Sachin Pilot challenges CJP to audit Punjab schools with ‘same courage’

The remarks quickly triggered a counterattack from AAP leaders, who turned the spotlight towards Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh.

AAP leader and former Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia challenged Pilot to compare government schools in Punjab with those in Himachal Pradesh.

“We can show such excellent 1,000 schools, can you show us such 1,000 schools from Himachal Pradesh? Let us audit the government schools of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh together. Speak! Do you accept the challenge?” Sisodia said.

AAP national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda also questioned Pilot’s position on Rajasthan, where the Congress leader has previously been critical of the state government.

Dhanda asked what he called Pilot’s “defence” of dilapidated schools in BJP-ruled Rajasthan represented, and challenged him to produce a list of 1,000 schools in Himachal Pradesh for a joint audit.

“If you give us the list of 1,000 schools in Himachal, we’ll give you the list of 1,000 schools in Punjab,” Dhanda said, adding that both sides could visit and audit the schools together.

The political contest over school audits also drew a response from CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka, who has been involved in the organisation’s Rajasthan campaign.

Ranka said he had repeatedly asked Rajasthan Education Minister Madan Dilawar to identify 10 of the “most splendid” schools built during his tenure.

He said that if such schools were identified, the CJP would visit them and showcase the facilities.

The exchange comes against the backdrop of growing political scrutiny over the CJP’s choice of states and schools for its audits.

In Rajasthan, the organisation had planned an inspection of a school reportedly functioning from a cow shed on August 21. The visit turned contentious after members of the CJP delegation, led by Ranka, were allegedly assaulted by locals whom the outfit claimed were linked to the BJP. Cross-FIRs were subsequently filed, while Ranka and others were also booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The CJP has also faced criticism over what political opponents describe as selective targeting of governments.

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad recently accused the organisation of remaining “silent on Punjab and Congress-ruled states” while focusing its scrutiny on BJP-ruled states.

The latest exchange has therefore shifted the focus beyond the condition of individual schools to a larger political question: whether school audits are being conducted consistently across party lines, or becoming another battleground in the contest between rival political parties.

For Punjab, the challenge now is no longer simply about which schools are performing well or poorly. It is also about whether the same yardstick will be applied to every government, regardless of who is in power.