The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a twin-track monsoon preparedness drive on Thursday, 2 July, with its Himachal Pradesh unit conducting a 'Maharudra Hawan' in Shimla and its Punjab cadre deploying senior leaders to assess flood readiness in river-plain districts — ahead of what could be another punishing monsoon season.

The Shimla Hawan: Prayers and Political Messaging

Rajya Sabha MP Sikander Kumar, who participated in the ritual at Shimla, said the hawan was performed to seek the blessings of Lord Shiva for the protection of Himachal Pradesh and the country from natural calamities. He pointed to the recurring devastation in districts such as Mandi, Kullu, and Chamba over recent monsoon seasons as the backdrop for the prayer event.

Kumar also used the occasion to draw a political contrast, saying BJP workers had stood by affected families during past disasters while the Congress government, in his words, 'failed to provide the leadership and support expected from a responsible administration.' He pushed back against the Himachal Pradesh government's repeated allegations that the Centre had been biased in disbursing disaster assistance, arguing that all four BJP Members of Parliament from the state, along with both Rajya Sabha MPs, had consistently raised the state's concerns in Parliament. Blaming the Union government for administrative and financial shortcomings, he said, was 'merely an attempt to divert attention from the failures of the Congress government led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.'

Punjab's Ground-Level Flood Assessment

In neighbouring Punjab — heavily exposed to swollen rivers that originate in Himachal Pradesh — BJP's state unit President Kewal Singh Dhillon has deployed senior party leaders across flood-prone districts to conduct on-the-ground reviews of last year's damage and current preparedness.

The visiting leaders will be accompanied by district presidents and will travel to the areas most severely hit in the 2025 floods. They are expected to interact with affected families and local residents to gather first-hand accounts of flood-related challenges, relief delivery, and rehabilitation progress. Detailed reports will subsequently be submitted to the party leadership.

The leaders assigned include: legislator Ashwani Sharma for Gurdaspur; former legislator Fatehjang Singh Bajwa for Amritsar; former MP Shwait Malik for Pathankot; former legislator Surjit Jyani for Ferozepur; former state chief Sunil Jakhar for Fazilka; Sushil Rinku for Abohar; former MPs Avinash Rai Khanna for Jalandhar and Vijay Sampla for Ropar; Iqbal Singh Lalpura for Mohali; and legislator Jangi Lal Mahajan for Hoshiarpur.

Scale of Last Year's Devastation

The urgency of the exercise is rooted in the scale of destruction the 2025 monsoon inflicted on both states. In Punjab, Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal had tabled a resolution in a special session of the Vidhan Sabha, demanding a special package of ₹20,000 crore for flood-affected families, farmers, and infrastructure restoration. He described the 2025 floods as surpassing even the devastation of 1988, with more than 2,300 villages ravaged, nearly 20 lakh people directly affected, crops on more than 5 lakh acres destroyed, and 7 lakh people displaced.

In Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhu had declared the state disaster-hit following extensive damage from cloudbursts, flash floods, and landslides. The monsoon claimed 320 lives and caused total damage estimated at more than ₹3 lakh crore, according to state government figures.

What Comes Next

The BJP's dual approach — ritual prayer in Himachal Pradesh and administrative fact-finding in Punjab — signals the party's intent to position itself as a proactive opposition force on disaster management ahead of the full monsoon season. The reports compiled by visiting Punjab leaders are expected to be submitted to the party leadership shortly, and could feed into demands for early Centre intervention if river levels rise. All eyes now turn to how both state governments respond once the rains intensify.