Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday made an appeal to the people of Punjabi to strengthen the SAD as it was the true heir to the rich cultural heritage of Punjab.
Addressing a gathering at the Maghi Mela in Muktsar, Badal said the future of Punjab was safe only in the hands of the party which had ushered in record development, besides ensuring peace and communal harmony.
“In stark contrast, you are witnessing a government which has presided over both collapse of law and order as well as potential financial ruin of the statem,” he added.
The SAD chief said Punjabis have already seen how the previous Congress government had made false promises to them which were not fulfilled. He said Punjabis could not hope too much from the Bharatiya Janata party which was instigating them to fight with each other.
Calling upon Punjabis to think before taking decisions, Badal said they had been swayed by the slogan of Ek Mauka (one chance) earlier. He said the last eight months had shown that this slogan was hollow.
“Never before have Punjabis suffered so much. Snatching, robberies and extortions are affecting the common man. Industry is migrating out of the state. All development works have been stopped. Even promises made to people including Rs 1000 per month to women and jobs to youth have not been fulfilled,” Badal said.
He also asked Punjabis to think before welcoming Rahul Gandhi in their midst. He said the Congress and Gandhi family had done the most damage to Punjab and the Sikh community. He said Indira Gandhi ordered the attack on Sri Darbar Sahib while her son Rajiv engineered the genocide of Sikhs in 1984. He said this was not all.
“The Gandhi family is responsible for allocating Punjab river waters to Rajasthan in violation of the Riparian principle. Similarly Indira Gandhi got work started on the SYL Canal, and had it not been for resistance by the SAD, Punjab would have lost further water to Haryana leading to a catastrophe in the state,” the SAD chief said.
Badal said Punjab had witnessed unprecedented development during SAD tenure and it was due to these achievements that the opposition plotted to falsely accuse SAD vis a vis cases of sacrilege in 2015. He said subsequently both the Congress and AAP had been exposed.
