The showcasing of retired health department employees as “beneficiaries” of the “Mukhyamantri Sehat Yojana” during the state-level Independence Day celebrations in this border district has triggered a political controversy, with both the SAD and the Congress slamming the AAP government and terming the episode “theatrics” on the sacred occasion.Notably, on August 15, the Health Department presented a tableau in which a group of elderly men, most of whom were actually retired health department officials, were seen performing “bhangra” to the tunes of popular Punjabi songs.The tableau was aimed at highlighting various healthcare initiatives of the state government, including the “Mukhyamantri Sehat Yojana”.Subsequently, a video of the performance went viral on social media, drawing the immediate attention of the opposition.While slamming the state government, senior SAD leader Bikramjeet Singh Majithia accused the government of indulging in “propaganda” instead of delivering anything on the ground. In a social media post, Majithia sarcastically referred to the presentation as a “spectacle of lies” in the name of the August 15 celebrations.He alleged that the government was trying to project the performers as beneficiaries of successful knee replacement surgeries, even though they themselves had not undergone any such surgery.Majithia also questioned the government’s claims of a healthcare revolution, alleging that instead of strengthening hospitals and providing better treatment, the government was focusing on publicity and advertisements. He added that the government had used the Independence Day platform to showcase its achievements through what he termed a fake “drama”.PPCC president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring also demanded the resignation of Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh, accusing him of befooling the people of Punjab. Referring to the “bhangra” performance by those whose knees had purportedly been replaced, Warring said that this was characteristic of the AAP regime, which, he alleged, lies to the people by creating drama and theatrics.Warring said it was understandable that people who had undergone knee replacement surgery would not be able to dance like that, and that it later came to light that the performers were actually retired employees of the Health Department.Warring said he would like to remind Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann that he was no longer a stage artist but the Chief Minister of Punjab and should avoid such theatrics. He said that while telling lies had been a basic trait of the AAP, enacting a drama like the one staged on Independence Day was an insult to the sacred occasion.When contacted, CMO Dr Meenakshi Dhingra said the tableau was merely a representation of the benefits being provided under various government health schemes and that the identities of patients had never been made public. She said there was nothing objectionable about the tableau, as it was simply a representation of the government’s initiatives in the health sector.