New Delhi: “Humse kya bhool huyi jo ye saza humka mili?” (What have I done wrong that I am being treated this way?) is no longer a pensive song where a lonely Rajesh Khanna is singing, exuding melancholy inside a church. It is now a political statement.

AAP MLA Alka Lamba tweeted this line with a YouTube link and a hashtag ‘Janta Havaldar’ (people are watching you). Needless to say, it had immense political implications and was just not any other song for her. This was to communicate her frustration at the Aam Admi Party leadership after the AAP MLA from Chandni Chowk was not invited to the seventh national council meeting of the party on Saturday. 

This comes days after Lamba created a rebellion of sorts when she publicly disagreed to endorse the AAP resolution that sought to withdraw the Bharat Ratna given to former Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi for his alleged involvement in the 1984 Sikh genocide. The matter created a massive uproar and public embarrassment for AAP at a time when the ruling party of Delhi was exploring options for an alliance with the Congress in Delhi for the 2019 general elections. Lamba, in fact, tweeted a printed copy of the controversial resolution that she objected to. Ever since then, she is being treated with suspicion, say party insiders. 

Lamba realised that she didn’t get an invitation to the meeting after checking her WhatsApp, e-mail, and SMSes. This is a first for Lamba, who has been a regular to national council meetings of the AAP. As a standard protocol, AAP sends e-mails to all members of the national council members, followed by a telephone call. In Lamba’s case, she did not receive either. The message was clear: We don’t want you. 

Dejected, Lamba tweeted the Rajesh Khanna song which was meant to communicate her feelings to the AAP leadership. Ever since the resolution row, Lamba is being treated as an outsider, say people close to her. Options of taking disciplinary actions against Lamba were also explored for publicly humiliating the AAP leadership. But what seemed to be a forgotten chapter has been reignited by a fresh tweet by the AAP MLA, raising speculations about her ghar wapsi to the Congress.