“Lokan ne tan bhar-bhar ke votan ditiyan, te sab ton vadh sittan jitaian. Hun sarkar ton iss tarah da hi inquilab chahida (People ushered in a revolution in Punjab by giving highest-ever seats to the Aam Aadmi Party, Now, in return, we expect the same revolution from the government through its performance). not far from the stage where Bhagwant Mann took oath After taking over as the new Chief Minister of Punjab, AAP supporter Jaswinder Kaur set the bar for him and his new government.
The 51-year-old from Jagraon village in Ludhiana district said: “My son is a graduate and I want the government to provide him some respectable job whether it is government or private.”
She had come to attend the program with her son.
Mann’s swearing-in ceremony at Bhagat Singh’s native village on Wednesday was filled not only by the AAP cadre but also by a large number of unaffiliated supporters who voted for the party in the hope of a ‘revolution’.
Another AAP supporter, Jasbir Kaur from Kalanaur in Gurdaspur district, said she lived in constant fear that her unemployed son would become a drug victim.
“We have seen many governments before and all of them have let us down. But it claims that it is different and will change the life of the common man. I want this to end unemployment from the state and our children also get freedom from drugs.
“Drugs are sold openly in our villages. Police and politicians are aware of this, and we are always concerned for our children. Now, Bhagwant Mann should put an end to all this,” said Rajwant Kaur, another woman from Darapur village in Moga.
Almost everyone who arrived at the venue to watch the swearing-in ceremony was hopeful that the new government would help improve Punjab.
Sharanjit Kaur, a young lady from Nakodar area of Jalandhar said: “Me and my brother are BA-BEd and we want good job for ourselves, so that we can support our parents who worked very hard for us to study” he said .
Rakshika Madan of Nawanshahr talked about fixing the schools in the state.
“We are spending huge amount of money on the education of our children in private schools and now ‘Delhi model’ government schools should be opened in the state as it will save us from huge expenditure and with that savings we can lead a comfortable life, He said.
Mann also touched upon these issues of unemployment and education in his speech.
Farmers and businessmen were demanding that their issues be resolved on a priority basis amidst the crowd of youths seeking cheap education and better jobs.
“We want farmers’ suicides to end in Punjab. Major Singh, a farmer from Varayah village in Tarn Taran district, said that farmers should get a fair price for their crops.
Another farmer Manjit Singh said: “I want this government to waive my loan and we get a fair price for our crop. And we should get all the basic facilities in our villages also.
Ludhiana-based businessman Parminder Singh said: “We expect a lot of changes from this government for the development of our state in every field so that our industry can be revived here.”