BJP, Congress & AAP Trade Barbs Over Tajinder Bagga’s Arrest and ‘Rescue'

BJP President Adesh Gupta and LOP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri along with other senior leaders demonstrate against arrest of party spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, outside AAP office in New Delhi, Friday, 6 May.

(Photo: PTI)

Hours after being arrested by the Punjab Police, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga returned to Delhi on Friday evening, 6 May. Bagga reached Delhi after he was earlier handed over to the Delhi police at the Thanesar police station in Haryana's Kurukshetra.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders slammed Bagga's arrest, while several BJP workers protested outside the Janakpuri police station where Bagga was taken before being escorted to Mohali and outside Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) office. The Delhi police detained the latter.

Even former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu accused AAP National Convener and Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann of "settling personal scores".

Taking to Twitter, Delhi BJP leader Kapil Mishra posted a video message alleging misuse of the Punjab Police by Arvind Kejriwal.

Mishra also claimed that Bagga's father was beaten up by the police and called the cops "goons."

"Around 6:00 am today, over 50 policemen of Punjab Police arrested Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. It looks like Arvind Kejriwal has installed the entire Punjab police to silence Bagga. At least 50 policemen barged into his house despite the court saying that no such action should be taken against him. Never has the police been misused like this in India's history over a tweet. It appears as if the Punjab Police has abandoned law and order of the state and has been sent to arrest people from Delhi," Mishra said, adding that Kejriwal was "scared of a true Sikh".

Attacking the Aam Aadmi Party, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said, "Police breaching law and order... Manhandling an old man, arresting (Tajinder Bagga) without prior information to local police shows their intent. Punjab chief minister spends less time in state, outsiders running state... Turban is the pride, so save it," ANI reported.

Kejriwal 'Messed With the Wrong Guys': Tejasvi Surya

Tejasvi Surya, national president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) tweeted that Kejriwal has "messed with the wrong guys."

"Have spoken with @TajinderBagga's mother. Assured her that the entire organisation is with them in this hour of oppression. BJYM will do everything in our capacity to bring Bagga back to safety & liberty. We will fight back! @ArvindKejriwal, you have messed with the wrong guys," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor in a tweet, said, "Every citizen who believes in the constitutional order opposes the arrest of social media hero Tajinder Bagga on the orders of Arvind Kejriwal and the misuse of the Punjab Police. The BJP strongly condemns the arrest."

Meanwhile, Navjot Singh Sidhu said, "Tajinder Bagga could be from a different party, one could have ideological differences. But Political vendetta of @ArvindKejriwal & @BhagwantMann, to settle personal scores through Punjab police is a cardinal sin… Stop tarnishing the image of Punjab Police by Politicising it sic)." he tweeted.

'Punjab Police Followed Due Process': AAP

Addressing the media, AAP Spokesperson and MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the probe was being conducted impartially by the Punjab Police and targeting Opposition leaders by misusing state machinery was the BJP's modus operandi.

"He was summoned multiple times, but he did not join the investigation. The BJP spokesperson themselves said several times that the Punjab police had gone to Bagga's house several times in the past. The police didn't go there to conduct an audition, they were there to serve summons. He did not join the investigation despite being served the summons five times, following which he has been arrested. I am sure the Punjab police are conducting the probe impartially. They have gone to the lower court, the high court, and applied for anticipatory bail, but he did not get relief anywhere," Bharadwaj said.

"The BJP is calling it hate politics because they are used to misusing state machinery. It is common in BJP-ruled states to use agencies like ED, NIA, and I-T department against Opposition leaders and arrest them. This has always been the BJP's modus operandi. If any party works impartially, they see their acts with the same lens which they use to target others," he added.