Boost For Saffron Party In Punjab: Senior Advocate, Ex-AAP Leader Phoolka Joins BJP

Chandigarh: Senior Supreme Court advocate and former AAP leader H S Phoolka - best known for representing 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims in their fight for justice - joined BJP in Delhi on Wednesday.

Phoolka’s joining is seen as a boost for the saffron party in Punjab in the run up to the 2027 assembly elections. With joining BJP, the anti-Sikh riots crusader Phoolka also ended his hiatus from active politics.

He joined the party in the presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh and Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, working president Ashwani Sharma among others.

Speaking on the occasion, Phoolka, also a Padma Shri recipient, said that BJP had consistently supported his fight for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He also said that only BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi can address the challenges Punjab is facing under the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rule. He went on to say that his association with the AAP was a ``mistake’’. He held that what happened in 1984 was not a riot but a genocide, it was not Hindu versus Sikh, it was Congress versus Sikhs.

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Phoolka, a Jat Sikh from Bhadaur town of Punjab’s Sangrur district, had unsuccessfully fought 2014 Lok Sabha election as an AAP nominee from Punjab but had lost to the then Congress’ candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu. Bittu later joined BJP and is a Union minister. Phoolka won Dakha assembly seat in Punjab in 2017 as an AAP candidate and was leader of opposition (LoP) for about three months. In the House of 117, AAP had 20 MLAs in 2017. He quit the post to fight the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases in Delhi High Court.

BREACH OF TRUST: CM MANN

Reacting on Phoolka’s move, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant said that though AAP appointed the former as LoP in 2017, he resigned both the position and as Dakha MLA. Mann held that he had never seen a person who breached the trust of those who elected him, ever win again in elections.