Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
International

'AAP Won't Be Allowed To Win In Punjab - At Any Cost'

IANS, 05 Jan, 2017 11:38 AM
    A Punjab win will add to the AAP's stature as a growing party, one capable of expanding its wings against great odds, evident by the way it has been boxed in by the central government in Delhi.
     
    A Punjab victory would not only boost the AAP's confidence in the other states it is eyeing but also increase its stake in a larger number of Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
     
    Precisely for this reason, the Modi administration will want the AAP to lose Punjab -- and badly. A Congress win will also be problematic but will be a lesser evil in the given circumstances.
     
    Journalists from Delhi who visit Punjab are returning with more or less a unanimous view that an AAP defeat is very difficult if not impossible.
     
    But many are also coming with an ominous message delivered off the record by BJP's Punjab leaders: AAP won't be allowed to win -- at any cost.
     
     
    On its part, the Congress keeps parroting that an aggressively anti-Modi Kejriwal -- as AAP chief -- is no good news for Punjab. The point doesn't have too many takers, in part because of Kejriwal's personal popularity.
     
    So how can the AAP be tripped? Some signs are evident.
     
    Already Kejriwal has become a persona non grata in many television channels -- unless he can be shown in bad light. This could not have been possible without someone directing it all.
     
    When Kejriwal hurls accusations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he gets virtually no publicity in the electronic media. But the same channels are generous if Rahul Gandhi makes the very same charges.
     
    Recent developments in Delhi leading to the abrupt resignation of Lt Governor Najeeb Jung indicate that the Modi government may be planning to arrest one or two AAP ministers.
     
    This could happen ahead of February 4 -- when Punjab votes along with Goa, the only other state where the AAP is contesting.
     
     
    Irrespective of what finally happens to the arrested ministers, the corruption charges will be used to undermine the AAP's appeal as an outfit different from the established parties.
     
    The argument will be: if the AAP is no different, why not try known devil Congress if the Akalis are indeed bad?
     
    By arresting AAP ministers, the Modi government will also attempt to cripple the movements outside Delhi of Kejriwal, who is a key -- although not the party's sole -- vote catcher.
     
    Can Kejriwal himself be arrested -- on some spurious charge?
     
    Some months back Sukhbir Badal said he had forwarded to the Union Home Ministry "evidence" that the AAP had links with Khalistani terrorists and that Khalistanis were backing the AAP.
     
    When I wrote in July 2015 (just five months after Kejriwal took office) that an opinion in Delhi favoured toppling the Kejriwal government, most people thought it was preposterous.
     
    But if this happens now, not many will be surprised. Keep your fingers crossed till Punjab and Goa vote.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Hillary Clinton: Wanted To ‘Curl Up’ After Defeat To Donald Trump

    Hillary Clinton: Wanted To ‘Curl Up’ After Defeat To Donald Trump
    Clinton emotionally reflected about the loss and how she wished she could tell her mother that her struggles were worth it because of what her daughter had accomplished.

    Hillary Clinton: Wanted To ‘Curl Up’ After Defeat To Donald Trump

    Employees Are Scared For Their Safety After Donald Trump's Win: Indra Nooyi

    Employees Are Scared For Their Safety After Donald Trump's Win: Indra Nooyi
    PepsiCo's India-born CEO Indra Nooyi has said Hillary Clinton's defeat in the elections has left her daughters, gay workers, employees and the non-whites devasted as there was "serious concern" among them about their safety in the US with Donald Trump as president.

    Employees Are Scared For Their Safety After Donald Trump's Win: Indra Nooyi

    Man Threatens To Set Hijab-Wearing Muslim Woman On Fire In US

    Muslim woman in the US was approached by an unidentified man who yelled at her and threatened to set her on fire if she did not remove her hijab, prompting the police to investigate the hate crime incident.

    Man Threatens To Set Hijab-Wearing Muslim Woman On Fire In US

    BBC World Service To Air In Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi And Telugu In Boost To Broadcasting

    BBC World Service To Air In Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi And Telugu In Boost To Broadcasting
      It said the move was aimed at bringing its "independent journalism to millions more around the world".

    BBC World Service To Air In Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi And Telugu In Boost To Broadcasting

    South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley Being Considered For Secretary Of State

    South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley Being Considered For Secretary Of State
    The daughter of Sikh immigrants from Amritsar, her full name is Nimrata Nikki Randhwa Haley. 

    South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley Being Considered For Secretary Of State

    India Incredibly Important For Me: Pramila Jayapal

    India Incredibly Important For Me: Pramila Jayapal
    Ms Jayapal, 51, was elected to the US House of Representatives from the Seventh Congressional District of Washington State. She is the first Indian-American woman to be ever elected to the House.

    India Incredibly Important For Me: Pramila Jayapal