BJP-led Centre using ED, CBI to target Opposition leaders: Punjab FM Harpal Cheema

Punjab Finance Minister and senior AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday accused the BJP-led Centre of using central agencies to intimidate Opposition leaders and subvert elected state governments across the country.

He also slammed the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), accusing it of acting as a “spokesperson” for the BJP and central probe agencies.

Condemning the SAD’s statements over the ED communication to the DGP, Cheema told reporters that the party had “completely abandoned its principles”.

It is now acting as a spokesperson for the BJP and central investigative agencies. It is baffling how a communication addressed to the DGP by the ED is being weaponised by the Akali Dal to defame AAP. This shows that the SAD is functioning as an extended wing of the BJP, desperately trying to get a new political lease of life,” he said.

He accused the SAD-BJP regimes in the state from 2007-17 of “ruining” Punjab’s social fabric, economy and the youth. “The people of Punjab have not forgotten the rampant drug abuse, the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and the widespread corruption that earned the state the tragic label of Udta Punjab.”

He alleged that the BJP-led Centre had been “systematically undermining the Constitution”.“Central agencies like the ED, CBI, and the Income Tax Department are being regularly deployed to intimidate Opposition leaders, threaten local administrations, and subvert elected state governments across the country,” he said.

“The BJP has no faith in democratic values or the Constitution. Whenever elections approach or an Opposition government stands firm, the central agencies are unleashed to threaten political opponents and break governments,” Cheema added.