New Delhi: The results of the most crucial state elections are out, and even though the BJP celebrates its 4/5 wins, the game has just begun. The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party has won the most talked about border state, Punjab, becoming the fastest growing political party, but the results aren’t surprising.
Kejriwal’s rampant appeasement of the Sikhs and brazen pandering to separatist groups in Punjab, who dream of Punjab as a separate sovereign nation, gave him an upper hand in the state elections. The undeniable support of Kejriwal to the Khalistani ideologues even drew him the support of pro-Khalistan outfits by declaring their support for his party during the Lok Sabha elections.
Quite recently, Kumar Vishwas, former Aam Aadmi Party leader and an eminent international Hindi poet, revealed Kejriwal’s acquaintance and hobnobbing with the separatists who were linked to the Khalistani movement, for electoral gains in the last elections. The former confidante even claimed that he would either become Chief Minister of Punjab or become the first Prime Minister of an independent nation (Khalistan), if needed.
In every case, this is not the first time that a close acquaintance has spoken up about the deep-rooted separatism in Kejriwal’s mind. As recently as February 2022, Rahul Gandhi took a potshot at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, saying that the AAP chief could be found at the home of a terrorist, alluding to a 2017 instance wherein Arvind stayed overnight at the ancestral home of a former Khalistani terrorist in Moga. In the run-up to the 2017 Assembly election, even Gul Panag warned Arvind Kejriwal and AAP about their romance with fanatical religious fringe and separatist elements in Punjab. But Kejriwal, in his lust for power, continued on the path of destruction.
Back in 2018, actress Gul Panag, a former party member, said, “Poorly calculated flirtation that was. One I warned against. Repeatedly. It’s because they didn’t ‘get’ or ‘understand’ Punjab. I thought the K gang had electoral weightage. All of us from Punjab knew better. But alas! ” It comes as no surprise that Kejriwal couldn’t complete Vishwas’ challenge, but he goes onto refer to himself as the “world’s sweetest terrorist” and compares himself to Bhagat Singh, saying that Bhagat Singh was once branded as a terrorist and today his follower is being subjected to the same ordeal. Perhaps Kejriwal has been taking comedy lessons from comedian Bhagwant Mann, his chief ministerial candidate in Punjab.
And even though one discards Vishwas’ statement as a classic “he said, she said” case, how does one conveniently forget that this is the same Kejriwal that has played the lowest politics ever played, politics on the capabilities of our security forces? After the heart-wrenching attack in Pulwama, Kejriwal failed to stand united with the country and insinuated that the Pulwama attack was carried out by Pakistan at the behest of the Modi government to help PM Modi in the forthcoming general elections in May 2019.
Pakistan and Imran Khan are openly supporting Modi Ji. It is clear now that Modi Ji has some secret pact with them. Everyone is asking – did Pakistan kill 40 of our brave soldiers in Pulwama on February 14, just before elections to help Modi Ji? “, said Kejriwal, peddling a preposterous conspiracy. In fact, in the aftermath of the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Armed Forces to avenge the deaths of the brave hearts that died in the Uri attack, Kejriwal cunningly released a video congratulating the Indian government but asking the government for evidence to establish that the surgical strikes indeed happened.
Even though border security is outside the reach of a Chief Minister, cooperation between the Punjab Police and Border Security Force must be maintained at all times, but can we expect the same from Kejriwal, as compared to Captain Amarinder Singh’s government, who has never shied away from supporting anarchic protests and aiding them with all possible resources?
There is no mistaking that the Shaheen Bagh protests were anti-India in nature, involving serious threats to break India and hate campaigns against the Hindus of this country, which culminated in the brutal killings of Hindus. More recently, in the so-called farmers’ protests, the nation witnessed separatist sentiments stronger and more visible than ever before, involving the rape of a woman and the murder of a man for ‘blasphemy’, which ended up vandalising the national capital on Republic Day and taking down the tricolour at the Red Fort. This is Kejriwal’s model that engineers riots in this country and ignites anarchic situations for electoral gains.
Kejriwal has been to the art of deception as Mozart was to the harpsichord. His party easily evades responsibility for his state by creating confusion between the responsibilities of the centre and his government in Delhi. As is popularly said, the first rule of Gobbelsian propaganda is to “accuse others of what you yourselves are guilty of.” To maintain an image of the muffler-cladding common man, honest to the core, Kejriwal has understood the importance of good PR and playing clean and safe.
In an RTI reply dated April 8, it has been revealed that the Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi has spent around Rs 150 crores in just three months, from January 2021 to March 2021, on public advertisements alone. Furthermore, in the last two years, the Kejriwal government has spent over Rs 800 crore on advertising. No wonder the name ‘ad-man’ has been tagged for him. Also, Kejriwal’s flagrant hypocrisy is clearly witnessed when his party has been opening innumerable liquor shops in Delhi, increasing the same from 250 to 850 on one hand, while promising to make Punjab drug-free on the other! Also, with the new proposed liquor policy in Delhi, the number of dry days is down to three from 21 in a year, and it clears the way for home delivery of liquor and thekas to be replaced by ‘walk-in liquor’ stores.
With the state’s belligerent and insurgent history in the 1980s and Punjab being a crucial border state, the evil mind of a megalomaniac like Kejriwal-having prolonged closeness to Khalistani elements and accepting funds from overseas separatist bodies, and him winning Punjab, it is nothing but payback time! While the central government cannot go on a witch hunt, it shouldn’t remain a sitting duck either. One must dread an AAP government in Punjab. This is the cold, harsh and bitter truth, as cold as the waters of Cocytus, the frozen lake of hell. But make no mistake, sooner or later, Kejriwal will get called out for his hypocrisy and people will lose trust in him. But until then, I wish Kejriwal a very hearty congratulations on the big sweep in Punjab!
Prince Pokharna, pen name Yuvraj Pokharna is an Independent Journalist and Columnist
