Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from New Delhi, Bansuri Swaraj, on Friday, accused the former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) government in Punjab of systematically suppressing democracy and the media by misusing government machinery.
Pointing to the action taken against Punjab Kesari group newspaper and its staff, Swaraj criticised the AAP government in Punjab for lacking the ability to accept constructive criticism.Addressing media persons, she said, "The AAP government in Punjab responded to criticism and questions by crushing the fourth pillar of democracy."
"The BJP strongly condemns and denounces this action by the Punjab government in the strongest terms," she said."With the attempt to suppress the media and crush democracy in Punjab, the countdown for the AAP has begun," she said.
"Perhaps Kejriwal has forgotten that the people of Delhi have rejected the AAP misrule. With attempts being made in Punjab to stifle the media and suppress democracy through a dictatorial approach, the countdown for the AAP has begun, and it is headed for downfall," Swaraj said, pointing to the upcoming Assembly elections in the agrarian state.
The BJP MP said the way the Punjab Police, at Kejriwal's behest, raided the renowned Punjab Kesari group newspaper without notice, assaulting and injuring newspaper employees, and breaking the lock of the office, is a blatant attack on democracy.Swaraj said the repression of media is an old habit of the AAP which resorted to this in Delhi soon after coming to power in 2015.
"During the Covid-19 crisis in the Delhi Secretariat, seven journalists from an English daily were expelled from the WhatsApp group that shared oxygen-related information because they published a story critical of the then AAP government," she added.Subsequently, in August 2023, the AAP government in Delhi barred a TV Network's journalists from entering the Delhi Secretariat.
"Perhaps, Kejriwal forgot that the Delhi Secretariat belongs to the people of Delhi, not his personal property. When news emerged of Kejriwal's misuse of public funds to build a palace for his personal pleasure, a female journalist who reported on the matter, was arrested by the Punjab Police in Ludhiana," Swaraj said.
The BJP MP said in 2022, the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu cognisance of the matter and quashed the FIR."These are just examples of big media houses, but the reality is that the AAP government does not accept any kind of dissent or criticism," she said.
The BJP MP alleged that power has impacted Kejriwal's decision-making and this is the reason why the AAP has started targeting media.She said that Kejriwal misused the Punjab Police and sent them to arrest his former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas in Delhi.Similarly, the Punjab Police was misused to arrest BJP leader Tajinder Bagga, she added.