New Delhi: A delegation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which was scheduled to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, was denied permission by Punjab and Central Governments, AAP leader Raghav Chadha claimed on Thursday.
“A delegation of Aam Aadmi Party, comprising MPs and MLAs, has been denied permission to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara. We have not received 'political clearance' due to match-fixing between Punjab and Central governments,” AAP leader and in-charge of the party's Punjab unit Raghav Chadha told news agency ANI.
Calling the decision “unfortunate” he added that “even on matters of diligence and faith, politics has crept in. It is deeply unfortunate that on one hand all the MLAs including ministers of the Congress government in Punjab are given permission to go to Kartarpur. But only permission to AAP delegation is withheld, withdrawn and denied”.
AAP’s allegations come after a ‘jatha’ (group) led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi paid obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal, Pakistan on Thursday on the eve of the Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev.
Raghav Chadha further claimed the CM Charanjit Channi-led Punjab government and BJP-led Centre have a “tactical understanding”.
“We do not have the political clearance to go. Central Government and Channi government will do anything to stop AAP. There is no difference between Modi government and Channi government in Punjab,” AAP’s Punjab unit in-charge said.
“In the state of Punjab, BJP and Congress one of the same entity. In 2017 election BJP got its and Shrimoni Akali Dal (SAD) vote clinically transfer to Congress party,” he added, as quoted by ANI.
He also targetted the Punjab government over the extension of Border Security Force (BSF) jurisdiction saying: “In fact recently Channi government went handed over keys of 50 per cent of Punjab to Prime Minister Modi and this BSF jurisdiction enhanced from 15 km to 50 km.”
In October, the Union government empowered the BSF to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside Indian territory from the International Border (IB) along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders.
The BSF, which was only permitted to take action up to fifteen kilometres in the states of Punjab, West Bengal, and Assam, has now been authorised to extend its jurisdiction up to 50 km without any hurdle or permission either from central or state governments.
The Centre’s move received criticism from the opposition parties especially in the Congress-ruled Punjab and Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal.