Chandigarh, Apr 17 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday slammed the BJP-led central government after the ED carried out raids at premises of state minister Sanjeev Arora, saying democracy is being “murdered” and only “non-BJP governments are being harassed”.
Accusing the Centre of using agencies like the ED and CBI as a weapon, he said the raids show that the BJP has begun its “preparations” for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections.
Shortly after the ED conducted searches at the premises of the minister and some others as part of an investigation, Arora said that as a responsible citizen he will fully cooperate with the agencies.
“Good Morning! An action by the Enforcement Directorate took place at my premises. As a responsible citizen, I will fully cooperate with the agencies and I am confident that the truth will prevail,” Arora said in a post on X.
A few days back, the federal probe agency conducted FEMA searches at the premises of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Kumar Mittal and his educational institutions in Punjab and Haryana.
Mittal was recently appointed the deputy leader of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Rajya Sabha, replacing MP Raghav Chadha. Mittal is also the Chancellor of Lovely Professional University in Phagwara.
Addressing a press conference here, Mann said, a few days back, the ED conducted raids at Mittal’s premises.
“More than 40,000 students study in Mittal’s Lovely Professional University which includes students from more than 35 countries. Since he is a Rajya Sabha MP from the AAP, so suddenly he became tainted,” Mann said slamming the BJP-led Centre.
“Today, raids are going on at Sanjeev Arora’s premises. He is our Power, Local Bodies and Industries Minister. Today, he too has become tainted,” Mann said, hitting out at the BJP.
Mann said the raids show that the BJP has begun preparations for 2027 Punjab polls, which is to send the ED, slap Income Tax notices, use threat because the BJP is unable to find candidates on 117 Assembly seats in Punjab to fight.
“In this scenario, the BJP is saying scare them by sending ED so that they either they do not fight or join them by going through their washing machine,” he said, calling it as a dangerous trend.
“Democracy is being murdered. We strongly condemn it,” he said, while alleging that, “Only non-BJP governments are being harassed”.
He said India’s freedom fighters gave supreme sacrifices only to see their motherland attain freedom and see democracy thrive in the country but the BJP is doing the “opposite”.
Calling the Centre’s misuse of central agencies a cowardly act by the BJP government, Mann said, “We are not going to be scared by what they do. They may send ED, CBI or whatever department they have… We will fight, we stand by truth…Justice will ultimately prevail”.
Even the Mughals ruled the country for long, but even their rule came to an end, he said.
Attacking the BJP government, Mann said, “For past some time now, we have been witnessing democracy being strangled. The Centre stops funds to non-BJP governments or through governors they are being harassed. They (BJP govt) have specially taken AAP on target because our party is expanding fast and became a national party in just ten years”.
“BJP thinks it can tackle Congress and in fact, they are in cahoots with them. But to stop a third force from emerging they slapped ED cases against our leaders in Delhi, send our top leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, who was chief minister then, to jail. Several other leaders of AAP were put behind bars by the BJP government. Many other prominent AAP functionaries were jailed and threatened to either join BJP or face difficulties.
“The politics of intimidation and threats continues throughout the country. In West Bengal, from DGP to every officer was changed. They don’t win elections on the basis of people’s support, but BJP uses ED, CBI and other agencies…,” Mann alleged. Is this democracy? This is not democracy, this is dictatorship, Mann said.
Mann alleged that Centre uses ED and other agencies only against opposition leaders and later nothing comes out of their action.
“We saw what happened in Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia case,” he said. Referring to Samrat Choudhary being made chief minister of Bihar, Mann said, “He faces many cases… They used to talk about Jungle Raj in Bihar once, now what kind of rule they have brought in that state”.
Taking a dig at the BJP, he said BJP’s “tainted are clean” just like the TV advertisement that talks about “Kucch Daag Ache Hai”.
Mann said no matter how much misuse of agencies the BJP does, but AAP is not going to be scared with their actions, he said.
“In Punjab, the BJP gets just one or two seats, now to increase that number they are taking the ED’s support. They have no cadre, no leader, so they are taking leaders from Congress, Akali Dal and other outfits,” Mann said.
He said leaders like Sunil Jakhar, Capt Amarinder Singh, Manpreet Singh Badal and other leaders who joined the BJP came from the Congress.
“BJP has set up a Congress wing in Punjab,” he said.
Mann said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attention should have been how to tackle unemployment in the country, how to build better schools, how better treatment can be given to patients, how our country can minimise the impact on various aspects of economy in the wake of the Middle East conflict, but his attention is on sending ED, withdrawing security on opposition leaders…they are doing such politics. Do governments run like this?” Mann asked.
Further targeting the government, he charged that US President Donald Trump is dictating terms to us.
“We had to become ‘Vishwa Guru’, but we have became ‘Vishwa Chele’ (world followers). Is the country run like this?” he said.
He also accused BJP of wanting to grab power in West Bengal by hook or crook.
Referring to the government’s slogans for family planning “Hum Do Hamare Do”, he said the BJP-led Centre is running on that principle with two of its top leaders and the latter’s two favourite industrialists running the show.
He, however, did not specify names.PTI SUN VSD DV DV
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