Chandigarh, June 10: The Aam Aadmi Party declared Tuesday that the central government is deliberately utilizing the Enforcement Directorate to intimidate the business community in Punjab. AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal stated that the central agency is specifically targeting local Hindu business owners, assuring the trading community that the state administration will shield them from federal harassment.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann affirmed that the local authorities would not tolerate external political pressure on the state’s commercial backbone. The state government maintained that these financial audits are politically motivated maneuvers designed to force local entrepreneurs into shifting their political allegiances.
“The ED Party is once again conducting ED raids on Hindu traders in Punjab on Tuesday,” Kejriwal asserted in a statement published on X. “The ED Party is harassing small Hindu traders in Punjab. My appeal to all traders is that there is no need to panic. The entire Punjab and the Punjab Government stand with you. Together, we will take on the ED Party.”
Kejriwal also questioned the political reactions from opposition parties regarding his stance against federal overreach and traditional state factions. He noted that the Congress party appeared unnecessarily aggrieved by his public opposition to the central enforcement measures and local political rivals, claiming that the opposition has openly come out in defense of these actions.
CM Mann declared that the mercantile community remains integral to the financial health and cultural progress of the region. He maintained that federal agencies are being misused to exert unsolicited pressure on independent businesses, an intervention that the people of Punjab will actively resist.
“Punjab’s Hindu traders are the backbone of our state’s economic development and have made a tremendous contribution towards building a ‘Rangla Punjab’,” Mann declared. “The ED Party wants to harass our traders by misusing central agencies. Through such actions, they are trying to exert political pressure and compel them to join their side, something that Punjabis will never tolerate.”
Senior party leader Manish Sisodia expanded the critique to national financial policies, arguing that excessive focus on regulatory raids weakens broader economic growth and deters international investment. Sisodia declared that corporate growth is being stifled by subsequent demands for political contributions, forcing global capital away from India and into competitive technological markets abroad.
