Chandigarh, Feb 9 (IANS) Punjab Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership, comprising ministers and MLAs, on Monday held a protest outside the residence of Leader of Opposition Partap Bajwa, accusing the Congress leadership of allegedly mocking Dalits, degrading honest livelihoods, and exposing its deeply feudal and dynastic mindset.
As leaders moved to “gherao” Bajwa’s house, tensions escalated into a clash with the police. Water cannons were used to disperse the crowd, and several leaders and workers were injured to lodge the protest over the purported insult of Cabinet Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO.
Cabinet Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO, along with his wife Surinder Kaur, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Health Minister Balbir Singh, along with hundreds of party leaders and workers participated in the protest.
Simultaneously, under the leadership of AAP leader Joban Randhawa, a separate protest was also held outside Bajwa’s residence in Qadian in Gurdaspur.
Addressing the protest, Cabinet Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO said mocking honest, hard-earned livelihoods was shameful. He said making fun of the honest work done by someone’s father and degrading an entire community was deeply disgraceful.
He stated that his father was a band master who educated his children through sheer hard work.
“I studied in a government school and reached here on the basis of my merit. Bajwa sahib is saying that ‘we will play the band of a band player’s son.’ We have worked hard. We have not done smuggling or gold biscuit trafficking. This insult is not just mine, but of every poor family that educates its children through honest means,” he said.
Targeting the party, the minister said in Bajwa’s eyes Dalit society was merely material that could be bought and sold for votes.
Targeting the party’s state chief Raja Warring, the minister said that on one hand Congress leaders spoke about law and order and on the other, in rallies before 1,200 people, they openly issued threats.
He asked whether this was not “jungle raj” and said that such statements were meant to intimidate elected representatives so that children from poor families never dare to enter politics again.
–IANS
vg/rad
