In Jalandhar, the use of the word 'beadbi' (insult) regarding the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) broom election symbol has provided the Punjab Congress with a protest symbol that they are leveraging to attack the AAP government for its failure to deliver justice in the 2015 Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege cases.
Background of the Controversy
Following a complaint to the Tanda police in Hoshiarpur district, authorities registered a daily diary report (DDR) and arrested a 21-year-old Congress supporter for allegedly disassembling a broom. The incident quickly escalated into a political flashpoint.
Congress MLA Initiates Campaign
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was the first to live-stream a video of himself dismantling a broom on June 3. Expressing solidarity with Arshdeep Singh, the Congress supporter who spent a day and a half in police custody, Khaira dared the AAP government to register a case against him as well. Taking a direct swipe at AAP leaders, Khaira remarked that while the 'beadbi' of a broom seemed to be a major issue for AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, the 11-year-old sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib clearly was not a priority for the current government.
Campaign Gains Momentum
Khaira later visited Tanda on June 4 to meet Arshdeep, using the hashtag #JharuTilaTila on his social media platforms. Taking a cue from Khaira, other Punjab Congress functionaries quickly adopted the template, sharing videos of themselves pulling apart brooms. The official Punjab Congress social media handles also heavily promoted the #JharuTilaTila campaign.
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring called for statewide protests on June 6 and led a demonstration in Tanda. Warring questioned how the government could take instant action over the alleged beadbi of an election symbol while the 2015 sacrilege cases continued to drag on without justice.
Police Clarify Arrest
Arshdeep Singh had been arrested on the morning of May 30 and was released on May 31 after the Tanda tehsildar (duty magistrate) granted him bail late that evening. In response to his arrest, the Hoshiarpur Congress unit staged a continuous 30-hour protest demanding his release.
Clarifying the police action on June 1, Tanda SHO Gurinderjit Singh Nagra said Arshdeep and other youths had acted provocatively. "It was not about the beadbi of an election symbol," Nagra explained. "They threw the dismantled broom inside the houses of the two complainants and hurled abuses at them. He was arrested as a preventive measure to stop these provocations from leading to a clash between the two factions."
The incident underscores the intense political rivalry in Punjab, with the Congress party capitalizing on the symbol controversy to highlight unresolved issues from the past.
