BJP MP Anurag Thakur launched a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab on Thursday, June 18, 2026, alleging that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has himself been found complicit in sacrilege — the very charge AAP used to ride to power in the state.

Posting from Chandigarh, Thakur wrote in Hindi: 'ये जिस बेअदबी का आरोप दूसरों पर लगा कर सत्ता में आए थे, आज इनके मुख्यमंत्री भगवंत मान उसी बेअदबी में लिप्त पाये गए' — ('The same sacrilege they accused others of to come to power, today their own Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been found indulging in that very sacrilege'). He added that ordinary people in Punjab have been made to suffer under AAP's rule.

Context

The accusation of beadbi (sacrilege or disrespect, particularly toward the Guru Granth Sahib) carries exceptional political and religious weight in Punjab. A series of desecration incidents dating back to 2015 triggered widespread protests across the state and became a defining political fault line, contributing to the collapse of the then-ruling Shiromani Akali Dal government's credibility.

AAP, led nationally by Arvind Kejriwal, made accountability in those pending sacrilege cases a central plank of its 2022 Punjab assembly election campaign. The party swept to power with a historic majority, defeating both the Congress and SAD-BJP combine, with Bhagwant Mann sworn in as Chief Minister in March 2022.

Policy Backdrop

AAP's 2022 manifesto explicitly promised speedy justice in sacrilege cases, framing the issue as a test of moral governance. The party positioned itself as a corrective to what it called the complicity of earlier governments in shielding the accused. That promise was central to its appeal among Sikh voters and the broader Punjab electorate.

Since forming government, the AAP administration has faced sustained criticism from the BJP and other opposition parties over law-and-order, drug menace, and the pace of sacrilege investigations. Thakur's post fits into a pattern of BJP attacks framing AAP's governance record as hypocritical — using the very issues that propelled the party to power as evidence of its failures.

Stakeholders and Impact

The Sikh community, religious bodies including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the Akal Takht, and the wider Punjab electorate are the primary stakeholders in any allegation touching on sacrilege. Such charges, if substantiated, carry the potential to reshape political alignments in the state significantly.

The post has not specified the precise incident or evidence underpinning the allegation against Chief Minister Mann. No formal complaint or official statement from religious bodies had been confirmed at the time of publication.

What's Next

Political observers will watch for any formal response from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann or the AAP Punjab government, as well as any statement from the SGPC or Akal Takht on the specific allegation. The controversy is likely to intensify scrutiny of the AAP government's record on sacrilege justice ahead of the next Punjab assembly elections.

For BJP, the charge offers a potent line of attack in a state where the party has historically struggled to consolidate its position among Sikh voters — making the sacrilege narrative a key instrument in its effort to re-establish relevance in Punjab.