BJP’s Punjab Game Plan: 1984 Riots To Counter Congress November 1 Rally, Drug Crisis And Alliance Talks

The Punjab BJP is planning a Sikh conclave in Chandigarh on November 4, the same day Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to be in the state. The 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the demand for justice for victims will be at the centre of the event, News 18 reported citing BJP sources.

The day-long programme is expected to bring together victims’ families, lawyers who represented them and judges who delivered verdicts in riot-related cases. The party has not publicly announced the conclave or confirmed its speakers and participants.

The timing could give the BJP a platform to raise the riots and accountability during Gandhi’s visit, while reaching out to Sikh voters ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.

BJP Keeps 1984 Riots In Focus

The violence followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Thousands of Sikhs were killed, and victims’ families have pursued justice through lengthy legal battles.

The BJP has repeatedly used the riots to criticise the Congress’s record on accountability. The proposed conclave would place victims’ families and legal representatives at the centre of that political message, according to sources cited by News 18.

The event also follows a separate BJP attack on the Congress over the INDIA bloc’s November 1 rally in Delhi. BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that Rahul Gandhi was “adamant” on holding the rally on that date despite objections from some alliance partners.

“In a very calculated manner, Rahul Gandhi is trying to rub salt into the wounded sentiments of the Sikhs by insisting he will hold the rally on November 1. He is bent on playing a cruel joke on Sikhs,” Prasad said at a press conference. He added: “We vehemently condemn it.”

The Congress has described the Ramlila Maidan rally as the culmination of its ‘Delhi Chalo’ march against alleged irregularities in the Election Commission’s functioning and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. It has said 10 lakh people are expected to join the protest against “vote chori”.

BJP Builds Its Pitch Around Employees And Voters

The BJP is also targeting the Aam Aadmi Party government over unpaid Dearness Allowance arrears. Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon has promised that state employees would receive 63% DA, at par with central government employees, if the BJP comes to power. He also said a BJP government would clear pending arrears.

Dhillon said nearly eight lakh state employees were agitating over the issue and accused the AAP government of failing to meet their demands. The DA dispute is also before the courts: on October 27, the Punjab and Haryana High Court imposed a ₹1 lakh fine on the state government and directed Chief Secretary KAP Sinha to appear on November 3. The state has filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court; Dhillon claimed it remained on the defect list and had not been taken up for hearing.

Dhillon has also highlighted the Centre’s proposed sports goods manufacturing scheme for Jalandhar, a container manufacturing promotion scheme for exporters and the Viksit Gram Swaraj Yojana for rural Punjab, presenting them as potential support for industry, exports and village development.

BJP Targets AAP Over Punjab’s Drug Crisis

The BJP is also making the drug menace a key part of its campaign against the AAP government ahead of the 2027 Assembly election.

During his Punjab visit on October 20, Union Home Minister Amit Shah met the families of three people who died after speaking out against drugs. Hours before his visit, the AAP government announced a CBI probe into the murder of anti-drug campaigner Parminder Singh Jhota in Mansa. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the probe followed a request from Jhota’s family.

The AAP government and police had earlier described the murder as a case of “personal enmity”. Shah welcomed the CBI probe but urged Mann to transfer two other cases to the agency as well.

At a press conference in Ludhiana, Shah accused the state government of failing to curb the drug trade. “You had promised to end the drug business within three months. But five years have passed and the business is growing day by day,” he said.

Shah also said the deaths of Bikramjit Singh in Gurdaspur, Gurdas Singh in Sangrur and Jhota in Mansa were linked to their fight against drugs. He said the families’ accounts had left him distressed.

Alliance Talks Add Another Strand To The Strategy

Dhillon has said the BJP is preparing to contest all 117 Assembly seats in 2027. “The NDA government is in power across the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and NDA means a BJP government,” he said, without explicitly ruling out an alliance in Punjab.

However, according to Outlook sources, negotiations between the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are in their final stages, with an announcement expected after Diwali. Neither party has formally confirmed an agreement.

Seat-sharing remains the main point of discussion. The BJP is seeking between 40 and 47 seats, though a compromise around 36–37 is considered likely, according to the sources. The party contested 23 seats in previous alliances. It now wants a larger share, particularly in constituencies where it outpolled the SAD in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP has also advised the SAD to bring splinter groups and former leaders back into the party fold, the sources said. The conclave, the DA promise and the alliance discussions point to the BJP’s wider effort to expand its reach in Punjab before the 2027 polls.