The ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the opposition BJP clashed again today after the vehicle of some visiting BJP leaders was not allowed to proceed to Gulzar Singh’s village in Sangrur district. The suicide of a labourer in Punjab who flagged the drugs menace in the state after his son fell victim to it — and named finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema in the process — has become thoroughly politicised ahead of the coming assembly election in the state.
He was accompanied by senior Punjab leader Manpreet Singh Badal, Sunil Jakhar and Ashwani Sharma.
READ | ‘Forcibly Cremated’: Family Of Man Who Named AAP Minister In ‘Suicide’ Video BJP leaders “sent packing” by villagers, said AAP’s health minister Balbir Singh. A statement from the BJP said Dhillon was on his way to village Toor Banjara in Dirba, Sangrur district, to offer condolences to the family of Gulzar Singh.
The police, who stood just around 100 meters away, did not intervene, he said.
On the way, AAP workers — allegedly acting at the behest of their “masters” in Delhi — surrounded his vehicle, Dhillon said. “This was not an attack on me, but an attack on democracy,” he said. READ | Punjab Man Dies By Suicide Days After Raising Drug Issue, Blames AAP Minister The state’s health minister and AAP leader Balbir Singh hit back, saying “BJP leaders who arrived to play politics over the body were sent packing by the people of Punjab”. Calling it the BJP’s “vile mindset of playing politics over corpses”, he said those who “see political opportunity instead of offering sympathy in times of grief – what kind of politics will they teach the people of Punjab?”.
