April 18, 2026

The charge of abusing and manhandling a government officer by anyone is serious and punishable by law. But when the officer in question is the chief secretary of a state or union territory and the abusers/manhandlers are elected representatives of the people, the charge assumes many other connotations. What happened in Delhi during the midnight meeting called by the AAP government is obviously the subject of two different versions – one put out by the officers and another by the government. But if one believes in the old adage that there cannot be smoke without fire, then one must also believe that while the officers might have overreacted to raised voices and general pushing in the melee, the AAP legislators will try to water down the event to escape censure.

But there can be no doubt that something went wrong in the meeting. The timing of the meeting at midnight also raises concerns about it being a pre-meditated event to threaten and blackmail the officers. The AAP government is fuming about the alleged excesses of the Lieutenant Governor and it feels that the officers are not helping its cause. But the officers are doing their duty as mandated by law. This meeting also looked cooked-up as the Delhi food minister, Imran Hussain, was not present when the sole agenda of the meeting was to discuss delays in ration disbursal, if the government is to be believed. The chief secretary, Anshu Prakash has said that he was called to discuss delays in the government’s publicity campaign. Only an independent inquiry can now ascertain what went behind closed doors.

With this alleged abuse and manhandling, AAP legislators have reached a new low. For a party that professed to be different, AAP has some of the worst goons in its ranks. Its lawmakers believe they are a law unto themselves. From being vigilantes (a la Somnath Bharti) to being musclemen (Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal), they try everything. AAP is setting a record for being the party that has inculcated all the bad habits from all political parties in India. In the process, it has completely lost its individual identity and become just another political party and a bad one at that.

image courtesy: NewsBharti