Senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday appeared before police in connection with an FIR registered against him over his “50 bombs have reached Punjab” statement.
The party rallied behind the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, and hit out at the ruling AAP government, terming the registration of an FIR against Bajwa as a “political vendetta”.
National leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, were in regular touch with the state leadership and were closely monitoring the situation, said the state unit leaders.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Congress MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and the party’s rank and file accompanied Bajwa to the Mohali Cyber Crime Police station.
While only Bajwa and his counsel were allowed inside, the leaders staged a sit-in outside the police station and raised slogans against the AAP government, accusing it of misusing the police to target opposition leaders.
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Basal also condemned the registration of the case against Bajwa.
Lashing out at the AAP government over the law and order situation, Badal said, “Even the Leader of Opposition, @Partap_Sbajwa , is being intimidated with false cases. We condemn attempts to suppress the opposition’s voice by registering false cases against them or subjecting them to repeated police questioning.”
Bajwa has been booked under Sections 197(1)(d) (false and misleading information that endangers the country’s sovereignty and unity) and 353(2) (false statements intended to create enmity and hatred or ill will) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Earlier, Congress leaders slammed Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann with Bajwa asserting that he would not be intimidated by the AAP government’s action against him.
Senior party leaders, including MPs, MLAs, former MLAs and party workers, assembled at the Punjab Congress headquarters here in solidarity with Bajwa.
Speaking to the media here, Warring targeted the AAP government over the “deteriorating” law and order situation and claimed that there was a “jungle raj” in the state. He said the Punjab Police was functioning as a “puppet” and “misusing” its powers.
“Daily incidents of loot and murders are taking place in the state. Hand grenades are being hurled,” he said. Instead of improving law and order, action is taken against opposition party leaders who express concern over the current situation in the state, he added.
Warring cautioned officers, including the state police chief, Mohali senior superintendent of police and the station house officer concerned, to ensure that they do not succumb to the political pressure of the AAP and breach their brief.
The Congress party does not forget and will remember each and every official who “intimidated and persecuted” the Congress leaders and workers, he said.
Warring said the action taken against Bajwa shows that the chief minister was “quite impatient”.
He said the Congress veteran had expressed concern over the law and order situation and he took the information about the bombs from a newspaper report. He asserted that Bajwa won’t be cowed down.
Replying to AAP’s allegation that Bajwa had links with Pakistan, Warring said the Congress leader’s father was assassinated and he escaped a bomb attack.
During the interaction with the media here before heading to Mohali, Bajwa said the issue which he had taken up concerns everyone.
“Today, every Punjabi is worried. Blasts are taking place and people are getting extortion calls,” Bajwa said.
He said if Mann had any idea of what happened in Punjab till 1992-93, he would realise the seriousness of the situation.
He must not have heard a gunshot in his entire life. So, how would he know what happened in Punjab and under what fresh threats Punjab was, he said. He warned that the situation in Punjab right now is “very serious and critical” and every Punjabi was concerned about it.
Replying to Mann’s swipe at him on hiring lawyers following the registration of an FIR, Bajwa said it was his democratic right and asked whether AAP leaders like Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia came out of Tihar Jail without lawyering up.
He also said that he could get a copy of the FIR only after approaching the court.
Asserting that he was not scared of Mann, Bajwa said, “I want to say that if I remain alive, then you (Mann) be prepared (for retaliation)”.
He said his father had sacrificed his life for the country, while he had been attacked with a bomb during the period of militancy in Punjab. “We have a history of laying sacrifices for the country”, he said.
Referring to the Punjab Police serving him summons at his home, he asked Mann whether he had issued similar summons to those dismissed in drug cases and those found guilty of facilitating gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s interview to a television channel.
Meanwhile, former chief minister and Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi said Mann should have shown some grace and called up Bajwa to discuss the matter instead of ordering an FIR.
He reminded Mann that he was not holding a “stage show” but a responsible position of that of the state’s chief minister.
The case against Bajwa was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station in Mohali.
In an interview with a private television channel, Bajwa claimed, “I have come to know that 50 bombs have reached Punjab. Of this, 18 have exploded, 32 are yet to go off.”
A team of Punjab Police on Sunday visited the residence of Bajwa and questioned the source of his statement.
In a summon issued to the Congress leader, police had asked Bajwa to appear before the Mohali Superintendent of Police on Monday noon in connection with the registration of a case against him. However, Bajwa had expressed his inability to appear on Monday, saying he received the summons late Sunday.