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Need to introspect why Sikhs are repeatedly rejecting SAD, says Sukhbir during Maghi Mela
Addressing a conference on the historic annual Maghi Mela in his home district of Muktsar, Sukhbir got vocal support from Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami in making a scathing political attack on the Congress, RSS-BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab
Muktsar
In his first political conference after the Shiromani Akali Dal’s worst electoral performance in the 2022 state assembly elections, party president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday said the Sikh “quom” (community) should introspect why the “mother party” was rejected repeatedly.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) managed to win only two seats in the 117-member Punjab House in 2022 polls, posing a threat to Sukhbir’s leadership, who himself suffered a humiliating defeat.
Addressing a conference on the historic annual Maghi Mela in his home district of Muktsar, Sukhbir got vocal support from Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami in making a scathing political attack on the Congress, RSS-BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab.
Out of power in Punjab for two consecutive terms, Sukhbir said the SAD’s traditional voters fell prey to “electoral gimmickry” of the AAP and it left the party leadership wondering why the Congress and the ruling party were preferred over the Akalis in the last two state polls.
“I fail to understand why our quom was misled by the AAP campaign of badlav or change. Law and order situation has deteriorated at an alarming level. Scared by the extortions, industrialists have started investing out of Punjab and cases of chain snatching have become a routine across the state,” said the former deputy chief minister.
“Sikhs believe in ‘raj karega Khalsa’ but the community was swayed by the AAP’s campaign of giving ‘ek mauka’ to Arvind Kejriwal. Women voters were lured by a monthly grant of ₹1,000 but the Punjab government is not even discussing implementing the major pre-poll promise,” he added.
Sukhbir said the AAP government has taken a loan of ₹30,000 crore in the nine months of its rule and chief minister Bhagwant Mann is a puppet in the hands of party’s central leadership.
The SAD chief said be it sharing river waters with Rajasthan and Haryana defying the riparian law or attack on the Akal Takht, the Congress had a history of working against the interests of Punjab and Sikhs.
He appealed to the Sikhs to stay away from Bharat Jodo Yatra being undertaken by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Rahul’s family had a direct role in the attack on Darbar Sahib and anti-Sikh riots. It hurts to see that a section of Sikhs is aligning with the Congress,” he said.
Sukhbir also charged the Congress, RSS-BJP and the AAP for weakening the Sikh institutions and community leadership by levelling frivolous charges.
He said the SAD is a ‘siyasi fauj’ (political army) of the Sikhs and the political opponents made vague allegations of sacrileges against the party leadership. “The SAD is not a party of the Badal clan but the integral organ of Sikhs. The Congress and the AAP have repeatedly made charges of sacrilege against us but a chargesheet filed (in 2015 cases) in the court did not mention name of any Akali leader or worker. They owe a public explanation for making such baseless accusations,” said the SAD chief.
Addressing the gathering, SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami said the RSS and the BJP are using a section of misled Sikhs to damage traditions by forming an independent panel to manage gurdwaras in Haryana,” he said.
Though the SAD leadership tried to present a united face, rebel Akali MLA from Dakha Manpreet Singh Ayali was conspicuous by his absence at the party’s conference that was held after two years. Veteran leader from Bathinda Sikander Singh Maluka also didn’t attend the event.
Jasvir Singh Garhi, state president of the Bahujan Samaj Party, SAD’s ally in Punjab, also addressed the rally.
Addressing a thinly-attended political conference, Sangrur parliamentarian and SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann raised the issue of delay in the release of Sikhs languishing in different jails.
