Chandigarh, April 17
With Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at the homes of two AAP leaders in three days, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann called out the BJP for using central agencies to begin its Punjab election campaign, saying a party unable to find 117 candidates is trying to spread fear instead of winning public support.
The Chief Minister emphasised that opposition governments are being harassed through blocked funds, Governors, ED, CBI and the Election Commission, while leaders joining the BJP emerged clean from its ‘washing machine’. He said AAP would not be intimidated, asserting that Punjabis may lose their heads but would never bow in fear, and told the BJP to prepare for 2027 by working among the people instead of relying on raids and pressure tactics.
Addressing a press conference, Mann stated, “Our country is called the biggest democracy in the world, the world’s largest democracy. Here, people elect the government of their choice. It is the duty of the central government to give every state what is rightfully theirs, above politics and above party lines. But for some time now, we have been seeing that democracy is slowly being strangled. All non BJP governments are being troubled, either directly by stopping funds from the Centre or through Governors in one way or another.”
Targeting the BJP, Mann said, “The AAP has been specially targeted because it is a party that is growing very rapidly. It has become a national party in barely ten years. BJP thinks they can handle Congress, and they have also been hand in glove with Congress at times, but they do not want a third force to emerge.”
Mann pointed out, “In this process, they filed fake ED cases against our leaders in Delhi like in the so-called liquor scam case. Our senior leaders were sent to jail. Arvind Kejriwal, a sitting Chief Minister was jailed, along with Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. Our Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh was jailed. Whoever worked behind the scenes, any ‘karyakartas’ or policymakers, all were jailed, threatened, intimidated, and told to join BJP or face trouble. This politics of fear and intimidation is continuing.”
Flagging a clear pattern across the country, he shared, “Across the country, in Bengal, from the DGP onwards, officers have been changed because elections are coming. They do not win elections through people. They win elections through ED, CBI, the Election Commission, and other departments used for intimidation. A few days ago, ED raided the premises of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal, who runs Lovely Professional University, where around 4,000 students study. Students from more than 35 countries come there to study. But because he is an Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP, suddenly he became tainted.”
Speaking on the current raid, Mann revealed, “Today, an ED raid is underway at the house of Minister Sanjeev Arora. He had badly defeated BJP in Ludhiana by-election. So today he too has become tainted according to the BJP. It means BJP has started preparations for the 2027 Assembly elections. Send ED, send Income Tax, send notices, create fear. Because they cannot even find 117 people to contest elections. BJP cannot find 117 candidates, so they are saying either contest under fear or come out clean from our ‘washing machine.’”
“This is a very dangerous trend. Democracy is being murdered. We strongly condemn this. Only non BJP governments are being harassed. Only opposition leaders face the stick of ED, and nothing comes out of it. The case against Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia was also discharged. That means it was such a false case that even a trial could not start. But they say first put them inside jail, let elections happen, then we will see later,” Mann added.
