than 70 years. All 23 districts and more than 2,000 villages are submerged. Lakhs of people are displaced. More than 1.75 lakh hectares of crops have been destroyed. Entire harvests are gone, and the coming sowing season too is under threat. This is not just about numbers. It is about families who see a year of hard work vanish in days, farmers who stand helpless as their livestock die, and children who suddenly have no homes or schools to return to.
AAP Govt’s Carelessness
Yes, nature has struck with unusual force, but what has turned this into a catastrophe is not just rain. It is negligence. The warnings are there. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted heavy rains months in advance. The Bhakra Beas Management Board advised lowering dam levels to create buffer capacity. Experts plead for desilting rivers and strengthening embankments. Yet the State Government ignored all of it. They allowed illegal sand mining to weaken our riverbeds and left critical Dhussi bandh repairs undone.
They even mismanaged something as basic as rescue boats and engines. This is not nature’s cruelty; it is governance collapse. That is why I call it not merely man-made but a Mann-made disaster.
Recounting their Ordeal
I saw this collapse up close. In Gurdaspur, Ajnala and Sasrali, I waded through flooded villages and sat with families who were huddled on rooftops and makeshift platforms. Mothers tell me how they spent nights holding their feverish children above the rising water, praying for help that never came. Farmers showed me fields buried under sand where wheat should be standing. What strikes me most is not just the loss, but the sense of abandonment. People tell me, “We are left on our own.” No doctors, no medicines, no sign of the administration for days. The much-advertised Mohalla Clinics are nowhere to be seen. At the time when people need them most, they vanish. Relief is carried out not by the State but by ordinary villagers, by our Army and NDRF jawans, by gurudwaras and volunteer groups. The AAP Government machinery is missing in action.
CM Does the Vanishing Act
As if this was not enough, Punjabis were stunned by the absence of their Chief Minister during the crisis. When villages were drowning, he was comfortably away in Tamil Nadu. Only after the situation spun out of control does he return.
Kejriwal Misusing Resources for Political Gains
By then, the damage has already been done. What kind of leadership abandons its people in their darkest hour? Adding insult to injury, Arvind Kejriwal, who has no constitutional role in Punjab, flies in and out for political optics, shamelessly using the Punjab Chief Minister’s helicopter, security, and resources as if the state is his personal estate. Whenever the weather is pleasant, he lands to pose; whenever it turns rough, he flees back to Delhi. This is not leadership; it is a mockery of Punjab’s mandate.
State Under Sisodia’s Supervision
And now Manish Sisodia, the mastermind of Delhi’s liquor scam, is deployed in Punjab as if the State is a laboratory for failed models and corrupt experiments.
Instead of strengthening governance, Punjab is turned into a rehabilitation ground for disgraced AAP leaders. Those within AAP who dare to question this are silenced. We saw this in the Pathanmajra case, where even an MLA who raised his voice was threatened and harassed. This is not democracy. This is dictatorship in the guise of change.
The insensitivity does not stop there. It’s hard to ignore the viral video of AAP Ministers on a so-called relief boat casually discussing their vacations in Sweden and Goa. While lakhs of Punjabis are stranded in water, their chosen representatives treat the flood as an opportunity for theatrics. Families are begging for clean water, and Ministers are boasting about cruise holidays. This cruelty will not be forgotten.
PM Extends All Possible Help
In sharp contrast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence in Punjab is a moment of solidarity and action. He conducted an aerial survey, held a review meeting in Gurdaspur, met affected families face-to-face, and announced Rs. 1,600 crore as immediate relief on top of the Rs. 12,000 crore already in Punjab’s State Relief kitty. That means Rs. 13,600 crore now stands with Punjab for relief and rehabilitation. He also announced Rs. 2 lakh compensation for every life lost, Rs. 50,000 for the injured, and comprehensive care for children orphaned in this disaster under PM CARES. His long-term vision includes rebuilding homes, restoring schools, reviving farmland, supporting livestock, and investing in water harvesting so that Punjab does not face such devastation again.
Contrast Could Not be Starker
On one side, an absent Chief Minister and a failed Government obsessed with optics. On the other, a Prime Minister who stands shoulder to shoulder with people in pain, and a national Government that acts with empathy and urgency. But I must sound a warning. Relief funds alone are not enough. They must be monitored so that every rupee reaches the victims and is not diverted into the pockets of Kejriwal and his coterie.
Probe Sand Mining Nexus
The Rs. 230 crore that the Punjab Government previously claims to have spent on flood management is still unaccounted for. The sand mining nexus must be broken through an independent probe. Farmers must be fairly compensated for destroyed crops, and affected families must see visible results in their villages, not glossy advertisements.
For me, this is not about politics; it is about service. It is about saving lives, standing with farmers, and rebuilding Punjab brick by brick. But service also means telling the truth. The truth is that Punjab is abandoned by its own State Government in this crisis. The truth is that a natural calamity has become a Mann-made disaster because of negligence, corruption, and absence of leadership. And the truth is that Punjab deserves better.
We Punjabis are resilient people. Punjab will rise again, stronger than before. But we must learn the lessons. Preparedness cannot be optional. Accountability cannot be postponed. Relief funds cannot be misused. Governance cannot be outsourced. And the dignity of Punjabis cannot be trampled by those who treat the state as their playground.
We will rebuild our homes, our fields, our schools. And we will also rebuild the trust that has been broken. The floodwaters will recede, but the memory of who stood with the people and who abandoned them will remain. Punjab needs leadership that serves, not one that escapes. That is the choice before us. (Views are personal)
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