CHANDIGARH – Indicating that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is going back to its Panthic agenda, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that the Sikhs had a separate identity that must be preserved.
He said the SAD would ask the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana to repeal the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Act enacted by the earlier Hooda government.
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, SAD Member of Parliament, has moved a private member’s Bill in the Rajya Sabha, seeking an amendment to Article 25 (b) of the Constitution which clubs the Sikhs with Hindus.
This is the third such attempt, but the timing is significant. With the RSS reportedly making inroads in Punjab villages, amid speculation that the BJP may go it alone in the next Assembly elections, the SAD is looking at consolidating the Sikh vote bank.
Badal said other than legal recourse, he had requested his counterpart in Haryana to repeal the Act. “Everybody knows that Sikhism is a separate religion like Christianity and Islam. Though I don’t think we need to amend the Constitution, it is a recognised fact that the Sikhs have a separate identity,” Badal said.
The Chief Minister chose to brush aside queries on the RSS spreading its wings in the state, maintaining that every party had the right to expand its political base.
“There is enough scope for the two allies to increase their political space,” the Chief Minister said.
Denying there were fissures in the alliance, Badal said the SAD and the BJP would fight the 2017 Assembly elections together.
“Our ties are 20 years old. This alliance is significant as it symbolises communal harmony, which is the most precious thing for me,” he said. Badal denied that the Modi government had refused special assistance or drought relief to the state. He maintained that the Centre itself was facing a cash crunch. He reiterated that Punjab, along with other debt-stressed states of West Bengal and Kerala, must be given special aid.
Badal said that economic development was now the prime focus of his government. He said he had suggested to the Prime Minister that instead of a Chief Ministers’ conference, every CM must be called once in three months to help resolve the issues faced by his state.
