India's apex human rights body singled out Punjab's free elderly pilgrimage buses for inspection — and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal wants the country to know it. On Saturday, 24 October 2026, Kejriwal posted a sharp political charge on X, alleging that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) conducted what he called its first-ever bus inspection — and trained it exclusively on the super-deluxe coaches ferrying elderly pilgrims across Punjab, while leaving the fleets of other states, including Uttar Pradesh Roadways, entirely untouched.

In his post, Kejriwal catalogued the questions he says no one in New Delhi is answering: 'क्या NHRC ने यूपी रोडवेज की बसों की जाँच की? नहीं।' ('Did NHRC inspect UP Roadways buses? No.') The inspection, he claimed, flagged issues as minor as the partition between drivers and passengers — a standard safety feature in long-distance coaches. His conclusion was blunt: the action is aimed not at road safety but at disrupting the AAP Punjab government's flagship free pilgrimage scheme for the elderly.

What NHRC Inspected — and What It Skipped

The NHRC, constituted under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, is empowered to inquire into violations of human rights and can suo motu examine public welfare grievances. Kejriwal's allegation is that the commission deployed that power in a narrowly targeted way — scrutinising only the super-deluxe buses Punjab uses for its state-funded elderly pilgrimage programme, and raising objections to features that would ordinarily be considered routine on intercity coaches.

He did not stop at the institutional critique. Addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly, he wrote: 'मोदी जी, क्यों बुजुर्गों की तीर्थयात्रा रोकने पे लगे हो?' ('Modi ji, why are you bent on stopping the pilgrimage of the elderly?') The post closed with a warning that Punjab's seniors — and Punjabis broadly — would remember the interference, invoking religious and moral weight against the Centre.

Selective Federalism or Legitimate Oversight?

The allegation fits a pattern Indian opposition parties have pressed repeatedly in recent years: that central statutory bodies are deployed with greater intensity against states governed by rival parties. AAP, which controls Punjab, has been at the centre of several such disputes since winning the state in 2022. Whether the NHRC acted on a specific complaint or initiated a suo motu inquiry — and whether comparable inspections have been conducted in other states — remains publicly unconfirmed.

What is clear is the political arithmetic Kejriwal is running. Punjab has a large Sikh population with deep attachments to pilgrimage traditions, and any perception that the Central government is obstructing access to religious travel for elderly citizens carries real emotional and electoral charge. The free pilgrimage scheme is one of AAP's most visible welfare offerings in the state.

The NHRC has not issued a public statement in response. If the commission releases the scope and findings of its inspection, the facts will either validate Kejriwal's charge of selective targeting — or provide the institutional reasoning he says is missing. Until then, the political fire he has lit will keep burning.