Speaker is Acting Like a Dictator, Killing Democracy in the Assembly: Pargat Singh

Chandigarh, March 9, 2026: Former Education Minister and MLA Pargat Singh termed the conduct of Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan in the Assembly as dictatorial. He said the Speaker is no less than a dictator. He added that denying opposition parties the opportunity to raise issues during Zero Hour in the Assembly amounts to the murder of democracy.
Pargat Singh alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party is the B-team of the Bharatiya Janata Party and is following the same path as the BJP. He said the BJP has never been a well-wisher of farmers, and now the Aam Aadmi Party is also harming farmers in Punjab. Farmers protesting for their demands are being labelled as a “mob” and lathi-charged.
He said the Punjab government’s announced scheme of giving ₹1000–1500 to women is merely a show. By announcing it just a few months before the election year, the government is trying to mislead women voters. In reality, he said, most women are not even demanding money from the government. The government claims that registrations will start on April 13, but the next three to four months will be spent on verification and surveys. In the last two months, ₹1000 may be deposited in women’s accounts and the government will claim that it fulfilled its promise. Pargat Singh also questioned how the government allocated ₹9,300 crore for the scheme in the budget without clarifying the calculation behind it.
He further said that for the women of Punjab, receiving ₹1000 is not as important as the safety of their children and families. He urged the government not to turn Punjab into a police state. He pointed out that the stories behind the 35 encounters that have taken place in the last three months appear very similar. He mentioned that the last rites of 19-year-old Ranjit Singh were being performed in Gurdaspur, and questions are being raised about the encounter. Apart from the Ranjit Singh case, he demanded that all other encounter cases be investigated by a committee headed by a sitting judge.
In conclusion, he also targeted the government over Punjab’s rising debt and its claims of an education revolution. He said that when the government came to power, Punjab’s debt stood at ₹2.63 lakh crore, which has now increased to ₹4.17 lakh crore. By the next election, he claimed, the debt will cross ₹5 lakh crore. He added that the government has not presented any roadmap in the budget to deal with this issue.
He also alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government is afraid to question the central government about weapons and drugs coming across the border. Since around 50 kilometers of Punjab’s border is under the Border Security Force, he said weapons and drugs are entering through drones across that border. He questioned why this cannot be stopped and said the state government does not even raise the issue.