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

Former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and newly appointed Congress in-charge for Punjab, Sachin Pilot, has challenged the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) to scrutinise government schools in AAP-ruled Punjab with the “same eyes, the same questions and the same courage” it has shown while auditing schools in other states.

Pilot’s remarks came after a CJP team visited three government schools in Ludhiana, including a government ‘School of Eminence’, a senior secondary school and a primary school, as part of its ongoing school audits.

CJP co-convenor Saurav Das, who led the Ludhiana visit, posted a video of the inspection on Thursday, highlighting both improvements and shortcomings across the three institutions.

The School of Eminence was shown with relatively strong infrastructure, including a swimming pool, badminton court, ramp access for differently abled students and an AI laboratory. However, Das pointed to several shortcomings at the other two schools and said even the three inspected institutions could improve their toilet facilities.

The team later met Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains. According to Das, the minister assured them that action would be taken on the issues raised during the inspection.

AAP founder and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also responded to the audit, thanking Das for pointing out what he described as deficiencies and saying the government would address them.

But the exercise soon became political.

Several social media users questioned whether the CJP had been more restrained in Punjab because the state is governed by the Aam Aadmi Party. Critics contrasted the Ludhiana inspection with the organisation’s more confrontational approach in states governed by rival parties.

Pilot joined that criticism on Friday, saying there should be no special treatment for Punjab or the AAP.

“Anyone would welcome auditing schools in Punjab or elsewhere. Only one request/suggestion: audit Punjab with the same eyes, the same questions and the same courage with which you audit governments elsewhere. Punjab deserves no special exemption—and AAP deserves no friendly exemption,” Pilot said.

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.