Exclusive: Bikram Majithia's arrest politically motivated, says wife Ganieve Kaur

6 months ago

Ganieve Kaur, wife of senior Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, has strongly criticised his recent arrest in the DA case, calling it a politically motivated move to suppress dissent.

Transcript

00:00Shivani Akali Dal in Punjab has seen upheaval. The latest one is Bikram Majithya's arrest.

00:07It's been over a month now. His wife Ghaniv Kaur in 2022, she was a political novice.

00:15Not anymore. She's been very vocal about the Ahmadi Party's move. First the arrest in drugs

00:21case and now there is an arrest in the disproportionate asset case. Ghaniv Kaur

00:27joins us. Ma'am, do tell us. Were you anticipating this? But you've been more vocal. Are you scared

00:34about what's really happening? Well, we were totally expecting this to happen. Just a short

00:40while before Bikram's arrest, he had in fact put a video where he told the government that

00:48this time you're going to do another case on me because he's very vocal about the misdeeds

00:54of the government, about their policies, about their shortcomings. So he had said that, you

01:02know, don't do something small on me like a DA because you've already done an NDPS. You

01:07want to do something, do something big this time. So we knew they were going to come for

01:11us and they were going to do something because they have been trying for a very long time to

01:15muzzle his voice. But do tell us, you must have spoken to him. He's in jail. Are you worried how

01:23things are? It's been over a month now. Well, I, you know, legal process takes time and we have full

01:29faith in the judiciary and his spirits are high and because his spirits are high. So we are also,

01:36you know, we are very positive and we, uh, we know there's nothing in it. And, um, so, you know,

01:43if he had something to hide, he wouldn't have the, he wouldn't have the ability to speak up for the

01:50truth because there are lots of people who have shied away from speaking the truth because they may

01:56have something to hide. He doesn't. Therefore he speaks and he speaks for Punjab and he speaks the

02:04truth. And that's what hurts them. This truth always hurts. So, um, you calling it a political

02:11vendetta. Yes. But the government is saying they've gone after big fish. If, uh, see they did a,

02:18first there was an NDPS case and they are saying that they have caught him in a drugs case. They're

02:23saying they've caught a big fish in, in the NDPS case. Now, if I, uh, would just take, like to take a

02:30minute, this is a high court ruling from the bail that Bikram got. And in the bail, uh, when there's

02:37an NDPS case, you, the, before they give the bail, the judge has to ensure that the, that the accused

02:46is actually not guilty before the bail is granted. So in every single, um, be it harboring, be it

02:57financing, be it possession, the judge has, has to pass a ruling that he was actually not involved

03:06and not found guilty before he was given bail. So if you go through the ruling, it is, he's, he's

03:14covered all the people who are now accusing him like Mr. Naranjan Singh, uh, Mr. Bitu Alak, uh, all

03:22these people who have today come out and spoken in the press against Bikram. He, the judges have

03:27already, uh, you know, kind of covered all of them and they have finally ruled that if I may read his,

03:35uh, read the judgment in the end, there is an allegation made, uh, in case of breach of any of the

03:44above, uh, having regard to the foresaid reasons, we are satisfied that reasonable grounds exist to

03:54believe that the, that the petitioner is not guilty, guilty of the offenses alleged against

03:59him in FIR number two. And he is not likely to commit such offenses while on bail. So, you

04:07know, the high court has found nothing against him. But as you say that, you know, Bitu Alak,

04:14Talbir Gil, uh, Bonnie Ajnala, all these people who are close to Majithya now are accusing him.

04:20But do you think one, this, as you say, the court is not really impacted, but, uh, remember there's a

04:27long way to go. There's Supreme court also, but there is also this taint. Do you think that taint

04:32has impacted, uh, Majithya family in particular, Bikram Majithya or his career? So this ruling has

04:40been upheld by the Supreme court as well. All these documents have been produced in the Supreme

04:45court. The Supreme court has upheld this ruling of the high court. Now, what is really interesting

04:51is that the, the documents that they have used to, uh, for this DA case were actually submitted in

04:59the Supreme court and the Supreme court rejected them. When the bail was, uh, when they, when

05:08they, um, SPL was rejected by the Supreme court, they use those same documents to do the DA, um,

05:17FIR. So it's 540 crores in all. They're saying there's transactions come in. There are foreign

05:25funding. How do you explain that? So this is not a banana Republic. You cannot have funding

05:33coming in, foreign investment coming in without the knowledge of the RBI. Everything comes through

05:39the RBI. There's foreign direct investment coming through the RBI. The RBI is aware of all

05:45of that. So all explanations have already been given to the Supreme court in this regard. And

05:52that's why the Supreme court upheld, uh, his bail application. Now, the same thing they

05:58have brought up in, uh, this new case and, um, you know, the same explanations obviously

06:04are going to be given again. And as far as, um, you know, you're expecting a bail soon.

06:09I mean, absolutely. There is, there is, uh, nothing in the case, as I said, and we have nothing

06:17to hide. Thousand acres of property or investments in Shimla and Jalandhar. So thousand, like I

06:26keep joking with them. I said thousand acres in the, in Himachal. I don't think even, uh,

06:31I don't think any Himachali owns that much land in, uh, Himachal. Like, so it's impossible.

06:38And is there no land ceiling? Is every other state in this country lawless except Punjab?

06:43Is Punjab the only state that has a government that is actually doing something and upholding

06:50the rule of law that the people in Himachal, the government in Himachal is sleeping, that

06:55the, that somebody actually owns a thousand acres in their name and they don't know about

06:59it. I mean, is it, is it a joke? So let them prove it in court that I have thousand acres.

07:05Hmm. And as far as this 25% in, uh, Jalandhar is concerned, there was a few years ago, there

07:12was a case, um, where they had taken my forged signatures for my nomination papers and put

07:19them in these documents. And I was, um, supposedly summoned by a judge along with 15 other people.

07:26I actually did not receive those summons at all. And, uh, the other people who received

07:32those summons went to high court and these papers were forged, received those summons.

07:39And the judge was suspended by the high court and these summons were quashed. So they have

07:46taken those papers, those forged papers. They tried to present them in court. But when our

07:51lawyers asked them for the papers, they refused to give them and took them away from the judge.

07:56Uh, so now that's another thing we have to prove. Mm hmm. But do tell us, uh, he's been

08:03in jail. Uh, are you worried about the security he's in, uh, Nabha jail? Uh, is there a security

08:11concern? Well, obviously he's been put in, uh, you know, he is, uh, orange category detainee

08:17and he has been put in with, uh, people who are, who have committed numerous murders, have

08:24POSCO, uh, you know, accused of POSCO cases and things like that. So one is worried about

08:32the security because there's nothing fair that is being done by this government. There's nothing

08:37at all. I mean, the way they barged into our home, I asked them if they had a warrant, they

08:43had no warrant. And, um, I asked them for the FIR. They couldn't produce the FIR. So they

08:51came to my home in, uh, my official residence in Chandigarh. And, uh, there was no one in

08:57the house except the, except two staff members and my mother who was suffering from COVID at

09:03the time. And she's 80 years old and does not keep well. And they had no warrants, no search

09:10warrants, nothing. They did not inform me they were coming. And they barged into the house,

09:16ransacked the whole house without any, uh, prior, this thing. I have, in fact, made a complaint to

09:23the, uh, um, the DG, uh, the SSP Chandigarh. And I have filed a complaint with the, um, speaker as

09:31well. I haven't had a reply from the speaker because they're not supposed to go to my house without

09:36prior permission of the speaker. But there's no rule of law, none whatsoever. Every single right of

09:45ours has been violated. How do you see this, that, uh, Bhagwan Tman, he's, he's been a comedian,

09:53but he mocking you. And then he's also talked in that, you know, Vikramajeechai will not even

09:59get a pillow. I mean, it's very sad that, you know, somebody, uh, of the stature of a chief

10:05minister is, um, speaking like that. And, um, you know, in our, you don't, um, I mean, one respects

10:15their daughters and, um, uh, sisters in this state. Everyone shows respect. And, I mean, if he wants

10:22to mock me, that's his prerogative, I suppose. But, um, it's sad for the CM to reduce himself to this

10:29level. But, um, I mean, as far as the pillow is concerned, we have never put in an application

10:37for a pillow because neither Bikram nor I use a pillow at night. So, I mean, this is part of the

10:43many stories that they are making up. I mean, good luck to them. Uh, what we saw was unexpected

10:51support coming in from quarters, uh, Congress party, Captain Amrinder. We saw Sopal Khaira

10:56come up to his residence. How do you see this? And particularly Shreemaniya Kalidal, I mean,

11:03uh, do you think there's, there's enough support for him? I think there's, there's been great

11:10support for him, for him. Um, I mean, I'm very, very grateful to all the people that have come

11:15out in support of him. There are people who've come out in support of me, especially after,

11:21you know, the way he, the way he, I was mocked, uh, people from quarters that I never expected

11:27came out in my support. Very kind of them. We are very, very grateful and appreciative

11:32of all of them. I mean, uh, to stand up, I mean, this is Punjabi earth. This is what Punjab

11:38is all about. That when, you know, when times are tough, you come out and stand for what is

11:43right. And I'm very grateful to them for that. You know, a lot of people talk about

11:49how, uh, things have been tough for Shreemaniya Kalidal. Now there have been times where Bikram

11:54Ajithi has also spoken, which could make the Badal family a little uncomfortable. Is there

12:00political ambition? Do you think this is going to help him revive not just his own image, but

12:05also, uh, I mean, would you, would you say he's a contended for the CM face for Shreemaniya

12:12Kalidal? Well, um, I think that is for the party to decide who's the CM and who isn't. And

12:19Subbirji is the president of the party. So I don't think, uh, Bikram has any such ambitions

12:27as such, but it is, it's for the party to decide. All is well within the family. Do you

12:31think this case has been taken up properly by Subbir Badal, Har Simrit Badal? Do you think

12:36that? Absolutely. They've, uh, they've like totally stood by us and, uh, you know, Penji

12:42has been in touch with me and she's come to visit me and, um, been very kind. Uh, what's

12:48the last word that you would want to have? What do you want people to know, especially

12:52at this important juncture? Well, I think it's very important for people to know that, you

12:59that, uh, from as far as the courts are concerned, it was an NDPS case and he has, uh, the courts

13:09have said they have not found anything in, uh, that case. Mr. Niranjan Singh, Harpreet

13:15Sidhu, uh, Mr. Chattopadhyay, all of them have given their findings to the court, uh, in the

13:21past and they have been rejected. These people have, have actually, uh, investigated this case.

13:28If they have found something, why didn't they speak up then? Why didn't they do something

13:32about it then? Why are they speaking up now? And, uh, it's because there is nothing in

13:37it. Secondly, um, they have made, they have made a case from a previous case, which is

13:45illegal, which is, which is actually is, you know, you cannot make an FIR from an existing

13:50FIR. So it does not stand. And, uh, everything that they have done so far is wrong.

13:58And the people of Majita have been, Majita have been very kind to us, you know, in this

14:02whole thing, they have always stood by us, you know, whichever storm has, uh, we've had

14:08to face, they have stood by us always. Since 2007, uh, our family has been, uh, you know,

14:15serving the constituency of Majita. Majita, it's not our constituency, it's our family. And

14:22in, uh, the 2022 election, it was, um, you know, I mean, I won with the largest margin

14:32in the opposition, which was, which was a big deal. And, uh, if they thought that Bikram

14:40was guilty, and if they thought that there was something wrong in, in what Bikram was

14:44doing, there was no way we would have been, you know, serving them for such a long time.

14:49So I think the people... Has it impacted you or the kids? Well, I think it's made us much

14:55stronger. We've, uh, you know, they've, it's given us a will to fight and we will fight

15:01this. We, we are not bothered anymore what they do. Uh, we have nothing to hide. So they

15:08can come and do what they want to do. They want to arrest me. They want to arrest my children.

15:11Go ahead. We don't, we don't care. Uh, the family is behind Bikram Majita, standing like

15:19a rock. Uh, but the turmoil is not over yet. Remember, he's still in, uh, the jail and it's

15:26yet to be seen because remember, this is also not just, uh, a legal battle, but it's also

15:31a perception battle. And it has to be seen whether Shimani Akali Dal can actually, uh, rise

15:37from it. With camera person Aman, this is Kamaljeet Sandhu in Chandigarh, India today.

Exclusive: Bikram Majithia's arrest politically motivated, says wife Ganieve Kaur

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended