Fresh Controversies In Punjab Around Arvind Kejriwal And Khalistan

On Thursday, the last day of the poll campaign in Punjab, the Congress attacked AAP, pulling up a 2017 incident when Arvind Kejriwal had halted at the house of a certain Gurinder Singh in Moga district, for a night. Singh has been accused of being part of the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), which carried out a bomb blast near a temple in Baghapurana of Moga district in 1997. Following the remark, Captain Amarinder Singh talked of “separatist” elements returning to power if Kejriwal formed his government in Punjab. Commenting along similar lines, Akali Dal chief, Sukhbir Singh Badal also accused Kejriwal of embracing radicals.

What happened in 2017?

Gurinder Singh, a citizen of England, owns a house in his native village of Ghal Kalan. Being most of the time in England puts his out on lease. Several people have rented his house to stay and when Kejriwal was there in 2017, Singh was not in India.

In 2017, at the time when AAP had made its debut in the state ahead of the Punjab Assembly Elections, Kejriwal was on his poll campaign travelling across places. He was halting at the houses of his supporters. The accommodation at Singh’s house was arranged by them on January 29.

On January 31, there were twin blasts reported at Maur Mandir in Bathinda. While police started to establish a connection between the blast and the Khalistani terrorists, Congress and Akali Dal started blaming Kejriwal’s stay at Singh’s house and pulled up terror charges imposed on Singh in 2008, when he was booked for hurting religious sentiments. However, later they were disposed of.

The allegations from the opposition had an impact on AAP’s performance in the elections when Congress came out victorious with a remarkably higher count of votes. It was said that people were also agitated because of AAP’s silence on seeking the arrest of the culprits behind the blast. However, later police said that there was no connection between the blast and the Khalistan supporters.

Controversy over viral video

Fresh controversy erupted over a viral video, where former party leader and a founder member of AAP, Kumar Vishwas, accused Kejriwal of being a “separatist” leader.  In the purported video, Vishwas has been heard saying, "One day, he (Mr Kejriwal) told me he would either become CM (of Punjab) or first PM of an independent nation (Khalistan)... he wants power at any cost."

Vishwas' remark has courted political controversies where PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi have harked back on AAP amid the Punjab polls.

Following Kejriwal’s counter statements, in an interview with a news channel, Vishwas said, “Kejriwal has two specialities. First is lying with confidence and the second is playing the victim card projecting that everybody is ganging up against him. With these two tricks, once he fooled the country, then he fooled his aides.”

Vishwas further asked Kejriwal to come clean and declare that he is not a sympathiser of terror organisations. “When I raised an objection I was removed from Punjab meetings and then I caught one such meeting red-handed. There was a gatekeeper from Haryana guarding outside the meeting. And when I found out those same people in the meeting, I was told 'iska bada fayda hoga'," he said.

Kejriwal’s defence

Rubbishing the remarks, Kejriwal on Friday said that he is the ‘world’s sweetest terrorist’. Lashing out various comments on being a separatist leader, he termed the allegations “comedy”.

Accusing the BJP and the Congress of ganging up against the AAP in Punjab, Kejriwal said, “I must be the world’s first ‘sweet terrorist’ who builds schools, hospitals and gives free electricity to people.A 100 years ago, the British labelled a revolutionary like Bhagat Singh as a terrorist; today, those who divide and rule like the British are labelling his disciple as a terrorist.”

He even shared an illustration on Twitter.

Further, he said, "Everyone is against us, they are saying Kejriwal is plotting to split the country and that I will become the PM of one part. This means I am a big terrorist. What were their security agencies doing? The country's biggest parties are making a mockery of the country's security."

Drawing a comparison with Bhagat Singh, he said that 100 years ago the freedom fighter was also called a terrorist and today a follower of Bhagat Singh (referring to himself) was also being called a terrorist.

Impact on the poll

“This entire fiasco has not been created by AAP. Unlike 2017, this year the Kejriwal government wanted to stay clear of the Khalistan controversy, trying to spin their narrative around national security. However, when the opposition thrusts allegations of this type, the other party will react,” said Gautam Dheer, a senior journalist from Punjab. 

According to Dheer, in 2017, the AAP government might have wanted to woo voters based on the separatist movement. “We need to understand, that could have been possible in 1989 but no more in 2017 or 2022,” said Dheer while speaking to Outlook.

“What happens in the politics at the last moment, has the most impact. So definitely these fresh controversies will create an impact on AAP’s performance even in this Assembly elections,” he added.