DW BUREAU / Baba Bakala

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today announced that he would never compromise with the principles of the Khalsa Panth and would always strive for the development of Punjab.

Addressing a mammoth gathering at the historic Rakhar Punia Mela here, the SAD president appealed to the Panth to recognize the betrayers in their midst, saying "these people are in league with agencies who want to weaken the SAD as well as Sikh institutions".

Asking the entire community to recognize the threat from both within and outside, Mr Sukhbir Badal said the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was broken and a separate Gurdwara Committee was formed for Haryana under a well planned design. "Now we have also witnessed how the RSS and the BJP have taken over the Sri Hazur Sahib Committee and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. If we do not stop this attack on our institutions we will have only ourselves to blame".

The SAD president also spoke eloquently on how seventeen instances of sacrilege had occurred during Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tenure in Punjab but chief minister Bhagwant Mann had never spoken out against them and the government had even failed to nab the culprits behind these heinous acts. He also detailed how the chief minister had himself violated the sanctity of a shrine in Sultanpur Lodhi by ordering the police to take control of it.

Mr Badal also spoke on how Punjab had gone down in all spheres during the last seven and a half years of Congress and AAP rule. "Both the Congress and AAP made tall promises but failed to waive debts of farmers or free the State of drugs". He said no development had occurred in the last more than seven years. "All development you see happened during the SAD tenure of S Parkash Singh Badal be it creation of expressways, thermal plants which made the State power surplus, airports or novel social welfare schemes like atta ? daal, shagun and SC scholarships. He said the SC Scholarship scheme had led to provision of free education to 3.5 lakh Dalit students annually during SAD tenure. "Repeated scams and mismanagement has made this figure come down to less than one lakh students per year now", he added.

The conference also witnessed a speech by Bandi Singh Bhai Gurdeep Singh Khera who came out in support of the SAD. The Bandi Singh in a spirited speech exposed those including Bhai Jasbir S Rode and Baljit Singh Daduwal who he said were working as cohorts of central agencies and even politicians like Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Iqbal Singh Lalpura who he said were working against the interest of the Bandi Singhs. Bhai Khera also made a scathing attack against Prem Singh Chandumajra asserting the latter had led the police under Sri Darbar Sahib during Operation Black Thunder. The Bandi Singh said in stark contrast former chief minister S Parkash Singh Badal was responsible for the transfer of several Bandi Singhs to Punjab and their subsequent parole.
(editor@dailyworld.in)