Just a few days after Sidhu Moosewala’s parents agitated outside the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, a private news channel, on Tuesday, brought the mastermind of Sidhu Moosewala’s assassination, Lawrence Bishnoi, to the camera and interviewed him for 57 minutes. This interview created a stir on social media, and people are agitating over its portrayal of Lawrence Bishnoi as a nationalist.
This action brought the jail administration into significant trouble. Before the interview was over, the Bathinda Jail Administration denied that any interview had been conducted from any jail in Punjab. However, the channel initially showed clips indicating that the interview took place in Bathinda.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal stated that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has no moral authority to remain in his chair as he had failed as a home minister to such an extent that now it seemed that dreaded gangsters like Lawrence Bishnoi were running the state.
Reacting to the interview given by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, the SAD president said, “It is clear that the interview was given when the gangster was in Bathinda jail. This shows that the Aam Aadmi Party government’s writ does not run in jails in Punjab. Here, gangsters are not only using mobile phones freely but also openly boasting of killings and extortions. This is a case of a complete breakdown of law and order in the state. Bhagwant Mann has lost the moral right to continue in office.”
Badal also called out the timing of Bishnoi’s interview. He said it had come at a time when the Moosewala family had started a campaign to ensure justice for their son and punishment for those who had leaked information about the withdrawal of the late singer’s security detail on social media. Badal assured the Moosewala family that the SAD would always stand in solidarity with them in their quest for justice for their son. He also condemned the indirect defamation campaign launched through Lawrence Bishnoi to tarnish the legacy of Moosewala.