Overview
- During the Monsoon Session the Punjab Assembly was debating illegal sand mining when Pathankot BJP MLA Ashwani Sharma used an analogy comparing reactions to the birth of girls and boys that provoked an immediate uproar.
- Ruling Aam Aadmi Party MLAs and ministers including Harpal Singh Cheema and Aman Arora called the remark sexist and demanded an unconditional apology from Sharma, with several women legislators rising in protest.
- Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan intervened and asked Sharma whether he would apologise, but Sharma did not withdraw the comment on the floor and the mining discussion was redirected by the row.
- Hours later Sharma told reporters he regretted the wording, said he had used a common Punjabi phrase with no intent to offend, and formally asked the Speaker to expunge the remark from Assembly records.
- The exchange has pushed a policy debate over claims that Punjab lost about ₹20,000 crore in potential sand-mining revenue because of Centre-state friction into a partisan fight over rhetoric, legislative norms and gender sensitivity.