ROPAR: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday squarely blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party for twin blast-like incidents in Amritsar and Jalandhar, calling them “BJP’s preparation for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.”Speaking to the media at the outset of his four-day ‘Shukrana Yatra’ — which began with obeisance at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib, Ropar — Mann alleged that the ruling saffron party was seeking to “spread violence and fear” to gain electoral mileage. While confirming that investigations into the “minor blasts” were underway, he insisted the incidents carried a clear political motive.
“BJP firku party hai,” he said, adding that with the Bengal elections now firmly behind them — the BJP having swept the state in recent polls — the party had effectively declared Punjab its next target.“These small blasts are BJP’s preparation for Punjab elections. This is BJP di Punjab elections di tayari hai. Oh ehdan hi hinsa faila ke, lokan nu daraa ke dhamka ke hi votan lainde han. ( They (BJP) “gets votes by spreading violence and fear among people”). I warn them against such activities — Punjab is a peaceful state,” he asserted.Mann alleged that “wherever the BJP wants to contest elections, it goes there and creates fights.” He urged the party to abandon such tactics, stressing that the people of Punjab “always want peace” and would not tolerate them.Taking a sharper aim, he linked the blasts to resentment over recently enacted legislation. “They are hurt from the recently passed sacrilege law — the Jaagat Jot Shri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act 2026 — as they wanted two groups to land in a clash after any sacrilege case. BJP says Punjab di tayari hai. Chote mote blast kara ke, tusi daraa ke lokan di votan lainiyan chaunde ho?” he said.The two incidents occurred late Tuesday night at sensitive locations. The first explosion took place at approximately 8 pm near BSF Chowk in Jalandhar, where a scooter, parked outside the Border Security Force (BSF) Punjab Frontier headquarters, caught fire and exploded. CCTV footage from the site has since surfaced, capturing the moment of the blast.A second explosion followed at around 10:30 pm near an Army camp in the Khasa area of Amritsar, with residents reporting the blast was audible from as far as 1.5 kilometres away and powerful enough to shake the boundary walls of the camp. Both sites lie in close proximity to military and paramilitary establishments, prompting security forces across the state to be placed on high alert.Amritsar police claimed that a preliminary inspection showed someone had approached and thrown an object toward the boundary wall, causing the explosion. No casualties were reported in either incident. Forensic teams and bomb disposal squads visited both sites to collect samples, which have been dispatched for detailed analysis, while all possible leads — local, political and cross-border — are being examined.Notably, initial investigations point to a possible external dimension: security agencies suspect that Pakistan-based handlers and operatives of a banned group may be linked to the blasts, though this has not yet been officially confirmed.The timing of the blasts has sharpened an already charged political atmosphere ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections. The BJP has publicly announced its intent to contest independently in the state, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the helm. The party has been ramping up its organisational presence and holding rallies in key districts such as Moga and Amritsar, framing Punjab as a critical battleground for expanding its base.Mann’s “BJP firku party” remark has further inflamed a war of words over security and governance in the state. As his Shukrana Yatra continues toward other major Sikh religious sites, the twin-blast controversy is expected to fuel a broader debate on law and order, communal harmony, and the role of political violence in electoral politics — with 2027 firmly in view.
