Stopped from entering Delhi: Punjab AAP leaders
Allege that they were lathicharged by Delhi cops at Singhu border
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR/ JALANDHAR: Several Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ministers and MLAs from Punjab on Sunday alleged that they were stopped from entering the national capital where party’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was being questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the excise policy case.
While Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had reached Delhi a day earlier, a number of AAP leaders, including cabinet ministers and legislators, started for the national capital in the morning to express solidarity with the party chief. The AAP claimed that party leaders, including health minister Dr Balbir Singh, revenue minister Bram Shanker Jimpa and legislators Dinesh Chadha and Kuljit Singh Randhawa, were stopped at Singhu border and not allowed to enter Delhi.
Accusing the BJP of murdering democracy in the country, Balbir tweeted, “MLAs, ministers, and volunteers, who were peacefully travelling to Delhi, were stopped, illegally detained, followed by brutal lathicharge on unarmed, peaceful people. We had to do CPR & rush the injured to hospital to save lives. Brutal assault by Modi regime to crush @ArvindKejriwal.”
He also said that the Constitution and the Supreme Court gave them the right to move freely in the country and protest peacefully.
School education minister Harjot Singh Bains also said that he was stopped and tweeted, “We cannot even enter our capital? @DelhiPolice not allowing my car to enter Delhi (sic).” Bains, however, later managed to enter Delhi and protested outside the CBI headquarters. The AAP, in a statement, said that party leaders and supporters going from Punjab to Delhi were lathicharged by the Delhi Police at Singhu border.
BJP scared of Kejriwal’s rising stature: Dhaliwal
The AAP on Sunday staged a protest in Amritsar against summoning of Kejriwal by the CBI. Raising slogans against the Modi government, cabinet minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, along with various Punjab ministers, MLAs and a large number of volunteers, sat on a dharna at Bhandari bridge.
Dhaliwal claimed that the BJP has been shaken by the growing stature of the AAP and its national convener Kejriwal. “That’s why the BJP has summoned him (Kejriwal) through the CBI to implicate him in a false case,” he added.
He said no matter how much the central government misuses its agencies, the AAP cannot be stopped. “We will not stop till Arvind Kejriwal becomes the Prime Minister of our country. Narendra Modi is afraid of Kejriwal. He knows that only Kejriwal can challenge him in 2024, so he is troubling him repeatedly,” Dhaliwal said.
Dhaliwal was joined by cabinet ministers Inderbir Singh Nijjar, Laljit Singh Bhullar, Lal Chand Kataruchak, MLAs Ajay Gupta, Jeevan Jyot Kaur, Jasbir Singh, and Dalbir Singh Tong, besides other AAP members and workers.
Meanwhile, in a press conference at Jalandhar, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema condemned the ‘dictatorial’ attitude of the BJP-led central government and said, “The BJP and the Congress are older outfits, but the AAP gained the title of national party in just 10 years. We are also garnering the support of people everywhere we are contesting elections. The BJP is scared of the AAP and Arvind Kejriwal.”
Cheema said the Punjab government implemented the same liquor policy in state and the revenue from it increased by 41%.
“If it wasn’t a good policy, then how come the revenue increased so much?” he asked.