Chandigarh: Former Punjab BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna on Monday attacked the AAP government, saying that registering FIRs against farmers who burn paddy straw, imposing fines and making "red entries" in their land records "is in no way a solution to the problem", IANS reported. Khanna called the enforcement proof of the government's "anti-farmer mindset" and demanded that farmers instead be given machinery, subsidies, diesel and financial assistance on time, with balers, Happy Seeders and Super Seeders available on rent at village level for small and marginal farmers. Farmers, he said, are already struggling with rising cultivation costs and natural calamities, and the government should talk to farmer organisations and find a practical solution. This is Khanna's political charge; the reports read carried no specific government response to his statement.
The Haryana contrast: The Punjab Standard reports that BJP-ruled Haryana ordered, before this harvest, three actions in every verified case of stubble burning — an FIR, a challan and a red entry in the farmer's land record — and is using a Parali Protection Force, drones and late-evening patrols. The report gives an applied example: a Rs 5,000 fine on a farmer in Nagal village, Kaithal, after burning was confirmed in his field; and, in the earlier wheat season, nine FIRs against 12 farmers in Karnal and 172 red entries that bar MSP sale for two years.
The numbers: ICAR satellite data for September 15 to November 1, as reported by The Punjab Standard, records 1,514 paddy fires in Punjab — the highest of seven states — against just 42 in Haryana, about 36 times fewer. Punjab's own state count reached 1,339 by October 31 (292 fires on Saturday, the season's highest single day, 18% below the 1,642 recorded by the same date last year). On enforcement, two different figure sets are in circulation and are kept separate here: the CAQM monitoring report — already published by this site — records 389 FIRs and 422 red entries, while The Punjab Standard, citing Punjab officials, reports 246 FIRs, red entries against 297 farmers and 426 show-cause notices to nodal and supervisory officers; the reports read do not reconcile the two sets.
Delhi's air and the BJP's two voices: Delhi's AQI slipped to 261 on Sunday, the season's worst reading, with estimates putting stubble burning's contribution at up to 18.5%; a Climate Trends analysis, however, found farm fires in Punjab and Haryana barely moved Delhi's AQI in September–October, with local sources playing the bigger role. The Punjab Standard also lays out the BJP's two voices: on October 23, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa attacked AAP over the fires; the next day, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema countered that BJP leaders repeatedly demand cases against farmers, and claimed the Mann government has given farmers machinery worth over Rs 800 crore (Cheema's claim). A week later, a Punjab BJP leader is using the same "anti-farmer" charge against AAP.
What happens next: fires are expected to rise in Sangrur, Moga, Bathinda and Muktsar as harvesting picks up and wheat sowing begins. With the 2027 election approaching and the farm vote central to every party's pitch, the question for the BJP is how its soft line in Punjab sits beside its hard line in Haryana.