Apology doesn’t help, AAP’s Khetan booked for hurting Sikh sentiments
MISREADS PITCH The manifesto fiasco has given credence to Akali refrain that AAP is a party of ‘outsiders’, rivals smell a game-changing moment
CASE REGISTERED ON AISSF COMPLAINT, AMRITSAR POLICE LIKELY TO ASK AAP LEADER TO JOIN PROBE
AMRITSAR: The Amritsar police registered a case against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Ashish Khetan on Tuesday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
The journalist-turned-politician was booked just hours after he tendered an apology publicly in Ludhiana for equating the party’s youth manifesto with Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib. The first information report (FIR) was registered at Civil Lines police station on Tuesday night under Section (295-A) of the Indian Penal Code, which prescribes up to three years of jail, with or without fine, on the complaint of All India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF) president Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad.
The charge of hurting religious sentiments means double trouble for the party. It comes just days after Naresh Yadav, party MLA from Mehrauli in Delhi, was booked by Punjab Police in connection with the June 24 Quran sacrilege incident in Malerkotla. One of the accused had claimed that he acted at the behest of the AAP legislator.
In the latest instance, Khetan, while holding a copy of the AAP youth manifesto at a function here on Sunday, said: “Our manifesto is an agreement with people. This is our Bible, this is our Gita, and this is our Guru Granth Sahib.” The complainant also objected to AAP’s putting its broom symbol over the picture of the Golden Temple, holiest shrine of Sikhs, on the manifesto cover.
Though Khetan said sorry publicly, but his apology failed to assuage the hurt religious sentiments of the complainant and leaders of the rival parties. The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the opposition Congress have criticised the AAP leaders, calling the act “blasphemous”.
Police commissioner Amar Singh Chahal said they would call Khetan to join probe after going through the video clip of his speech. However, the police didn’t say if he would be arrested or not but they were sure a notice for questioning was coming his way. Peer Mohammad, on whose complaint the case has been registered, wants AAP convener Kejriwal and Khetan to come to Golden Temple and apologise to the Sikh community. He also said that a gathering of Sikh organisations will be held in Jalandhar on July 9 to decide further strategy.
Already, revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia has sued Khetan for defamation here. Kejriwal and senior leader Sanjay Singh are other accused in that case.
CHANDIGARH: Politics and religion make a volatile mix in Punjab. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) apparently lost sight of this timetested underpinning of complex matrix of the poll-bound state. Unveiling its ‘youth manifesto’ — first in a series for different sections of voters —was meant to make a head start in its campaign a good six months ahead of the assembly polls. Delhi chief minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal chose Amritsar — the seat of religious symbolism — as the starting point for his threeday political outing.
But, things didn’t follow the script and have unexpectedly turned awry for the AAP that now finds itself embroiled in political and legal mess of its own making. Its political gambit to steal a march on rivals has backfired.
Kejriwal landed in Punjab in the midst of a high-voltage row over one of his MLAs, Naresh Yadav, in the crosshairs of the Quran-burning incident in Muslim-dominated Malerkotla town on June 24. Police booked Yadav after the key accused named him as an inciter for sacrilege. Kejriwal aggressively fended off the charges against his legislator, accusing the Badal government of a political frameup. If the Yadav episode wasn’t embarrassing enough, the AAP fumbled by allegedly committing a double blasphemy — printing a Golden Temple image alongside its poll symbol, broom, on the manifesto cover and equating the document with holy books, including Guru Granth Sahib, revered as a living guru by the Sikhs. It has started a storm that is unlikely to blow over too soon.
For the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, the AAP’s stunning indiscretion came as a godsend to turn the screws on the rookie party that has been most vitriolic in its attack on the Badal clan. Though the AAP leaders, quick to realise the potential damage, apologised publicly, political damage-control didn’t stop the legal consequences. The Amritsar police moved swiftly on lodging an FIR against Ashish Khetan, a leading figure in the AAP’s Mission Punjab, for hurting religious sentiments on the complaint of a Sikh leader known for his proximity to the Akalis.
As if on a cue, other frontal Sikh bodies, chiefly the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Sant Samaj, and Damdami Taksal, joined the chorus against the Kejriwal outfit. Much to the AAP’s discomfiture, the sensitive issue has escalated rapidly, as both the Akalis and the Congress have rejected Khetan’s apology — a part of their political strategy to dent the Kejriwal outfit, widely seen as a serious challenger in the Punjab poll sweepstakes. Not to be left behind, the BJP, too, is readying a barrage of blasphemy complaints against the AAP.
Clearly, the AAP has not only scored a self-goal but also handed a potent artillery to its rivals, who are in a mood to exploit its misstep to the hilt. Worse, the manifesto fiasco has given credence to the Akali refrain that the AAP is party of “outsiders”. Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal rubbed it in on Wednesday, saying the AAP leaders are clueless on the historical and cultural ethos of Punjab.
While the AAP battles the political and legal fallout, its troubles may have just started.