Claim
AAP spokesperson Anurag Dhanda said in this debate that the Akal Takht is lying.
“क्या अनुराग ढांडा आपने बोला अकाल तक झूठ बोल रहा है ... अनुराग ढांडा अकाल तक झूठ बोल रहा है। यह बोला गया है इस डिबेट में।”▶ Watch source segment
Rationale
The claim concerns exact words allegedly spoken by Anurag Dhanda during the specific 2026-07-02 'Aar Paar' debate. No fact-checker (AltNews, BOOM, Factly, Newschecker, PIB) covered this micro-claim, and the primary debate transcript/video could not be retrieved to confirm whether Dhanda literally said 'the Akal Takht is lying' or whether the anchor Amish Devgan paraphrased/mischaracterized him. The exact utterance is therefore unverifiable. Contextual reporting cuts against the claim: AAP's documented public stance in this controversy was that the objectionable video was fabricated propaganda while explicitly deferring to the Akal Takht as 'supreme' and agreeing to appear before it — so attributing a blunt 'the Akal Takht is lying' to Dhanda likely conflates his 'the video is fake' argument with an attack on the institution, though this cannot be definitively confirmed without the debate footage.
Evidence
- https://www.dnpindia.in/current-affairs/politcs/anurag-dhanda-questions-opposition-parties-over-alleged-fake-video-controversy/606407/ Reports Dhanda's actual line of attack: he alleged the video targeting CM Bhagwant Mann was fabricated ('fake video') and that the opposition manufactured the controversy to mislead the public — he questions the video's authenticity, not the Akal Takht's honesty. ✓ reachable · archived
- https://theprint.in/india/punjab-ministers-to-appear-before-akal-takht-over-anti-sacrilege-bill-confirms-cm-bhagwant-mann/2971945/ Shows AAP's public posture toward the Akal Takht was deferential — Mann confirmed AAP ministers/MLAs would appear before the Akal Takht — inconsistent with the party accusing the institution of lying. ✗ unreachable · HTTP 403
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqCTIx6nb9o CM Mann publicly stated 'Akal Takht is supreme,' underscoring that AAP's stated grievance was against the video/propaganda, not against the Akal Takht itself. ✓ reachable · archived
- https://telanganatoday.com/bhagwant-mann-rejects-akal-takht-edict-calls-video-false-propaganda Establishes the underlying dispute: Mann/AAP rejected the edict by calling the video 'false propaganda' by political rivals — the target of the 'lying' accusation was the video's authenticity, not the Akal Takht. ✓ reachable · archived