Police department comes under the AAP government for the first time after massive victory in Punjab Election 2022

The Punjab Assembly election result 2022 is out, and the AAP Aadmi Party (AAP), led by Arvind Kejriwal, has won the majority with 92 out of the total 117 seats in the state legislative assembly. The Congress has won 18 seats, 3 for the Akali Dal, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 2 seats. An essential point of discussion now is the policing situation in the state.

It is pertinent because the AAP has never had control of the police in Delhi as the police there are under the jurisdiction of the centre control. However, CM Arvind Kejriwal had made a few statements about the police, which are now being dug up.

A look at his past statements

Addressing a rally in New Delhi’s Central Park, CM Kejriwal had said, “Give us Delhi Police for two days, we’ll do wonders.” This was noted in the context of the then violence issues at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia. In doing so, he made a full pitch for the statehood of Delhi by seeking control over the police.

Kejriwal blamed the BJP government at the centre for improper handling of the situation by not acting when the mob had attacked groups of students and teachers of JNU despite there being the presence of police personnel right outside the campus at the time of these events.

“They (Delhi Police) are given orders from above, ‘Just keep standing, don’t take action’. You give a free hand to the Delhi Police, they’ll start performing well,” Kejriwal had said, according to HT, when asked about how the AAP would have managed the situation if it had the police control.

It wasn’t even the first incident of Kejriwal asking the centre to give him control of the police. The first time was in 2014 when he had asked the centre to hand over the police to the state citing “high crime rate” in Delhi. He mentioned that Delhiites wanted answers from the force for every crime that took place on Delhi soil.

Delhi Police is under the administrative control of the home ministry, and Kejriwal had insisted that the law and order duties must be handed over to the Delhi government. He, however, agreed on the security of NDMC Area and Lutyens’ Zone to the centre, if needed.

Kejriwal’s concerns

The AAP chief has clearly had the prerogative of assuming state policing responsibility for at least eight years now. He justifies his position by pointing out the alleged corruption and unfair treatment that plagues the police force because it is under the centre’s control. He also demanded the suspension of the police officers responsible for alleged negligence in three cases in Delhi.

Why is the discussion important?

Punjab is a state unlike Delhi as it lies on the border with Pakistan, and the ramifications of any political move regarding security here are felt through the entire nation. Moreover, there exists a well-documented problem of illegal smuggling of drugs and weapons across the border in the state. Thus, even a slight hiccup in the policing of Punjab could lead to a significant domino effect.