SAD promises stability, peace
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, Aug 26 — The Shiromani Akali Dal today sought a mandate for political stability, economic prosperity and social harmony and for total rout of principles and personalities of foreign origin trying to "usurp leadership of the country".

The party’s manifesto, released here by the SAD president and Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, also strongly pleaded for the setting up of a genuine federal structure in the country with more fiscal and statutory powers to the states for ensuring a balanced all round development." The era of unseemly confrontation between the states and the Centre perpetuated by successive Congress Governments, must be ended conclusively in favour of cooperative federalism. This is the only way to preserve rich cultural, linguistic, religious and social diversity which is the distinctive signature of our great country" the manifesto said. To a question, the Chief Minister said that though the Anandpur Sahib resolution had not been included as such in the manifesto, the fact remained that the party was committed to it. In any case, one of the main points of the resolution, namely federalism and more autonomy to the states formed an important part of the manifesto.

Mr Badal said that his government was committed to maintain peace in the state. Punjab today was one of the most peaceful states in the country. The government would not allow it to be disturbed at any cost. To another question, he said there was no proposal to review the government scheme for supplying free water and power to the farm sector. He also said that the government would review after the elections the government decision to give octroi collection to private contractors.

Referring to the "sex slave" case of a Ludhiana girl, Mr Badal said he had ordered an inquiry into the case. In case the report was not found to be satisfactory by the victim of her family, the government would be ready to consider handing the case over to the CBI.

In a reference to yesterday’s Congress rally at Ludhiana addressed by Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the Chief Minister said it should be clear from the rather small gathering at the rally that the Congress party and its policies did not appeal to the people asked about the utterances of the former Jathedar of Akal Takht, Bhai Ranjit Singh, Mr Badal said neither the people nor the government was in a mood to take notice of them. In any case, it was for the Election Commission to take appropriate action in the matter.

The manifesto declared that the wave of nationalism blowing across the country would brush aside "forces of negativism, opportunism and corruption represented by the Congress and its allies." The Congress party has perpetrated a "massive fraud", on the nation in order to gain a "back door entry to power through treachery and deceit." This party is responsible for pushing the country into instability and putting an avoidable burden of thousands of crores on the common man through these elections." the manifesto says, while rededicating the SAD to eliminating policies of corruption, confrontation and opportunism.

Mr Badal said that the SAD was seeking a clear mandate on the basis of positive issues "we go to the people on the basis of performance not just promises" , "service, not slogans" is our motto. The performance of the Akali-BJP government in Punjab is a saga of unmatched excellence in service of the people. We have doubled the industrial investment in the state with just a single project worth Rs 16,000 crore, Bathinda oil refinery. The total industrial investment in the state over the past 52 years was a meagre Rs 14,000 crore, and that is not all. We gave Rs 1,200 crore for th ewelfare of the employees. Power generation in the state has witnessed a virtual revolution and very soon Punjab will become a surplus state power. We have taken revolutionary steps for the Dalits, the farmers and many other sections of the society. The results of our bold initiatives will begin to unfold in the days to come. We have done nothing with just the short term results in mind, Mr Badal said.

The manifesto describes peace and the restoration of Punjabi unity as among the major achievements of the Akali-BJP alliance. "We have also rekindled a wave of nationalism, lending strength to the nation on the whole," it says. "The peace and amity prevailing in the state today is not an artificial and superficial phenomenon imposed with the help of the gun" Mr Badal said.

Echoing the joint agenda of the NDA, the Akali manifesto made a strong plea for excluding people of foreign origin from top sensitive posts in the country and said that it was not possible for someone born of non-Indian parents and brought up in a foreign country to understand the heritage, the culture and the ethos of India.

In a special reference to the recent Kargil conflict, the Akali manifesto recalled the rich patriotic heritage of the Punjabis in general and the Shiromani Akali Dal in particular and lauded the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at this crucial juncture. His firm and principled stand had resulted in the total military defeat and diplomatic isolation of Pakistan and for the first time in 52 years, the world, including the leading powers like the USA had seen the Indian point of view on Kashmir perspective. Prime Minister Vajpayee had upheld the honour and dignity of the entire nation by refusing to even enter into a dialogue concerning the unity and integrity of the country.

The manifesto also decries the Congress party during this conflict, describing it as tailor-made to suit the designs of the enemy and clearly an attempt to demoralise the nation, especially the armed forces. The manifesto paid rich tributes to the valour of the armed forces and said that the whole nation, except the Congress party, was proud of the way our brave soldiers have dealt with unprovoked aggression against the country. The entire world has stood up in admiration of the courage and patriotism of our jawans but the Congress, for some intriguing reason, was trying to paint a great victory of our armed forces as a defeat. Mr Badal described the Congress role nothing short of treason.

The manifesto describes the forthcoming poll as virtually a referendum between a great son of India and a person of foreign origin who knew nothing about the history and culture of our country. It was also a choice between experience gained through a life time spent in the service of the nation and people on the one hand and total inexperience ignorance and ineptitude on the other. On an another level the elections are an opportunity for delivering a blow to politics scams, rank opportunism forgery and fraud.

The manifesto pledges the party to continue to strive for the fulfilment of the just and long pending demands of the people of Punjab, including the settlement of the river waters question as per the riparian principle. The inclusion of Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas left outside the state at the time of the reorganisation and the promotion of the Punjabi language and culture in the country especially in state like Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

The manifesto cautioned the people of the state against the designs of certain forces working at the behest of the Congress to vitiate the atmosphere of peace, amity and Punjabi unity. These forces had tried to spread panic among the people by raising slogans of bloody Baisakhi and threatening bloodshed during the 300th anniversary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa. These forces have no agenda except to help the Congress during these elections by attempting to divide Punjabis. The people of the state have already given rebuff to these forces by making tercentenary celebrations a success. Worse fate awaits them at the hands of people in the forthcoming elections "The Congress and its secret allies will be routed during the elections and the SAD-BJP-BSM alliance is poised to repeat its performance by sweeping all 13 seats in Punjab as also the Chandigarh seat. The people of the country have already made up their minds to vote for Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee", Mr Badal said while releasing the manifesto.

The manifesto also commits the party to continued work for the welfare of dalits and other weaker sections of society. The Shiromani Akali Dal is the first party in the country to work for the honour and dignity of the dalits. As is seen in our decision to start a shagun scheme and other welfare measure. The measures will not only be carried further but fresh schemes will be started for the setting up of society based on the ideals of equality and justice for all.

The Akali Dal will continue to work for the welfare of the farmers. In particular efforts will be made with the help of its partners to streamline the farmer produce marketing system in the country and for the setting up of agro-based industries. The SAD strongly favours an open foreign trade policy to help market farm produce ensuring remunerative prices made possibly the present government for the farm produce. The SAD pledged to take further steps to ensure a better future for the farmers. Special steps will also be taken for the welfare of the youth and the women and for building a strong infrastructure in the state.