Suspended AAP MP calls Kejriwal anti-Dalit

Suspended AAP MP calls Kejriwal anti-Dalit
Harinder Singh Khalsa's utterances may rile the party which is banking on Dalits to put up a good show in next year's assembly elections.

The Aam Aadmi Party may be emerging as a strong player in Punjab ahead of the assembly elections, but that hasn’t stopped its suspended parliamentarian Harinder Singh Khalsa from letting a stream of invectives against Arvind Kejriwal.

Khalsa says the AAP convenor is anti-Dalit and that he has often spoken against reservation. In the upcoming polls, AAP is expected to do well in rural Punjab where Dalits are a dominant force. Dalits comprise nearly 31 per cent of the state’s population.

“It is ironical that Arvind Kejriwal, who once had spoken against Dalits, delivered lectures against reservation during his days with Youth for Equality, is now trying to champion the Dalit cause,” the 69-year-old told Mirror.

The Fatehgarh Sahib MP says that the people were attracted to AAP due to an anti-incumbency wave against the Akalis. “After four MPs got elected in 2014 elections, AAP realised that there was a distant possibility of the party coming to power in the state. This made them arrogant and they started day-dreaming.”

He accuses AAP of demolishing the local leadership one by one. “Any person who has got a spine, who, on his own merit is accepted as a leader, is an anathema to them,” he added.

Khalsa was suspended for anti-party activity, while Patiala AAP MP Dharamvir Gandhi faced the same fate for joining hands with the party’s breakaway faction led by Yogendra Yadav. Many other leaders who fought Lok Sabha polls on party ticket too have parted ways with them including singer Jassi Jaswinder who fought from Bhatinda in 2014. He was suspended in April this year for anti-party activities.

Recently, during the launch of party’s youth manifesto, the party symbol was superimposed on a photograph of the Golden Temple which ignited controversy. Khalsa says that it is not an isolated incident. “AAP is insensitive towards Sikh sentiments. They are so cocksure about their success that they never felt the need to understand Sikh sentiments. They believe that Sikhs have gullible minds and they are a vulnerable lot.”

AAP has not yet announced a chief ministerial candidate in the state though it has clarified that BJP rebel Navjot Singh Sidhu who is slated to join the party will not be the CM face. This clarification has once again spurred speculation that party chief Arvind Kejriwal himself may be eyeing the post. “Some self-serving AAP workers may cow-tow, they are anyway doing lick-service, but Punjabis won’t accept him,” Khalsa said.

New party by AAP volunteers?

According to sources, a breakaway faction of AAP volunteers is set to launch a new party – Nawan Punjab – and has already moved papers for registration. The party functionaries remain tight lipped about names that are likely to join them

But AAP leader Durgesh Pathak appeared unperturbed. “There is democracy, they are free to make any political formation, fight and win the elections. It is a battle of ideas. Whoever has better ideas will win.”