Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann launched a fresh attack on the Centre, days after alleging that he was stopped for nearly three hours at Delhi airport following his return from Paris.
Mann claimed that the Customs chief at Delhi airport, Manish Kumar, is the real brother of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleged that officials used the opportunity to take revenge on him and an attempt to humiliate the Chief Minister's image.
MANN ALLEGES REVENGE AFTER PARIS VISIT
Recounting his recent visit to France, Mann said he had received an invitation to attend a food festival where the Punjab State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation, Markfed, had set up stalls. He said representatives from Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had also taken him to their respective stalls during the event.
However, Mann alleged that he was not initially granted permission to attend the festival and could travel there only after the High Court intervened.
He claimed that officials stopped him at Delhi airport on his return and checked his luggage for around two hours, but found nothing. He also said that officials issued him a challan.
The AAP had earlier claimed that Mann was detained for nearly three hours at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport after returning from Paris and that officials issued him a challan of Rs 50,000. The party claimed that the officials were acting under “tremendous pressure from above”.
The party accused the Centre of deliberately humiliating the chief minister and creating obstacles to Punjab's progress, linking the incident to repeated denials of political clearance for his foreign visits.
Mann claimed that the Customs chief at Delhi airport, whom he identified as Manish, was the real brother of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He alleged that officials took revenge on him whenever they got an opportunity.
The relationship he claimed between the two officials and his allegation of political retaliation have not been independently established.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia had separately alleged that Customs officials stopped Mann and his wife, Gurpreet Kaur, for around three hours over questions concerning excess luggage or money beyond the permitted limits.
Mann also described what he saw as a new political phenomenon as a “democratically elected dictator”, using the term to allege that leaders elected through democratic processes were exercising authoritarian power.
'PUNJAB KNOWN AS STATE THAT REBELS AGAINST OPPRESSION'
The chief minister also accused the Centre of weakening democratic institutions, questioning the independence of the electoral process and raising concerns over the removal of voters from electoral rolls.
“Punjab has been known from the very beginning as a state that rebels against oppression and stands against injustice,” Mann said, adding that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab had consistently raised issues concerning the public.
“It is a matter of concern for democracy that governments are now deciding who will vote and who will not,” he said, alleging that 14 crore voters had been removed from electoral rolls.
Mann claimed that all four pillars of democracy were being shackled by authoritarianism and that people's faith in democratic institutions was declining. He said that electoral processes were being manipulated to benefit particular groups, claiming that the same people were voting in Haryana and Maharashtra.
He linked this allegation to the absence of simultaneous elections in the two states and expressed confidence that the AAP would return to power in Punjab.
The chief minister also accused the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of registering cases around election time and alleged that the cases were subsequently dropped after elections. He claimed that Punjab was now facing a similar situation.
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