KHATKAR KALAN: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the party was committed to the country, Punjab and communal harmony in the same manner as the great martyr Shaheed Bhagat Singh and condemned the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for misusing the martyr’s name to form the government in Punjab but disregarding each and every principle dear to the latter. He also questioned why no action was being taken against chief minister Bhagwant Mann in the Punjab liquor scam and asked whether a fixed match had taken place on this issue.
The SAD president, who paid floral tributes to the martyr at the latter’s ancestral village in Khatkar Kalan besides participating in a seminar which discussed the ideals dear to Shaheed Bhagat Singh and how they were being eroded, also condemned chief minister Bhagwant Mann for flocking to Delhi to save Arvind Kejriwal instead of paying tributes to the martyr’s memorial here.
The SAD president, while attending a seminar on the occasion, said “the SAD is not a political party alone but a ‘soch’. We are committed to fighting against repression and have done so both in the pre independence era against the British and later during the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi”. Asserting that the SAD had always stood firm to its principles, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “it is unfortunate that today’s parties are playing vote bank politics and are pitting one community against another. These parties are not following the “soch” of Bhagat Singh”, he said adding “the SAD has never compromised on its principles and never will”.
Asserting that AAP had played with the emotions of Punjabis, Mr Badal said “Mr Bhagwant Mann used to even tie his turban in the manner done by the martyr but has forgotten about him after attaining power”. He said the open corruption and depravity displayed by AAP legislators was also anathema to the high ideals set by Shaheed Bhagat Singh. He also condemned the Congress party for misleading Punjabis by taking false oaths in the names of the martyrs.
Talking to media persons at Khatkar Kalan, Mr Badal asked why no action was being taken against chief minister Bhagwant Mann in the Punjab liquor scam. “The Punjab excise policy was framed on the basis of the Delhi policy. The same people, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, framed the Punjab excise policy. I even gave details of the meetings which had occurred to frame the Punjab excise policy in Delhi. The policy resulted in hundreds of crores being looted from the Punjab treasury by AAP. People are asking why no action has been taken against Bhagwant Mann in the case and there is also speculation that a fixed match has taken place in this case”.
Replying to another query, Mr Badal said it was condemnable that 21 persons had died after consuming spurious liquor in the chief minister’s home district but the kingpins in the case were still at large. “It is even more condemnable that instead of being with the people Bhagwant Mann is serving Kejriwal’s interests in Delhi”.
Earlier at the seminar, leading intellectual Dr Piare Lal Garg said it was high time the regional party of Punjab – the Shiromani Akali Dal – came forward and took up the issues of the State forcefully. Intellectual Dr Gurmeet Singh Sidhu the SAD alone could safeguard the interests of the State as people had lost hope from all other parties. Senior SAD leader Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra said “the system is collapsing as the ruling party and the prime opposition were both hand in glove. Senior leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said the SAD was the voice of the poor, downtrodden, minorities and farmers. Also present on the occasion were Banga legislator Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi and district president Sukhdeep Singh Sukar.