SAD turns 100, looks to regain ground in Assembly elections

GS Paul
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, December 14

Amid farm protests, the SAD leadership headed by Sukhbir Singh Badal commemorated the centenary of the party's foundation day by performing 'ardas' dedicated to 'sarbat da bhala' (welfare of all) and 'success of farmers' cause' at Gurdwara Gurbaksh Singh at the Golden Temple complex today.

Badals damaged Akali Dal: SAD (Amritsar)

Chandigarh: The SAD (Amritsar) on Monday extended support to the farmers' protest in Delhi and demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge into the missing 328 'saroops'. Party national general secretary Kushalpal Singh Mann said the SAD, led by the Badal family, had no right to celebrate 100 years of the Akali Dal as it had caused much damage to the soul and spirit of the party. It also criticised the Badals for supporting the farm laws initially. TNS

Giving a push for federal structure in the country, Sukhbir declared that the SAD intended to work in tandem with the like-minded regional and national parties in this direction.

Pointing out the alarming crisis following the 'anti-farm laws', he said the BJP-led Centre had not followed a federal approach through consultation and consensus and the agrarian crisis was the outcome of ill-advised and dictatorial tendencies. "The genuine federal structure was an ultimate and durable quotient against the social, political and economic crisis and the SAD will coordinate with like-minded parties to ensure establishment of a welfare state, a vision handed down to us by our Gurus," he said.

Releasing the mission statement of the

SAD, Sukhbir emphasised

the commitment to

Panthic ideals and values as the top priority.

In its centenary year, the SAD finds itself in disarray, desperately trying to regain a foothold in its home turf of Punjab following a series of sacrilege, flip-flops over exonerating the Dera Sirsa chief and lately, misappropriation of 328 'saroops' from the possession of the SGPC.

The SAD was founded on December 14, 1920, by the Sikhs. The party was at the forefront of securing federal rights for the states and standing up for the minorities. Considering itself as the principal representative of Sikh Panth, the aim was to free gurdwaras from 'mahants' and establish supremacy of the SGPC. That goal was achieved which led to the constitution of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925.

In 1966, the present Punjab was formed. The party came to power in the new Punjab in March 1967. It allied with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, BJP's predecessor, for the first time during the Punjab Assembly elections in 1969. It formed a coalition with the BJP again in 1997 during the state elections. At the Centre, however, the SAD joined the BJP-led coalition in 1998.

With the BJP at the Centre, tension and pressure brewed up with SAD's stand on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and National Population Register. Recently, the SAD walked out of the alliance over the three farm laws.

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