Meri Rasoi is a Cruel Joke on Punjab’s Poor, Pure Election Gimmick : Kewal Singh Dhillon

5 Dariya News

Chandigarh 04-Jul-2026

Kewal Singh Dhillon, President of the Bharatiya Janata Party Punjab, launched a sharp attack on the AAP government’s “Meri Rasoi Scheme,” saying it has turned out to be yet another cruel joke on the people of Punjab. Dhillon said that the reality of the scheme, which was announced with much fanfare in the February budget, is deeply shocking.

Under the scheme, each family will receive only 2 kg of pulses, 2 kg of sugar, 1 litre of mustard oil, 200 grams of turmeric, and 1 kg of salt every 90 days. If calculated for an average family of four, this translates to barely 500 grams of pulses, 500 grams of sugar, 250 ml of oil, 50 grams of turmeric, and 250 grams of salt per person for 90 days.

In practical terms, that means just 5–6 grams of pulses per day and only a few grains of sugar. Can this fill a child’s stomach, or is it merely a tool for photo-ops? He further said that while the government is projecting this as the largest nutrition scheme in the country, only ₹900 crore has been allocated for 4 million families.

This amounts to just ₹2,250 per family annually. Even more shocking is that the benefit will be limited to families with an annual income of less than ₹60,000 — that is, households earning less than ₹5,000 a month. By imposing such stringent eligibility criteria, the government has already excluded lakhs of deserving families.

The state president also targeted the AAP government over its past schemes, recalling how the Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojana was delayed for four and a half years and implemented with restrictive conditions only when elections approached. He said the same pattern is now being repeated with the drama around “Meri Rasoi.”

He said the AAP government has neither vision nor intent, only a strategy to mislead people ahead of elections. The people of Punjab now understand that these token handouts, funded through mounting debt, are not genuine relief but an attempt to buy votes ahead of 2027. BJP Punjab stands firmly with the people and will continue to expose the government’s election gimmicks.