A routine visit by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to Sri Muktsar Sahib has snowballed into a political controversy after an official order surfaced assigning two policemen to guard the chief minister’s shoes during his gurdwara visit.
The directive, issued by the Muktsar police, named Head Constable Roop Singh and Constable Sarbat Singh as being deputed “on duty on the shoes of CM of Punjab at Gate No 7 in plain clothes.”
Within hours, the order spread across social media, drawing ridicule and anger from Opposition leaders, who accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of reducing the police force to personal attendants.
During his public address at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, where he laid the foundation stone for development projects worth Rs 138.83 crore under the AMRUT 2.0 scheme, Mann dismissed the criticism with a touch of sarcasm.
“Do these political opponents have any roadmap for Punjab?” he said. “Our slippers and shoes have become an issue for them. Even the suits of our mothers and sisters are under their scrutiny. These are the kinds of matters they are left with now.”
The projects announced in Sri Muktsar Sahib aim to modernise the city’s ageing sewerage and water supply systems and lay new pipelines in growing neighbourhoods.
OPPOSITION SLAMS ‘VIP CULTURE’
The Opposition, however, found in the order another opportunity to accuse the Mann government of hypocrisy.
Union Minister Ravneet Bittu mocked the chief minister, saying the episode “shows the situation of Punjab, even the CM is not secure for his shoes, what else for others?”
Congress MLA Pargat Singh took to social media with a sharp barb, “Now even the CM’s shoes get special police protection? If only the government showed the same concern for safeguarding Punjab’s institutions and rights.”
Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal also waded into the row, accusing Mann of betraying his party’s promise to end VIP culture.
“Those who talk about ending VIP culture are now assigning police duty to pick up their shoes,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “If the police protect the leader’s shoes, then who will protect the common people? By giving such duty to educated police personnel, the entire force is being insulted. And why wear such expensive shoes that you need police to guard them?”
– Ends
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