CHANDIGARH: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has suspended former IPS officer-turned-MLA from Amritsar (North), Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, from the party for five years for anti-party activities, following a string of public criticisms levelled by him against his own government.
Kunwar had recently questioned the action taken by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau against senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, prompting the party to suspend him, citing his remarks as anti-party activities. He has also not been attending party meetings for the past few months. The suspension was decided at a Political Affairs Committee meeting, said party sources.
He had criticised Majithia’s arrest, stating that when the Akali leader was previously arrested, the government had not sought his remand and had instead accused police officers of facilitating his bail. He termed the arrest unethical. Kunwar said that although he had ideological differences with Majithia, this case was about ethics and integrity in the process. Majithia was arrested from his house in Amritsar last week.
Kunwar has, on several occasions, publicly questioned his own party’s government, particularly over the handling of the 2015 sacrilege cases and related police firing incidents.
After the recent hooch tragedy in Amritsar, in which 27 people died after consuming illicit liquor, Kunwar alleged that some AAP leaders had joined hands with the liquor mafia.
Commenting on Kunwar’s expulsion, AAP spokesperson Neel Garg said, “He has been consistently making public statements against party activities, which is against political decorum and is unacceptable under any circumstances.”
Garg stated that the action taken against Bikram Majithia had the full support of the people of Punjab. “For the first time, the people of the state feel that the government is genuinely taking action against the drug mafia. However, despite being an MLA from the party, Kunwar deliberately spoke against this action, which is entirely inappropriate,” he said.
He added that the AAP government was working with full commitment to eradicating drugs from Punjab and that the Punjab Police was continuously cracking down on drug smugglers and sending them to jail. “At such a time, statements like those made by Kunwar are highly condemnable and unfortunate.”
Garg noted that if Kunwar had any objections, he could have raised them on the party platform or with the Chief Minister, instead of airing his grievances publicly. “This is clearly against party rules,” he said.
“Our goal is clear: to eradicate drugs, crime and corruption from Punjab, and anyone hindering this fight will not be tolerated. There can be no compromise in the battle against drugs,” Garg asserted.
He further said the action against Majithia was not only supported by the general public but also by several former police officers and ex-Enforcement Directorate officials involved in the investigations. These officials had provided vital information about Majithia’s activities to the Vigilance Department.
Soon after news of his suspension emerged on social media, Kunwar posted on Facebook: "Kabir, jis marne te jag dare, mere man anand" (Kabir, the world is afraid of dying, but my mind is happy), hinting that he had no regrets.
Commenting on the development, Punjab Congress President and Member of Parliament from Ludhiana, Amarinder Raja Warring, wrote on X, “While suspension of @Kvijaypratap Singh is indeed an internal matter of the @AamAadmiParty, but that in no way means that the @AAPPunjab government does not owe answers to questions he has raised. Sacrilege and drugs remain unresolved. Party may have unsuccessfully tried to silence his voice, which it could not, it definitely can’t avoid the questions that have started being raised. AAP government’s ‘question hour’ has begun and everyone knows it has no answers. It may suspend its MLA from the party, but what about 3 crore Punjabis who are asking the same questions Kunwar Vijay Pratap has been asking.”
Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira said this just proved that there was no space for dissent or truthful politics in AAP. Khaira had earlier been elected as an MLA on an AAP ticket in 2017 but had soon parted ways with the party.
Kunwar had also shared a video on Facebook on June 25, the day Majithia was arrested, and wrote: “The dignity of a family is shared by all—whether one is a politician, actor, rich or poor, friend or foe. Carrying out a raid at someone's house early in the morning is against principles. Almost every government has misused the police and vigilance agencies for its own benefit, but the result has never been significant.”
He further wrote, “I may have political or ideological differences with someone, but when it comes to principles, religion, and integrity, it becomes necessary to discuss. When Majithia sahib was in jail in a case registered during the Congress government, the Mann government did not seek any remand nor did any questioning. Later, the state apparatus under Mann sahib even facilitated his bail.”
“The honourable high court granted bail (to Majithia) on grounds that if the police do not require (him) for interrogation, keeping in custody is against the law. When he was in custody, the government facilitated his bail, and now suddenly, notices are issued to him for questioning, and today a raid is being conducted at his house,” he added.
Kunwar had earlier expressed dissatisfaction over the handling of the 2015 sacrilege and police firing incident cases in Faridkot, repeatedly raising the issue in the Assembly.
He was part of the special investigation team of the Punjab Police that probed the 2015 Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan police firing incidents. After taking premature retirement from the police service in 2021, he joined AAP and was later elected as the MLA from the Amritsar North seat.