Congress-AAP lock horns over land pooling scheme in Punjab

Indian National Congress members on Monday (July 21, 2025) staged a protest in Punjab’s Mohali against the Punjab government’s land pooling policy, even as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accused the Opposition of misleading people on this ambitious scheme.

Leader of Opposition, Congress’s Partap Singh Bajwa, addressing the demonstrators, alleged that the AAP’s land pooling policy is nothing but an outright attempt to rob Punjab’s agricultural land.

“The policy is not development, but exploitation disguised as reform, a blatant attempt to dispossess farmers of their most sacred asset. Its design was inherently misguided, and now the repercussions are unfolding as predicted. In the name of urban development, valuable, fertile land is being unjustly taken away from farmers, threatening the very foundation of rural society. Farmers will be stripped of their only source of livelihood, and villagers face the imminent threat of displacement,” said Mr. Bajwa.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mann, addressing a gathering in Sangrur’s Dhuri, accused the opposition of hoodwinking the facts to misinform the people about the land pooling scheme for vested political interests. He said that there will be no forcible acquisition of land under the new scheme.

The Chief Minister claimed that the land pooling is aimed at creating a perennial source of income for the farmers and making them an active partner in growth and progress of the state. The commercial property in the planned colonies to be carved out in this land pooling scheme will be a permanent asset for the farmers for their income, he added.