In its debut assembly elections in Punjab in 2017, Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) bagged 20 seats, way below the target set by the party. Fast forward five years and AAP is out and about to rectify its past mistakes. And what better way to resurrect its dibbly-dobbly fortunes than by re-igniting the Khalistan issue to polarize the voters and cash in their precious vote bank.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party is infamous for supporting anti-national elements—from Tahir Hussain to Umar Khalid to Kanhaiya Kumar to Sharjeel Imam, one would find AAP serenading such elements in some capacity or another. But trying to revive the Khalistan issue is something that comes naturally to the party.
AAP received funding from the Khalistan group
And it’s not AAP’s first rodeo with the Khalistani cause. As reported by TFI in 2018, Gurcharan Singh, a member of once banned Dal Khalsa claimed that his group campaigned and even funded AAP during the 2017 Punjab state assembly elections.
Gurcharan accepted the same in public during a TV debate with Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. When Arnab Goswami asked Gurcharan Singh whether his group funded AAP or not, Gurcharan replied:
“Aam Aadmi Party was just a tool. It was a meaningless tool. It is an irrelevant party. Aam Aadmi Party is an irrelevant party brought in Punjab by a rogue. We used the AAP as a tool to expose the political system and Electoral machines. AAP got 90 seats in Punjab. We used them as a tool to expose how fraud the electoral system is in the state.”
AAP got funding from banned Khalistani organisation during Punjab elections pic.twitter.com/rcxn9wn2fj
— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) October 4, 2018
Kejriwal slept in the house of Khalistan leader
Kejriwal during the canvassing process in Punjab in 2017 had even stayed in the house of Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) activist Gurwinder Singh.
It is pertinent to note that Gurwinder is the former chief of KLF. He is accused of inciting Sikh-Hindu riots during the years when terrorism was at its peak in Punjab. He was even jailed in cases relating to murder and other heinous crimes.
AAP leaders batting for the Khalistan referendum
As reported by TFI, in 2018 former AAP member of parliament from Patiala, Dharamvir Gandhi in Punjab had come out in support of the Khalistan referendum.
In an objectionable statement inciting susceptible elements, he had stated that people have the democratic and legal right to demand a separate homeland.
Read more: AAP is providing a platform to radicals in Punjab
Another former senior leader of AAP, Sukhpal Khaira had supported a referendum for Khalistan. Khairahad reportedly said, “I support the Sikh referendum 2020 movement as Sikhs have the right to demand justice against atrocities suffered by them”.
Supporting the fake farmers protest at the cost of inconvenience to Delhiites
The fact that AAP is out to revive the Khalistan issue can be gauged by the party’s reaction to the Farmer’s protest which had heavy involvement of Khalistani elements.
The Delhi government welcomed the protesting farmers as their “guests” and made elaborate arrangements for their food, drinking water, and shelter.
Just the way a rabid Shaheen Bagh was allowed to prosper by AAP—the anti-national forces; not the actual farmers, were protected by the Delhi government when ordinary Delhiites faced nuisance, trouble and crime over a long period of one and a half years.
Not making a peep after the PM was nearly assassinated
Even when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy narrowly escaped a major security crisis on Wednesday en route Punjab’s Ferozepur, the Aam Aadmi Party remained mute in its condemnation of the complacency of the Punjab government.
Usually hyperactive in foul-mouthing Channi and his government, the silence of Kejriwal showed that he may have been in on the conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister.
A customary look at top AAP leaders and their Twitter timelines is enough to suggest that for them the security of India’s Prime Minister is not a big issue, worthy of being commented upon.
Read More: Punjab CM Channi seems to have a personal hand in PM Modi’s security breach
Trying to bring the dark ages back
For almost two decades, Punjab suffered the curse of strife and terrorism. The policies of the Congress party and the politics played by the Akalis soaked the fertile soil of the state with the blood of its own people. Kidnappings, murder, and ransom became the everyday ritual of the state.
Terrorists demanded a separate homeland for Sikhs- Khalistan, but the Armed Forces went all out to crush the secessionist forces and eventually succeeded. However, an entire generation of Punjab was lost in the wanton bloodshed. And just when it looked like normalcy had returned, political parties like AAP have crawled out of their burrow holes, attempting to sow seeds of chaos and anarchy.
And now, a party like AAP is trying to make a field for itself by supporting such forces so that it can polarise the elections by making a terrorist like Bhindrenwala a martyr and cash in on the votes of the radicals. Supporting the Khalistan issue is a means to an end for AAP, nothing more, nothing less, and those who believe otherwise should take a good, hard look at the cold facts.