The arrest of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a Rs 540 crore disproportionate assets case has triggered a political storm across Punjab. While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government has hailed the move as a landmark step in its war against corruption and drugs, the arrest has united the opposition in criticism, with leaders from the Congress, BJP, and SAD slamming the action as “politically motivated”, “dictatorial”, and a “threat to democracy”.
What has made the controversy even more complex is the unexpected dissent from within AAP itself, with one of its sitting MLAs, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, a former top cop, openly questioning the morality and method of the raid on Majithia’s residence. This rare intra-party criticism has brought into focus the growing unease within sections of the ruling party over the state’s increasingly aggressive posturing against political opponents.
Soon after his arrest, Majithia released a defiant video on social media, alleging that the Bhagwant Mann-led Government was using the vigilance department to frame him in false cases after failing to establish links in the earlier NDPS case. He accused the Vigilance Bureau of storming his Amritsar home with a 50-member team, breaking doors, and violating legal norms.
“I will follow the law and fight back with full determination. This government has stooped to planting evidence, as they did in the drug case. That failed. This one too will collapse,” he said.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal came out strongly in defence of his brother-in-law, calling the arrest “a brazen act of political vendetta aimed at silencing the opposition”. He warned the Mann government that “false cases will not withstand legal scrutiny and will be investigated in future when the political tide turns”.
Former Minister and senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema echoed the sentiment, stating that “The Akali Dal will not be cowed down by such vendetta politics. These are tactics to distract people from the government’s failures.”
