A political storm erupted in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation’s General House on Monday after opposition parties cornered the BJP over an alleged remark by Chandigarh BJP president Jatinder Pal Malhotra, in which he reportedly described Punjabis as “emotional bloody fools.” The comment dominated the proceedings, with Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors demanding his resignation and accusing him of insulting the Punjabi community.
The House witnessed repeated disruptions as opposition members entered the meeting carrying placards and raising slogans against the BJP leader. They alleged that the reported statement had deeply hurt public sentiment and argued that a mere apology was not enough to close the controversy. Congress councillors Gurpreet Gabi, Premlata, Sachin Galav and Jasbir Singh Bunty insisted that Malhotra should publicly withdraw his remarks and step down from his position.
The BJP rejected the opposition’s attack and hit back by questioning the conduct of the Punjab government. During the heated exchanges, BJP councillors raised the issue of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s controversial video and demanded his resignation, leading to a sharp political confrontation inside the House.
AAP councillors, meanwhile, attempted to broaden the debate by raising allegations regarding the alleged misuse of donation funds collected for the Ayodhya Ram Mandir. The issue further intensified the verbal exchanges between treasury and opposition benches, forcing repeated interventions from the Chair.
Mayor Saurabh Joshi appealed to members to allow the House to function and maintained that the controversy surrounding Malhotra’s remarks had already been addressed after the BJP leader expressed regret over the statement. However, opposition councillors refused to accept the explanation and continued pressing for stronger action, saying the dignity of the Punjabi community had been undermined.
Amid the political confrontation inside the House, the Chandigarh Pradesh Congress staged a demonstration outside the Municipal Corporation office over the delay in implementing the proposal to provide 20,000 litres of free water every month to each household.
Addressing party workers, Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky alleged that despite the proposal having received the Corporation’s approval, residents were yet to receive its benefit. He blamed both the BJP and the AAP for the delay, claiming the issue reflected administrative failure rather than procedural constraints.
Lucky said access to free domestic water should be treated as a public entitlement and urged the authorities to implement the scheme without further delay, asserting that prolonged inaction was adversely affecting city residents.
The twin controversies over the BJP leader’s alleged remarks and the pending free water proposal ensured that political sparring overshadowed the civic agenda during the Municipal Corporation’s General House meeting.