Sukhbir woos Sikhs, owns up blame if mistakes committed

Former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday promised to make all kind of sacrifices for the Panth, Punjab and the Punjabiyat as he urged the Sikh community to forge a bond with his party once again.

During his 20-minute address at a Maghi Mela rally here, Sukhbir spread out his ‘kurta’ from the stage and said he “owns up the responsibility” if his late father — former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal — and he committed any mistakes.

“I ask the Sikh community that if you are annoyed with me for any reason, let’s rebuild our bond,” Sukhbir said stressing that he stands for the state’s peace and communal harmony.

This was the first major SAD event after the Akal Takht’s punishing decree in early December forced the party to accept Sukhbir’s resignation from its chief’s post.

Restore 'Fakhr-e-Qaum’ title to late CM: SAD

The Shiromani Akali Dal passed a resolution appealing to the Akal Takht to restore the ‘Fakhr-e-Qaum’ (pride of the community) title given to the late five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The former CM was stripped of the title posthumously through the Akal Takht decree after Sukhbir Singh Badal apologised to Takht for religious misconduct during the SAD-BJP rule from 2007-17.

The resolution was moved by former state Cabinet minister Hira Singh Gabria and it was deemed passed after Akali workers at the venue raised slogans in its support.

The former CM and SAD patriarch was bestowed with the title in December 2011 by the Akal Takht.

The highest temporal seat for the Sikhs had held him and several party leaders guilty of religious misconduct during SAD’s decade-long rule from 2007-17.

The later part of the rule was marred by incidents involving the desecration of religious texts, an emotive issue that spiralled into the SAD’s decline from once a dominant outfit in the state politics to a pale shadow of its former standing.

Sukhbir’s remarks have come as the party is struggling to fill the political vacuum left by its decline after the Sikh community drifted from it in recent years.

Trying to strike an emotional chord with the community, Sukhbir — surrounded by his security personnel — entered the rally venue with folded hands while greeting the party workers and others there. He also sat on the floor for a moment among them.

Several leaders skip rally

Bathinda Lok Sabha MP and Sukhbir’s wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal was among those absent on the occasion.

The party’s only legislators — Ganieve Kaur, wife of SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who is the brother of Harsimrat, and Manpreet Singh Ayali — were also absent.

Majithia also skipped the event.

He also launched a no-holds-barred attack against jailed Khalistan sympathiser and Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha MP Amritpal Singh, urging the public to beware of him and his party.

“Ask them if they have faith in the Akal Takht. They are traitors of the Sikh Panth. Their agenda is to push the state, especially the youth, into the jaws of fratricidal bloodshed,” he added.

He also alleged that anti-Panthic forces had always targeted his father, who “served the Sikh community more than anybody else”.

“Following his death, they are after me. It hurts,” Sukhbir said. He once again claimed innocence in cases involving the desecration of religious texts during his party’s government in 2015.

Sukhbir said he apologised to the Akal Takht and accepted its punishment as this was the “only way” to end the controversy surrounding the sacrilege cases. “Our party had held a meeting before I admitted everything. We had all answers to the questions, but we thought that the politics over the sacrilege incidents that had trapped our community for 10 years will end only this way,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, SAD spokesperson and senior leader Daljit Singh Cheema trashed charges of defying the December 2 edict of the temporal seat.

He said the party was unable to accept the Akal Takht-constituted panel for the reorganisation drive as it would have led to the de-recognition of the party.

SAD’s acting president Balwinder Singh Bhunder was the last to speak.

Former Muktsar MLA Kanwarjit Singh Rozy Barkandi said the crowd proved that people want Sukhbir as their leader.