The Aam Aadmi Party has been put on the backfoot at a wrong time. When the countdown for the crucial assembly elections has already begun, two back to back incidents involving the “highhandedness” on part of the government has put the party on the defensive.
The government was already under fire over the police brutality against Mohanjit of Sheron village in Sangrur, who was allegedly tortured in police custody and who drew huge media and political attention, then came the suicide of Gulzar Singh, again from the Chief Minister’s home district Sangrur.
This time it was the constituency of the Finance Minister Harpal Cheema, considered to be the ‘number-two’ in the government. Gulzar, in a video message, held Cheema responsible for his death. The issue came handy for the opposition and rightly so.
Gulzar had reportedly questioned Cheema during a public interaction about the prevalence of drugs in the area since his (Gulzar’s) son had also fallen prey to drug addiction. While Cheema himself had reportedly listened to him patiently, later some of the AAP workers including a sarpanch reportedly threatened and intimidated him for confronting Cheema. He was reportedly forced to tender an unconditional apology. Feeling humiliated he allegedly consumed ‘celphos’ tablets, used as an insecticide, which led to his. Before his death Gulzar recorded a video statement holding Cheema responsible for his death.
For the first time, the Congress party launched an all-out assault on the AAP government with the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi coming on the front and criticizing the AAP government and holding it responsible for the suicide of a Dalit.
Both Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann countered Rahul asking him “not to play politics on dead bodies”. But, the undeterred Congress continued with its massive campaign across all the social media and traditional media platforms.
Both the incidents were avoidable and uncalled for. In the first incident, Mohanjit had protested in front of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann by showing him the black flags. It is highly unlikely that the Chief Minister would have asked the police to take any action. But given the way Punjab Police officers work, by going extra mile to prove “more loyal than the king”, the police arrested Mohanjit and allegedly subjected him to brutal torture. The AAP government did transfer the two officers responsible but it could have taken more stringent action.
In the second case of Gulzar Singh, it was obviously the supporters of Harpal Cheema who allegedly intimidated and humiliated him (Gulzar) and the blame went on Cheema.
Neither Mann nor Cheema may be directly responsible for the two respective incidents but the two are indirectly responsible as it is the AAP government which allowed the police highhandedness mainly against the political opponents. In the process the police forgot to draw the line and the AAP is now reaping the whirlwind. These two incidents which happened within the span of a few days only will weigh heavily against the AAP, at a time when it is preparing for the ensuing assembly elections with high stakes.
(Views expressed are personal.)