The AAP has hit out at the BJP after its Assembly election candidate against Arvind Kejriwal publicly stoked fears of a security risk posed by vehicles from Punjab in the capital.
On Tuesday, BJP candidate Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma told reporters: “Thousands of vehicles with Punjab numbers are moving here. Who are there in those vehicles? Republic Day preparations are going on, what big things are those people going to do that may compromise our security?”
Verma was speaking about Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and others from the state campaigning for Kejriwal in the New Delhi seat. Congress candidate Sandeep Dikshit also alleged the misuse of Punjab police vehicles during the AAP’s poll campaigns.
Verma’s comments, however, struck a raw nerve.
Kejriwal reacted: “Are all Punjabis terrorists? Are all Punjabis anti-national? Are all Punjabis a threat to the country? This is deeply troubling and offensive.”
Mann also hit out at Verma, using xenophobic language. He posted on X: “Amit Shahji, you are neither able to keep the country’s border safe nor Delhi. So many thousands of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas are coming to the country, don’t you have a problem
with them? But you are calling the Punjabis coming from Punjab to Delhi a threat to the country.”
The police, which reports to the BJP-led Centre, and the education department, which reports to the AAP government here, have held drives to identify “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants”. Contrary to the claims by the BJP and the AAP, none of the undocumented immigrants have been found with Indian voter cards.
Verma posted: “Bhagwant Mann’s Punjab government is threatening its employees and forcibly sending them to New Delhi for election campaigning. I have filed a defamation case of ₹50 crore each against Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann and have also complained to the Election Commission.”