'Shame on the BJP': AAP on Khalistan flag issue in HP

NEW DELHI: After Khalistan flags were found put up at the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly entrance, the AAP on Sunday slammed the BJP, asking how will its government save the people of the country when it failed in ensuring national security.

Calling it “a huge security failure”, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party demanded that either Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur “immediately” resign or the Union government “sack” his government in Himachal Pradesh. Either the BJP governments at the Centre and Himachal Pradesh were “completely incompetent” or the saffron party was “hand in glove with the Khalistanis” that someone could walk away after tying Khalistani flags at the gate of the state assembly complex despite them being the helm, the AAP charged.

Taking to twitter, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the putting up of the Khalistan flags outside the gate of Himachal assembly building in Dharamshala was a complete failure of the BJP government in dealing with the matter pertaining to national security and keeping the respect of the people of the hill state.

The flags were put up on the outer side of the main gate number one of the state assembly complex, which have now been removed by the administration. Pro-Khalistan slogans were also found scrawled on the walls of the assembly complex, which have been painted again.

“The Entire BJP is trying to save one goon, and Khalistani left putting up flags there (at the gate of Himachal Pradesh Assembly complex,” Sisodia tweeted in Hindi, taking a dig at the ruling BJP.

He apparently referred as goon Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga who was arrested by a team of Punjab Police on Friday from his residence in the national capital in connection with a case registered in Mohali but brought back by the Delhi Police same day later after a high-voltage drama which drew police of three states and kicked up a slugfest between the AAP and the BJP.

“The government which cannot save the Legislative Assembly, how will it save the people. This is a matter of Himachal's respect, security of the country. The BJP government has completely failed,” Sisodia said in his tweet.

In another tweet, the Delhi Deputy chief minister called the tying of Khalistani flag at the entrance of the assembly complex “a huge security failure” and demanded that either Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur resign or the Union government sack his government in Himachal Pradesh.

“Khalistani flag at Himachal Legislative Assembly building is a huge failure of security arrangements. The Chief Minister of Himachal should resign immediately or the central government should immediately sack the Jai Ram Thakur government,” Sisodia tweeted.

The AAP called the incident “a shame on the BJP”, saying someone could walk away putting up Khalistani flags at the entrance of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly despite the saffron being at the helm, both in the state and at the Centre.

“Shame on BJP. It's their government in Himachal and at the Centre. Yet someone leaves after putting up Khalistani flag at Legislative Assembly, which means either they (BJP) govt are completely incompetent or they are hand in glove with Khalistanis,” the party said in tweeted in Hindi.

In the run up the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh later this year, the AAP recently found itself at the centre of a controversy after the BJP accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's social media in-charge in the hill state Harpreet Singh Bedi of openly supporting the Khalistan referring to a series of his tweets posted on the microblogging site few years ago.

Acting swiftly on the BJP's allegations, the AAP expelled Bedi from all posts in the party over his alleged pro-Khalistani tweets, saying that the views expressed by him in his posts on the micro-blogging site were “against the Aam Aadmi Party's ideology”.

Buoyed by its landslide victory in neighbouring Punjab, the AAP is gearing up to contest on all seats in the upcoming assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh later this year.

पूरी भाजपा एक गुंडे को बचाने में लगी है और उधर ख़ालिस्तानी झंडे लगाकर चले गए.

जो सरकार विधान सभा ना बचा पाए, वो जनता को कैसे बचाएगी। ये हिमाचल की आबरू का मामला है, देश की सुरक्षा का मामला है। भाजपा सरकार पूरी तरह फेल हो गयी।

— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) May 8, 2022