Coming down heavily on the AAP Government in Punjab for registration of cases against Kumar Vishwas and Alka Lamba for allegedly making statements against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, the opposition leaders in Punjab accused the AAP-led State Government of misusing the police for political vendetta.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring condemned Kejriwal for misusing Punjab Police to “settle personal scores” with his political opponents like Alka Lamba and Kumar Vishwas.
“It is outright abuse of power by an extra-constitutional authority like Kejriwal, who has no legitimate or constitutional authority to exercise control over Punjab Police,” he said while questioning the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s “helpless silence”.
“Just because somebody was critical of you during the elections does not mean you put them behind bars to settle personal scores and satisfy your ego,” he told Kejriwal, while warning him against setting a dangerous precedent.
Warring also cautioned the state Director General of Police against playing second fiddle to an “outside authority” like Delhi Chief Minister. “The law and order situation has gone for a toss since AAP took over in Punjab. Instead of diverting your energies in fixing political opponents of Kejriwal, you should focus on improving law and order in the state,” he told the state police chief.
Punjab Congress Legislature Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa said that AAP came to power on the promise of bringing a change but it seems it has started taking revenge. “It appeared to be an indirect message to political opponents to either fall in line or be ready to face the same fate,” he said.
Also slamming AAP Government, Punjab Congress’ former chief Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted, “Pb Govt is acting like @ArvindKerjwail's puppet...Police action against @DrKumarVishwas & @LambaAlka ji shows that it is being used to silence his critics. Congress stands firmly with Alka ji. Will accompany her to police station to protest against politicisation of Pb Police.”
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said that Punjab Chief Minister, on behalf of his mentor Kejriwal, is making “blatant misuse of police force to unleash political vendetta against political rivals:.
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal also termed the police action against Vishwas as violation of the Constitution.
Taking a dig at AAP and Kejriwal, Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s former Deputy Speaker Bir Devinder Singh said that a special post of DGP (Vengence and Political Retaliations) with headquarters at Punjab Bhawan, New Delhi, should be set up for “the whims and fancies of Delhi Chief Minister Mr Arvind Kejriwal”.
Defending the development, AAP spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said that he was surprised to see that the Congress and BJP leaders have come to the defence of Vishwas. “They should have faith in the Punjab Police and let it do its job,” he said.
Notably, Punjab Police had earlier also booked Delhi BJP leaders Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and Naveen Kumar Jindal. The state police had booked Bagga, who is a BJP spokesperson and has been attacking Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal over the movie "The Kashmir Files", on charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation.
Police had registered the case against Jindal for allegedly sharing on his Twitter handle a "doctored video clip" of a media interview of Kejriwal.