By Mukesh 
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday termed raids by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) at the house of Minister Sanjeev Arora a political warning to Punjab.
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were trying to challenge governance in Punjab through Central agencies, but the people of Punjab had not bowed in the past and they would teach them a lesson in the Assembly election in 2027.
Throws jibe at PM
He alleged that Mr. Modi was using the ED to threaten AAP leaders into joining the BJP, and compared the Prime Minister to Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
“I want to remind PM Modi that Punjab is the land of the Gurus. The atrocities PM Modi is committing against Punjab today remind us of that time several hundred years ago when Aurangzeb committed atrocities across India,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
“Aurangzeb committed immense atrocities against the people of Punjab. PM Modi too is committing immense atrocities against the people of Punjab. But at that time, our Guru Sahibs faced Aurangzeb’s oppression and injustice and made sacrifices. Inspired by their sacrifices, now the people of Punjab will stand up against PM Modi and free the entire country from the injustice and oppression of Modi Raj,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
‘Politically motivated’
The AAP supremo alleged that the BJP does not have leaders in Punjab to field in elections and that is why they are trying to break leaders from other parties and induct them into the BJP.
“Modi ji, go ahead and carry out the raids. The BJP’s deposits on all their seats will get forfeited. The ones you arrest will be out in four days, but the BJP won’t be fit to set foot in Punjab for the next twenty years,” Mr. Kejriwal later said in a post on X.
The AAP supremo claimed that raids were conducted simultaneously at the homes of former AAP MP Ashok Mittal and Mr. Arora, and while the raids stopped after Mr. Mittal joined the BJP, the ED returned once again after Mr. Arora refused to join the party.
“Since this morning, ED raids have been going on at the house of Mr. Arora. The job of ED is to stop and investigate money laundering happening anywhere in the country. But what we have seen is that ever since ‘Modi Raj’ (PM Modi’s government) came to power, the CBI no longer works to stop corruption in this country and the ED no longer works to stop money laundering. They only work to break other parties, intimidate and threaten their leaders, and force them to join the BJP,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
“As soon as the [West] Bengal elections ended, the entire Delhi team of ED and the central teams shifted to Punjab. Their objective is not to find black money or investigate money laundering,” he added.