SAD defied Akal Takht edict by holding Maghi Mela rally: Ex-FM
By organising a rally at Maghi Mela in Muktsar yesterday, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has challenged the authority of the Akal Takht in one way or the other. So, there is a need to reject such Akali leaders who have been disobeying the orders of the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, stated expelled SAD leader and former Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa here today.
Dhindsa said it was clear in the edict that the seven-member committee would enrol members of the SAD and also perform responsibility to elect the president of the party. However, the SAD formed a parallel committee for the purpose by appointing Gulzar Singh Ranike as its incharge. SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami was the convener of the Akal Takht panel.
The former minister said the stage secretary at the SAD Maghi Mela rally called Sukhbir Singh Badal as president of the party as he invited him to address the rally. He said though Sukhbir had been removed as the SAD chief on the order of Akal Takht, still supporters call him the party president.
At the Muktsar rally, Sukhbir had stated that “false allegations” were levelled on him even as he had admitted to those charges before the Akal Takht, said Dhinda, while adding, “Does Sukhbir want to say that the allegations levelled against him by Singh Sahibs at the Akal Takht were false?”
Dhindsa said Sukhbir had been saying that the SAD was being weakened by the opponents of the SAD. “In reality, he himself is responsible for weakening of the party,” he added.
The former minister said time has come for SAD workers to decide whether they were with the Akal Takht and the SAD or with the Badal family. He expressed a hope that most SAD leaders would stand by the Panth.
Dhindsa also appealed to all farmer unions to unite for saving the life of fasting farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal and the future generations of the farming community. He also asked Bhagwant Mann-led stated government to announce minimum support price (MSP) on 23 crops on the pattern of the Haryana Government and as promised by AAP senior leaders to farmers during the last Assembly elections.
