Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 19: As Punjab is all set to go for the single phase for all the 117 seats on Sunday, the state’s chief electoral officer asked the state government officials to register an FIR against the Delhi chief minister and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal and his party for violating the model code of conduct in force and for making “false and frivolous allegations against other political parties.”
Besides Kejriwal, the Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu alias Sidhu Moosewala, the Congress candidate for the Manasa seat, were also booked for alleged violation of the model code of conduct. Channi had visited a temple with Moosewala in Manasa. The two Congress leaders then carried out a door-to-door campaign in the area on Friday evening allegedly after the campaigning had come to an end. They were booked on a complaint from the AAP.
The instruction to file the FIR against Kejriwal was send to the District Election Officer-cum-District Commissioner of Mohali and the SSP. The direction was given on the complaint of Arshdeep Singh Kler, vice-president and spokesman of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The complainant raised objection to a video uploaded on social media platforms by AAP Punjab. He alleged that the video maligned the image of SAD and other political parties in the eyes of the general public.
The video in question is a song “es vaar jhaadu challooga” which shows the photographs of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and former chief ministers Captain Amarinder Singh and Sukhbir Singh Badal and uses derogatory words for them.
Kler claimed that the AAP had been putting up such videos on social media pages earlier too by getting some other videos approved from the EC. “This is the third time that it has happened that some other video has been put up which is not the one cleared by EC,” he said. The CEOs directive states that the video clip in question has not been approved by the state level MCMC Committee and hence directed that an FIR be registered.
“It is submitted that Model Code of Conduct has been enforced in the State of Punjab. In the light of MCC no party can put any objectionable videos targeting particular leader of any prevalent handles on internet,” said the chief electoral officer in Punjab.
The FIR against Kejriwal was filed even as his former party colleague Kumar Vishwas levelled some serious allegations against the Delhi chief minister claiming that he was keen to become the chief minister of Punjab even if required to take help of the terrorists and separatist elements in northern state bordering with Pakistan. His comments against Kejriwal prompted the union home ministry on Saturday to grant Kumar Vishwas “Y” category security in view of his threat perception.
An official spokesman said the central government had reviewed the security of Vishwas and the threat perception based on intelligence inputs in the wake of his allegations against Kejriwal. After the review, it was decided to give Mr Vishwas ‘Y’ category security through the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the spokesman said. Under the ‘Y’ category security, Vishwas would be protected by four personal security officers round the clock.
Vishwas had recently kicked up a storm by alleging that Kejriwal was ‘ready to take support’ from Punjab-based fringe and separatist elements to become the chief minister of the state. Vishwas, one of the founding members of the AAP, in a recent interview, had stated that “One day, he (Kejriwal) told me he would either become the chief minister (of Punjab)…or the first prime minister of an independent nation (Khalistan).” The conversation, according to the former AAP leader, took place during the 2017 Punjab assembly elections, in which the party finished second behind the Congress.
The Aam Aadmi Party has responded to the allegations furiously, dismissing these as ‘fake’ and has asked its former leader to back his claims with a proof. It has also warned of legal action against news channels airing Vishwas’ statement.
Kejriwal, who has been targeted by both the Congress and the BJP as well, has responded by pointing to his performance as an administrator in Delhi and to comment that he might be the “sweetest terrorist in the world.”
“I am the first terrorist in the world who builds schools and hospitals for the people. I am the world’s first ‘sweetest terrorist.’ And, if indeed I am a terrorist and separatist, why was I not arrested all these years,” he asked on Friday.
The case against Channi and Moosewala was filed under section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for violating the model code of conduct. Harjinder Singh, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and returning officer, Mansa, said, “As soon as I got the information that the CM is still campaigning in Manasa, I reached the spot. But CM had already left by then. I enquired with the locals if any campaigning was done by him but they said the CM had gone to the Gurudwara and a temple to offer prayers.”
Congress has fielded Sidhu Moosewala from Manasa. He is already an established name as a Punjabi singer with his chart-bursting numbers, and now hopes to make his presence felt in the constituency. When he joined the party in December, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had touted him as a youth icon. Moosewala, 27 hails from Moosa village in Manasa district.
