The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab on Saturday, 20 June staged widespread protests across the state, targeting the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), its president Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Congress over what the party described as a coordinated campaign to defame Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann using a fabricated video circulated on social media.

Protests Spread Across Punjab

AAP ministers, legislators, senior leaders, and workers took to the streets in towns and districts spanning the length of the state — from Faridkot, Barnala, and Mansa in the south to Kapurthala, Moga, and Badal village in the west. Demonstrators raised slogans against what they termed anti-Punjab and panth-opposing forces, accusing Opposition parties of exploiting religious sentiments and spreading misinformation for political gain.

Protesters asserted that Chief Minister Mann had earned the trust of Punjabis through what they called transparent governance, employment generation, improved public education, and welfare initiatives — and that no conspiracy would be allowed to disturb the state's peace or progress.

What the Government Said

Addressing a protest gathering in Mohali, Cabinet Minister Harpal Cheema said AAP had organised the demonstrations as a symbolic rebuke of SAD's repeated attempts to disturb peace and harmony in Punjab. He said the people of Punjab were fully aware of such conspiracies and would not allow those who had harmed the state's interests to succeed.

Cheema highlighted what he described as the government's development record: nearly 44,000 government jobs provided to youth through transparent recruitment, construction and repair of around 45,000 km of roads, development of sports grounds in villages, quality education in government schools, and 300 units of free electricity per household every month.

AAP's Charge Against SAD

'Unable to digest the rapid progress taking place in Punjab, the SAD has now resorted to cheap politics. It has made a vile attempt to create and circulate a fabricated and fake video on social media to tarnish the clean image of our Chief Minister. This reflects the frustration of those political forces that have lost public support and are desperately trying to regain relevance through misinformation,' Finance Minister Cheema said.

AAP has not independently produced technical verification of the video's origin in its public statements; the party's characterisation of it as fake represents its political position. The SAD has not responded publicly to the charges as of the time of these protests.

Broader Political Context

The protests come amid an already fractious political environment in Punjab, where AAP — which swept to power in the 2022 state assembly elections — has repeatedly clashed with the SAD and BJP over governance narratives. Critics from Opposition ranks argue that AAP uses such demonstrations to deflect scrutiny from governance gaps. This is not the first time social-media content has become a flashpoint in Punjab's political battles, reflecting a wider national pattern of digital misinformation driving street-level political mobilisation.

How the SAD and other Opposition parties formally respond to the protests is expected to shape the next phase of Punjab's political discourse ahead of upcoming local body contests.