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Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of spreading hatred and playing politics of religion in the state.
He criticised the BJP for allegedly misrepresenting former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi's speech in the Delhi Assembly and said such actions aim to incite people and spread misinformation. Addressing a press conference here, Mann said, "BJP is doing politics of religion, politics of hatred. They are attempting to incite religious sentiments in Punjab through actions which could not even be thought of." "In the Delhi Assembly, Atishi's voice was used, and they gave subtitles arbitrarily, attempting to pass it off as disrespect for Guru Sahib. Forensics examined the video and gave a report that she did not even utter the word 'Guru'," he added. Mann claimed that the BJP had done similar things in the past, dubbing one slogan as something entirely different, since their policy was to "instigate people and spread misinformation". "This is the disgusting mindset of the BJP. They had been doing this in the past, too. One slogan is raised, and it is dubbed as something entirely different. Their policy is to instigate people and spread misinformation. I strongly condemn this. It is they who actually did sacrilege by mentioning the names of Gurus in the subtitles. They are anti-Punjab and hate Punjabis a lot," the Punjab CM said. Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi President Saurabh Bharadwaj, along with other party leaders, reached Raj Ghat in the national capital to protest against the BJP over the alleged circulation of a doctored video of Delhi Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Atishi. AAP MLA Jarnail Singh accused the BJP of conspiring to divert attention from key issues concerning the national capital. "The BJP government has resorted to a very cheap conspiracy to sideline the real issues of Delhi in this assembly session. The opposition had to ask the government so many questions pertaining to the issues of the people of Delhi, but a conspiracy by a BJP MLA, in which he doctored a video of LoP Atishi, is an example of their corrupt thoughts," Singh said. According to a forensic report dated January 9, the word "Guru" was not uttered by Atishi in the audio clips circulating on social media, a release said. "Vide Forensic Report dated January 9, 2026, it has emerged that the word 'Guru' has not been uttered by Atishi in her audio as contained in the video clips being circulated on social media. Furthermore, there has been deliberate doctoring of the video to attribute words in the captions that were never spoken by Atishi," the release further clarified. Further investigation into the matter is underway, police said. (ANI)
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