“Gaddar” was scrawled across the walls of the residence of Harbhajan Singh and other Rajya Sabha MPs who had defected from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a day earlier.
AAP workers on Saturday staged an aggressive protest against seven party MPs who joined the BJP, giving AAP a major setback ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls.
AAP Rajya Sabha members Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak on Friday announced that they are quitting the party to join the BJP along with five other MPs. Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal and Vikramjit Sahney were the other AAP MPs they named.
The move drew furious reactions from AAP leaders while drawing a warm welcome from the BJP.
Protesters targeted the residences of these MPs and branded them “Gaddar” (traitors) in a series of coordinated demonstrations across Punjab.
In a video shared by news agency ANI, AAP workers were seen writing “Gaddar” (traitor) in both English and Punjabi on the walls of Harbhajan Singh’s residence in Jalandhar.
Similar protests were also held outside the residences of Rajya Sabha MPs Ashok Mittal and Rajinder Gupta. The boundary walls of their houses in Ludhiana and Jalandhar were also defaced with ‘Gaddara’ (traitor) graffiti, news agency PTI reported. Protesters also burnt Gupta’s effigy.
The protesters raised slogans of “Punjab ka Gaddar, Murdabad” and accused them of betraying the people of Punjab, the report added.
Meanwhile, AAP Punjab’s official social media posted a graphic that used the letters of the defected MPs’ names to spell the word ‘Gaddar’.
In Jalandhar, AAP leader Pawan Kumar Tinu said, “The AAP government will return to power in Punjab in 2027 and the BJP will have no political ground to stand on.”
“Out of frustration, BJP has resorted to poaching Rajya Sabha MPs from AAP by hook or by crook. Congress, BJP and Akali Dal have formed an unholy alliance against AAP, which is why their leaders are making similar statements about AAP MPs defecting to BJP,” Tinu said.
AAP leaders reiterated that the party remains united and committed to serving the people of Punjab, asserting that those who betray the trust of Punjab will eventually be held accountable.
