AAP is RSS’s B-Team

S S Mahil

The state is a tool used by one class to suppress another class with force. Even the most expansive state with universal voting rights is, in its essence, a dictatorship of one class over another. In bourgeois democracy, elections and parliamentary government serve as a cloak to conceal class dictatorship, which it uses as per its needs and discards when absolutely necessary. Readers might wonder why this discourse has begun on the nature of the state. This is not without reason; it has a specific context. Everyone has observed that the Delhi government, which holds a status slightly above a municipality but less than a full-fledged state, was led by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

In the recent Delhi Legislative Assembly elections, Punjab’s Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann, along with his entire cabinet, was fully committed to ensuring Arvind Kejriwal’s victory. During Punjab’s elections, they praised the Delhi model, and in Delhi’s elections, they hyped the Punjab model. These so-called models are nothing but a tactic to deceive the public. This trick was learned by the Aam Aadmi Party (referred to as the “Jhadoo Party” or Broom Party in Punjab) from Modi. Just as Modi sold the Gujarat model across the country, AAP is doing the same. Despite this, the Jhadoo Party suffered a big defeat in the Delhi elections. Not only the party but also its so-called supremo, Kejriwal, and his lieutenant, Sisodia, lost the elections. After this defeat, the attitude of the Bhagwant Mann government has changed, and the opening lines of this text are meant to help understand this shift.

Previously, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that the Punjab government was not taking action against the Dallewal-Pandher “Morcha” (protest movement); as they were stationed within Punjab’s borders, the Punjab government should act against them. Meanwhile, Bhagwant Mann maintained that the Central government should address their demands. This comedian-turned-Chief Minister also claimed to mediate in meetings between the Dallewal-Pandher groups and the Union Government. However, after the Delhi election loss, Mann’s demeanour changed. This became evident during a meeting with organisations of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), when, in the middle of the meeting, he began threatening them to call off a planned protest in Chandigarh. When the farmer leaders stated that the decision depended on the outcome of the talks, Mann issued threats like “we’ll see” and stormed out of the meeting. That same night, Punjab Police conducted raids on the homes of farmer leaders across the state. Some were arrested, while others managed to evade arrest. Even two farmer leaders who stayed at the Kisan Bhawan after the meeting were arrested from there. Farmers heading to the Chandigarh protest were stopped en route. The same Chief Minister who accused farmers’ organisations of blocking roads had the entire state’s roads jammed. The Dallewal-Pandher factions were called for talks by Union ministers, but as per a pre-planned scheme, Punjab Police, under Bhagwant Mann’s government, arrested these farmer leaders as they left after the meeting. With a heavy police force, the Shambhu-Khanauri protests were dismantled, and much of their equipment, including trolleys, was looted. This marked the beginning of an era of repression in Punjab.

In Sangrur, there are 927 acres of land from the erstwhile Jind state. Much of it is forested, two oil depots pay rent, and the rest has been encroached upon by influential people. The Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee (ZPSC), an organisation fighting for the land rights of Dalits, launched a campaign to establish Begumpura, inspired by Guru Ravidas’s vision. On May 20, 2025, they planned to settle on this land. On May 17, the police began arresting their leaders. On May 18-19, marches were held in villages where the organisation has a strong base. On May 20, the police cordoned off the villages early in the morning. Despite this, around 2,200 people took to the streets, and 850 men and women were detained. Of these, 450 were arrested and sent to jail, while the rest were released. Slowly, many were released, but 11 men and two women from Shadihari village remain in jail. The organisation’s finance secretary, Bikkar Singh Hathoa, was arrested under the pretext of talks. Earlier, the teachers’ protest at Chauke School was suppressed with lathi charges and arrests. Similar treatment was meted out to farmers in Jeond village.

This repressive approach is not limited to those engaged in struggles; a full-fledged campaign to spread police terror has been launched. In a case of a child’s abduction, the abductor, a young man, was shot dead by the police despite surrendering. Instead of investigating and punishing the guilty police officers, the ministers praised them and awarded those honours. Furthermore, in Patiala, the police brutally assaulted an army Colonel and his son at a Dhaba. Due to the agitation and the officer’s military status, the Chief Minister met the Colonel’s family and assured justice. However, the guilty Senior Superintendent of Police was promoted to Deputy Inspector General.

The issue of drugs in Punjab is a serious and burning problem. The Jhadoo Party did nothing about it in the first two and a half years of its rule. However, after losing the Delhi elections, they suddenly remembered the drug issue and declared a “war on drugs.” This war is nothing but an application of Adityanath Yogi’s formula to prove loyalty to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Yogi model has two components: bulldozing homes and staging fake police encounters. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that demolishing homes in this manner is illegal and a gross violation of the law, stating that even illegal constructions cannot be demolished if the owner has no other residence, neither the Yogi government nor Punjab’s Jhadoo Party government cares about the Supreme Court’s ruling. Initially, the police claimed buildings were demolished because they belonged to drug traffickers and were built with drug money. When questions arose about evidence to prove the buildings were constructed with trafficked money, the police shifted to claiming they were illegal constructions, yet the bulldozers continue to operate. Additionally, reports of police encounters surface regularly, with the same repetitive story: the police took a suspect to recover a weapon, the suspect fired at the police with that weapon, and in self-defence, the police shot back, injuring or killing the suspect. In Goneana village, the police killed an IELTS teacher without reason and didn’t even bother to concoct a false story to justify it. A WhatsApp conversation between Punjab’s Director General of Police (DGP) and a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) went viral, in which the DGP reprimanded the SSP for not meeting the quota for staging encounters. This clearly indicates that the Punjab government assigns encounter quotas to district police officers, meaning every citizen is at the mercy of the police. The “war on drugs” continues, yet drugs are still sold openly, and overdose deaths are reported unabated.

Has Punjab become a police state, or is it still in the process of becoming one? When a government becomes entirely dependent on the police, grants the police unchecked power to act arbitrarily, and the police are not accountable for their actions, that is nothing but a police state. This is the situation in Punjab today, where a police officer responsible for a murder and assaulting a military officer is promoted to a higher post instead of being punished, and a middle-class, educated youth is brutally tortured and killed without any explanation. That is a police state.

This conduct by the Punjab government is part of the fascist offensive launched by the central government since 2014. Due to its demographic structure, Punjab has never been a stronghold of the RSS, with its presence limited to cities or a few large towns. Despite numerous efforts, the RSS has failed to establish a foothold in rural areas. Implementing its Hindutva fascist agenda in Punjab has thus been a challenge. Apart from demographics, another reason is Punjab’s rebellious nature. The declaration of a Sikh state by just two Sikhs, Bota Singh and Garja Singh, exemplifies this. The formation of the Ghadar Party by Punjabis abroad, who returned to fight for independence, is another striking example of this defiance. The sacrifices of ShaheedBhagat Singh and his comrades, the armed struggle of the Babbar Akalis, and the Kukas standing against British cannons while establishing alternative systems are further examples of Punjab’s rebellious spirit. This defiance is not just history; it is Punjab’s character. When the entire country was cowering in fear due to the terror spread by the Modi government, Punjabis took to the streets and challenged the government. After three to four months of protests in Punjab, they led the march to Delhi, besieged it for nearly a year and a half, and forced the government to repeal the laws. This struggle not only halted the Modi government’s fascist offensive but also turned its tide, opening democratic space across the country. For this reason, Punjab is a prime target for the BJP/RSS.

Secondly, the victory of the Delhi Kisan Morcha instilled confidence in Punjab’s people, especially its farmers, that victory can be achieved through struggle. Despite efforts by the government through the Dallewal faction to undermine this confidence, it has not been entirely extinguished. Wherever attempts are made to acquire farmers’ land at throwaway prices, farmers resist, even leading to confrontations. This has become an obstacle to implementing the corporate agenda in Punjab, which cannot be executed quietly. Thus, Punjab is like a deep thorn in the flesh of Modi’s crony corporate government. The task of removing this thorn has been assigned to Punjab’s Jhadoo government. To execute this, Kejriwal, Sisodia, and other Delhi leaders have come to Punjab, not just to stay but to run the Punjab government.

A straightforward question may arise: how is it proven that the Punjab government is implementing the RSS’s agenda? In truth, the Jhadoo Party is the RSS’s B Team, with the BJP as its A Team. Why do people say this? The Jhadoo Party emerged from Anna Hazare’s Delhi protest, in which the RSS had played an important role. Anna Hazare was made its face, but the bulk of the cadre and resources were provided by the RSS. Its target was the Congress government, which was being increasingly perceived by the people as corrupt and to dismantle the Congress Party. The RSS succeeded in this, and its B Team emerged from it. Later, when Anna Hazare organised a protest in Mumbai, the RSS did not support him, and the protest flopped miserably. Anna was never seen again. From the Anna movement, the B Team, the Jhadoo Party, included some non-RSS-aligned individuals like Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Admiral Ramdas, and Dr Dharmvir Gandhi. Gradually, they were sidelined, leaving only staunch RSS supporters or sycophants in the party, along with some opportunists. The party’s entire political strategy is RSS-aligned. While the BJP uses Ram’s name, the Jhadoo Party uses Hanuman’s. It voted in favour of abolishing Article 370 in Kashmir. The role of the AAP government in the North East Delhi violence is also an example of its acting in support of the RSS agenda. In every significant matter, it follows the RSS’s line.

Still, a question may arise: why did the Jhadoo Party openly act as the RSS’s B Team in Punjab only after losing the Delhi elections? During the Delhi election campaign, Kejriwal wrote a letter to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The full letter was not made public, but reports indicated it criticised the BJP for not following the RSS’s directives and likely claimed that the Jhadoo Party adheres to them better and will do so even more in the future. The essence was to urge the RSS to support the Jhadoo Party over the BJP. However, by then, the situation had advanced, and the RSS high command had decided to ensure the BJP’s victory in the Delhi elections. The RSS had concluded that, in Delhi’s current context, the B Team had outlived its utility.

Another question may arise— “In earlier elections, did the RSS deploy its organisational structure to support Kejriwal’s party?” It appears so. Not only does it appear so, but people now understand that this was indeed the case. How else could Kejriwal’s party win 67 out of 70 seats in the Assembly elections, the BJP having won all seven Lok Sabha seats shortly before? This clearly indicates a political force playing both sides, and that force can only be the RSS. To discredit the Jhadoo Party’s leadership, the RSS used the same weapon it used against Congress: corruption.

By now, it was clear to the Jhadoo Party that the RSS and the Modi government’s next target would be the Punjab government. Like the “Sheraaya, sheraaya” (the lion is coming) rhetoric they used about Operation Lotus, the real lion was now coming for them. It is said that after losing Delhi, Kejriwal pleaded with Mohan Bhagwat not to topple his Punjab government. The RSS chief set one condition: the Punjab government must implement the RSS’s agenda. To operationalise this agreement, a meeting took place in Delhi between Bhagwant Mann and Amit Shah, where Shah provided Mann with the blueprint for turning Punjab into a police state. The Jhadoo Party government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, began implementing this project immediately. Now, it remains to be seen how people of Punjab respond.

Punjab’s history and tradition show that it has never abandoned its rebellious spirit. This defiance has manifested publicly and, when suppressed, it often takes the form of daring bravery. The public form of defiance advances history, while the latter stifles public initiative. For Punjab’s benefit, the public form of defiance must emerge. However, no single entity or organisation has the people’s base to counter this situation alone. Thus, a collective struggle is the urgent need of the hour, and all must respond to it with utmost seriousness.

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Vol 58, No. 9, Aug 24 - 30, 2025