In a shocking twist in Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s viral video row, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday claimed that a silicone mask was used to film the sacrilegious video allegedly by an associate of Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Badal.
The Punjab Unit of the AAP shared the viral video in slow motion to highlight the “visible mask lines” on the neck and the difference in the skin tone.
“Unable to match the government’s performance, the Opposition allegedly hatched a conspiracy to defame Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over a religious issue. A fake video was allegedly created using a face mask,” the Punjab AAP said on X in a post translated from Punjabi.
The Punjab ruling party further added that the “conspiracy” of the Opposition has been exposed, and now people of the state will decide who is speaking the truth and who is lying.
“With the truth behind the conspiracy now coming to light, the malicious intentions of the united Opposition have been exposed. It is now for the people to decide who is telling the truth and who is lying,” the Punjab AAP said in a post in Punjabi on X.
Another video shared by the AAP shows a man sitting inside a car holding a silicone mask of Bhagwant Mann in his hand. “You put a face on a face,” the man is heard saying in the video.
According to Bhagwant Mann, Jagman Samra, a Canada-based aide of Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Badal, had shot his fake video.
“Here is the video of the person who made the fake video of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Bhagwant Mann Ji. The conspiracy by the ED party and the Akali Dal–Badal family to defame Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Bhagwant Mann Ji has been exposed. In the video, it can be clearly seen that a person is holding a mask of Sardar Bhagwant Mann Ji in his hand and is plotting to defame him,” the AAP wrote while sharing the video.
Mann, who has been declared a ‘Guru-dokhi’ and ‘Khalsa Panth-virodhi’ by the Akal Takht over the alleged video, has been maintaining since the beginning that he is not the person seen in the video.
However, the Opposition Akali Dal, BJP and Congress have been demanding his resignation over the video, allegedly insulting Sikh Gurus.