Political fallout of DIG Bhullar case

has the AAP broom that promised to clean the state of corruption lost its bristles? That’s the question now being asked by Opposition parties across Punjab as the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Harcharan Singh Bhullar corruption case shakes the Aam Aadmi Party’s anti-graft image.

Three years after AAP rode to power on a tidal wave of public anger against corruption, the CBI’s case against suspended DIG Bhullar threatens to take the wind out of the party’s sails just as the 2027 Assembly elections begin to loom. It has handed the Opposition a potent weapon to ask whether Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s crusade against corruption was ever more than an election slogan.

The CBI has recovered Rs 7.5 crore in cash, 2 kg of gold, a Mercedes car, besides other valuables from Bhullar. As per a The Tribune’s report, a CBI official termed the corruption scale wide and deep-rooted. “This is no longer a single case of bribery. The evidence so far indicates a continuing system of facilitation, illegal gratification and protection. We are now looking at the ecosystem that enabled it, who benefited, who brokered and who turned a blind eye,” he said.

In March 2022, AAP’s 92-seat landslide was forged in the furnace of public fury against the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP’s alleged decades-long plunder. The ‘jhadu’ (broom) became the emblem of cleansing. Bhagwant Mann, AAP’s chief ministerial face, roared in rallies: “We were born to fight corruption. From the Chief Minister to Constable — no one will be spared.”

Post-Bhullar’s October 16 arrest, Mann suspended him retroactively and thundered: “No one is above the law. A shroud has no pockets — looters will face ruin.” On October 28, he warned the police: “Perform or perish.” He citied his government’s data against corruption. “The Punjab Vigilance Bureau claims over 1,900 corruption cases registered, over 800 police personnel punished, and 52 officials dismissed.

Mann insists: “We’ve acted more in three years than others in thirty — from ministers to peons.”

Bathinda MP and SAD senior leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal has taunted the government, “AAP’s broom is sweeping corruption under the rug, not cleaning it.”

BJP state president Sunil Jakhar, while reacting to CM’s statement on the suspended DIG, said he agrees with CM Mann’s statement that corruption was a cancer, “That is true but I want to remind him that charity begins at home. The drive against corruption should begin from the top and not from the bottom. The Chief Minister should make public assets of his MLAs and ministers since they came to power.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal has taunted the Punjab AAP questioning hoardings put up by the party claiming how it has cleaned the state of corruption. “The fake honesty mask has fallen off. DIG Bhullar was posted at key assignments and his blatant corruption was happening right under the AAP government’s nose. Hope the CBI carries out a fair probe to trace the money recovered from the official and other beneficiaries,” he said.