The pre-dawn action taken by Punjab Police last week against newspaper distribution trucks in several towns has revived accusations against the Aam Aadmi Party government in the state of crushing opposition.
The day before newspapers, including The Indian Express, could not be distributed on time in the Punjab capital, newspapers carried BJP’s allegations that AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had bagged himself a ‘Sheesh Mahal 2.0’ in Chandigarh.
One of the BJP’s main lines of attack against Kejriwal in the Delhi Assembly elections early this year was that Kejriwal turned the Delhi Chief Minister’s residence into a luxurious ‘shish mahal’; Opinion polls led to the defeat of the AAP and the return of the BJP to power in Delhi after nearly three decades.
Arpit Shukla, Special Director General of Law and Order, said police stopped newspaper delivery trucks on October 31 following intelligence that these trucks might be used to smuggle drugs and ammunition, and that the border state of Punjab needed to be vigilant. While the trucks were launched later, distribution was disrupted in all districts of Chandigarh, except Mohali.
AICC secretary Pargat Singh said the Bhagwant Singh Mann government was trying to “block” news reaching the public about Kejriwal living in a government bungalow in Chandigarh – where he had been spending long periods of time in Punjab after losing power in Delhi.
Opposition leader Partap Singh Bajwa of the Congress Party described the “raids” on newspaper delivery trucks as a “horrific attack on freedom of the press.” “Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann are on the same path as Modi. They both have no faith in democracy or the constitution that defines India.”
A day earlier, the BJP had described the bungalow in Sector 2 where Kejriwal lived while in Chandigarh as a “seven-star” facility and “Sheesh Mahal 2.0”. The AAP denied the accusations, saying the bungalow was merely a “camp office”.
Just days before the controversy, in a move that raised eyebrows, the Mann government had transferred Ajoy Sinha, Principal Secretary, Energy and Managing Director, Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Ltd. Sinha, who is yet to be appointed to any post, is a 1996 batch IAS officer and has a reputation for independence.
“Sinha is not confrontational, but insisted on due process and transparency,” said a senior bureaucrat who worked with him. According to the official, the transfer had a clear chilling effect. “The message was clear. Get in line or get shot down,” said a senior IAS officer, requesting anonymity.
In September, Punjab Police detained AAP Sanur MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra in a three-year-old case on charges of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation. He was arrested but managed to escape and is still on the run despite the state’s anti-gang task force searching for him.
Pathanmagra’s arrest came a day after he attacked the AAP government’s handling of flood relief in Punjab. He accused the government of inefficiency and said that the bureaucracy does not allow it to do its job. He also alleged that the RJD leadership in Delhi “interfered” in the affairs of the Punjab government – a charge made by others before him.
Ahead of Pathanmagra, AAP Jalandhar (Central) MLA Raman Arora was booked and arrested on May 23, on charges of cheating individuals in collusion with government officials. There were reports of Arora getting close to the BJP when the arrest was made.
In late June, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, a former IAS officer, from Amritsar (North) was suspended from AAP for five years after he publicly questioned the MA government’s handling of the disproportionate assets case against senior Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who is under arrest. He also criticized the Mann government for failing to show any progress in the decade-long Burghari sacrilege case.
In March, Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, a 2001-batch IAS officer, was removed from his post as Home Minister and remains without charge seven months later. The action against Gurkeerat, who also took charge of mines and geology, and was the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and Gurdwara elections, came soon after he attended the wedding of the daughter of Akali Dal leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
After his dismissal, there were allegations of pressure on Gurkeerat to clear some sand mining files.
A month later, IPS officer Varinder Kumar was removed from his post as Vigilance Chief and was not given any post. Later, he was appointed Special Director for Human Rights until his retirement on 31 July. As Vigilance chief, Kumar took up several high-profile cases involving former Congress ministers, including Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Sunder Sham Arora.
AAP spokesperson Neil Garg said there was no truth in the charge that the party suppressed dissent using official machinery. “We are a democratic party. We follow the rules of democracy in letter and spirit. We do not do anything that can be questioned,” Garg said.
(tags for translation)Government of Punjab AAP
