Fatehgarh Sahib: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said a storm had started blowing in favour of the SAD which would sweep away all the traitors of the Sikh Panth who had joined hands with central agencies to weaken the SAD as well as all the parties of Delhi.
Addressing a mammoth rally here as part of the Punjab Bachao campaign of the party, the SAD president while urging the people to recognize which party was theirs and which was working as a stooge of agencies, said “such elements will never safeguard your interests”. Referring to the Waris Punjab De outfit, he said “the only aim of this party is to defeat the SAD. It has admitted as such publically. It cannot do anything positive for you or the Panth”.
Asserting that the SAD was committed to development, peace and communal harmony and followed the ‘sarbat da bhala’ philosophy propounded by the Guru Sahiban, Mr Badal said “this all inclusive model of governance is not to the liking of divisive forces. This is why I have been attacked twice. These forces feel the SAD alone stands in the way of them achieving their objective to capture our Gurughar. I want to tell them explicitly. Our heads may be severed but we will not flinch from our principles”.
Launching a blistering attack on chief minister Bhagwant Mann, the SAD president said “Punjab has not witnessed a worse chief minister”. He said not only was Bhagwant Mann guilty of committing sacrilege against the Guru Sahiban by sprinkling liquor on their pictures besides urinating on a statuette of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, but had also made the CM’s office a den of corruption. “Postings and transfers are being sold. Rapists are being given protection in lieu of crores of rupees. Even a gangster like Gurpreet Sekhon who has 50 criminal cases registered against him is being hugged and inducted into AAP”.
Mr Badal also detailed how incidents of sacrilege against Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji started only after AAP entered Punjab politics in 2015. He said following this an AAP mla – Naresh Yadav was also convicted for committing a sacrilege in Malerkotla. He said no Akali leader or worker had been proceeded against in any sacrilege case in the last ten years yet both the erstwhile Congress and the present AAP government had consistently played politics on sacrilege. “This issue is raked up every time the governments are in the dock to divert attention from pressing issues like corruption, suppression of human rights or the present day severe power outages”.
The SAD president held Bhagwant Mann solely responsible for the suffering being meted out to farmers and domestic consumers as well as losses being suffered by the industry due to prolonged power cuts. “The chief minister failed to make arrangements to meet the shortfall in power supply since the last one fortnight. Instead of recognizing that the State was heading towards a power crisis he mouthed lies that farmers were receiving ten hour uninterrupted power supply. I want to ask him where this supply is now.” He also condemned the CM for terming the suicide of Gulzar Singh as a minor incident.
Asserting that the SAD was the true heir of the Sikh ‘quom’ and understood its responsibility towards Punjabis, Mr Badal said “we have made an action plan to bring Punjab back on the rails. I only appeal to you to strengthen your own regional party and shun all the parties of Delhi”.
Mr Badal said once the SAD took over the reins of the State, all farmers bereft of a tube well connection would be given the same immediately. He said beneficiaries would be given 50 kg wheat under the ‘aata-daal’ scheme and that the Shagun benefit would be increased to Rs one lakh and old age pension to Rs 3,100 per month. He also announced that medical and veterinary colleges would be established in every district headquarter and that a Rs 10 lakh interest free loan would be given to youth entrepreneurs besides extending a 75 per cent subsidy for animal husbandry farm projects.
Senior leaders who spoke on the occasion included halka incharge Baljit Singh Bhutta, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Darbara Singh Guru, Gurpreet Singh Rajukhanna, Sarabjit Singh Jhinjhar, Sharanjit Singh Chanarthal, Surjit Singh Garhi, Adv AS Dharni, Tejinder Singh Middulhera, Arshdeep Singh Kler and Manmohan Singh Makaropur.
