Till just a week ago, Congress in Punjab was in a state of civil war and was a completely divided house between two groups of leaders. While Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of Opposition in Punjab assembly Partap Singh Bajwa were seen on one side, most other senior leaders, including former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Pargat Singh and others were on the other side.
However, after the Aam Aadmi Party government registered a criminal case against Partap Singh Bajwa over an interview where he said 50 grenades had been smuggled into Punjab, the entire party has united and rallied behind him. Until now, Channi, Warring and Bajwa would not like to share the stage. But, now they are being seen together. Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has handed over them a reason to be together.
A few days ago, Bajwa told a television channel that he had learnt from his “own sources” that about 50 grenades had been allegedly smuggled into the state. Of these, he reportedly said, while 20 or so had been lobbed at different places, about 30 grenades were missing.
After the interview, Bajwa was reportedly called up by some police officials to know about the source of his information, which he declined to reveal. In fact, there was nothing confidential about it. A leading national Hindi daily had already reported the same thing two days before Bajwa’s television interview. Bajwa might have used the information from the newspaper, but later attributed it to his “own sources” that landed him in trouble.
Immediately after the interview was telecast on a news channel, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in a televised message, wanted Bajwa to reveal the source of his information. Within no time, Bajwa’s statement led to a political slugfest. Mann, not known for mincing any words, alleged that Bajwa had “old connections” with Pakistan. The AAP leadership came out in support of the Chief Minister, quoting a letter purportedly written by former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to Sonia Gandhi, the then Congress president where he had allegedly accused Bajwa of having links with smugglers.
However, according to Bajwa, Capt Amarinder later in a television interview clarified that he had received a complaint, which he got investigated and nothing was found against him (Bajwa) in the probe.
The AAP government’s decision to register an FIR against Bajwa appears to have already boomeranged.
One, the issue of smuggling in of foreign-made grenades has come into public focus. Earlier, people would forget within no time whenever any such incident would happen. Now, the grenade attacks have gone into public discourse.
Two, the FIR has left no option among the Congress leaders, who were not seeing eye to eye with each other till recent past, to rally together behind Bajwa. The party is now presenting itself like a unified force. Almost the entire senior leadership of the party accompanied Bajwa to the Mohali Police Station, where he had been summoned for questioning regarding this case.
The Congress high command has also come in support of Bajwa. So far, the party high command would mostly remain guarded about the AAP, despite being rivals in Delhi. This was because the Congress valued AAP’s presence in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, as it is one of its important constituent parties. The momentary bitterness between the two parties during the Delhi elections was left behind long ago immediately after the conclusion of the elections. Moreover, it was primarily left to Delhi leadership like Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dixit to take on the AAP.
However, this time, after the registration of FIR against Bajwa, the entire Congress high command from party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh, besides many others came in his (Bajwa’s) support and were very critical about the AAP. Kharge and Rahul spoke to Bajwa assuring their support to him.
Reacting to the case, Jairam Ramesh, who is also the general secretary in charge of communications, said, “Instead of taking the warning (by Bajwa) seriously, the Chief Minister of Punjab accused Bajwa - who has lost family to terrorism - of links with terrorist groups.”
Also read: Just one kick: The collapse of an image
“Clearly, the Punjab Chief Minister - a bundle of insecurity and incompetence - and the corrupt AAP leadership is rattled and is resorting to intimidation, smear and threats. It will not work,” he remarked, while asserting, “Governance in Punjab has completely collapsed. The Indian National Congress will not be silenced and will continue to raise the concerns of the people forcefully.”
Such stinging criticism of the AAP from the Congress high command has come for the first time. It is also indicative of the turn politics is going to take in the state in the coming time. Punjab Congress leadership has always been critical of the AAP. In fact, Punjab leadership had a significant role in prevailing upon the high command to go for an alliance with the AAP for Delhi assembly elections. Punjab Congress leadership believed that a defeat in Delhi for the AAP, irrespective of which party won, will be in the interest of Congress in Punjab.
Not only has the issue helped the Congress unite in Punjab, it has propelled Partap Singh Bajwa to the centrestage, leaving many people wondering whether Mann has actually done him a favour by slapping a case on him, which may not even stand the scrutiny of law. What Bajwa said in an interview, was already reported by multiple media outlets before him, thus providing him a strong legal defence.
Follow us
