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Restore Fakhr-e-Qaum title on Parkash Singh Badal, SAD appeals to Akal Takht

ByVishal Joshi
Jan 14, 2025 03:22 PM IST

A resolution was passed to this effect at the traditional convention of the Shiromani Akali Dal during the annual Maghi Mela in Muktsar; Sukhbir says those who speak against Badal Senior are ‘qaum de gaddar’.

A month-and-a-half after Parkash Singh Badal was posthumously stripped of the Panth Rattan Fakhr-e-Qaum (pride of the Sikh community) title, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday appealed to Akal Takht to restore the honour on the SAD patriarch and five-time chief minister of Punjab.

Former deputy chief minister and ex-president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Sukhbir Singh Badal (centre) sitting on the ground along with party workers at the SAD convention during the Maghi Mela at Muktsar on Tuesday afternoon before he was invited on stage. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)
Former deputy chief minister and ex-president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Sukhbir Singh Badal (centre) sitting on the ground along with party workers at the SAD convention during the Maghi Mela at Muktsar on Tuesday afternoon before he was invited on stage. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)

A resolution was passed at the traditional convention of the SAD during the annual Maghi Mela in Muktsar. Led by Badal’s son and former party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD workers appealed to the Akal Takht to restore the title on the late Parkash Singh Badal.

On December 2, 2024, the five Sikh high priests, led by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh had revoked the title on Badal Senior 13 years after it was bestowed on him in the Golden Temple complex in recognition of his services during his long political career. The Akal Takht had also asked the Shiromani Akali Dal working committee to accept Sukhbir’s resignation as the SAD chief and had declared the punishment for religious misconduct. Sukhbir was declared a ‘tankhaiya’ in August after he was held guilty of religious misconduct “for mistakes committed by the party when it was in power in Punjab from 2007-17”, including pardoning Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim in 2015 that triggered clashes between Dera followers and Sikhs.

“Parkash Singh Badal gave 70 years of his life to the SAD and Sikhism but it’s painful to hear him being called anti-Panthic and against the interests of Punjab. Those who speak against Badal Senior are ‘qaum de gaddar’. He was instrumental in reviving law and order in Punjab and he led from the front to protect the interests of the state. There have been attempts to malign him and dent the SAD,” Sukhbir Singh Badal said at the gathering.

“Incidents of sacrilege during the Akali regime had hurt Badal sa’ab the most and he had regretted them. But no one talks about the Congress leadership for the attack on Darbar Sahib (at Golden Temple) in 1984,” Sukhbir said.

He said the new political outfit floated by controversial Sikh preacher and jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh’s father Tarsem Singh and his Faridkot counterpart Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, the son of one of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassins, believes in violence.

He concluded his speech by saying that he is ready to make any sacrifice for Punjab and Punjabis. Sukhbir had a narrow escape when former Khalistani militant Narain Singh Chaura shot at him while he was performing the duty of ‘sewadar’ outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar on December 4. Sukhbir, who was sitting in a wheelchair, escaped unhurt as the bullet hit a wall. Chaura was overpowered and arrested.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sukhbir arrived with folded hands to attend the party’s Maghi rally in Muktsar. Instead of taking a seat on the dais, he sat on the floor along with party workers. After requests from the stage coordinator amid slogans by SAD workers, he got up and reached the stage. SAD rally coordinator and former MLA Kanwarjit Singh Rozy Barkandi said the large gathering indicated that people still accepted Sukhbir as their leader.

Addressing the rally, SAD secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said Sukhbir had accepted all charges against him in writing and personally appeared before the Akal Takht and had undergone the religious punishment. He alleged a conspiracy against the Badals, saying Sukhbir had been targeted.

Former SAD MLA and Badal loyalist NK Sharma also took a dig at the rebel Sudhar Lehar leaders for toeing a religious line “when the SAD is a party of Punjabis irrespective of faith and caste”. He credited former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal with ensuring communal harmony in the border state.

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