Paramjot Singh Chahel
Shiromani Akali Dal, a century old regional party, has never seen an eminent figure as Parkash Singh Badal. He started career in 1947 as Sarpanch of village Malwa Punjab. Within 10 years, he became an MLA. In 1970, he rose to become the Chief Minister of Punjab at the age of 43, which is one of the records in the political history. He bagged the post of CM in 1977 and 1997 also. He was the president of Akali Dal from 1995 to 2017. He was a technocrat and visionary who knew how to bring about the communal harmony. He was sensitive about the issue of farmers’ laws and broke down the age-old ties with the BJP and returned the Padma Vibhushan under protest.
While going through the life of Badal Sahib, the Anandpur Sahib Resolution cannot be ignored. It is document of modern Sikhism that deals with religious rules and political goal. He strengthened the Shiromani Akali Dal and gained the political power to rule the community and the State of Punjab. The Anandpur Resolution was moved by Gurcharan Singh Tohara and endorsed by Prakash Singh Badal. He supported the principle of real federal shape of relation in between Central and State in the line of thinking of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan.
The Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP government started to change the existing structure of the Takhat Sachkhand Shri Hazoor Sahib Committee, Nanded under the name of Justice Jagmohan Singh Bhatia Committee constituted in 2014. The Government of Maharashtra intending to amend the Law and drop the Sikh representatives nominated on the Takhat Sachkhand Shri Hazoor Sahib Board, Nanded from the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Amritsar, Chief Khalsa Diwan Amritsar, Sachkhand Hazuri Khalsa Diwan Nanded and single representatives from Madhya Pradesh, Hyderabad and Secunderabad besides the Sikh Member of Parliament. Prakash Singh Badal immediately discussed the matter with NCP president Sharad Pawar and arranged the meeting at Mumbai at his residence on February 24, 2021. Bawa Gurinder Singh, Manhas Bhupender Singh, Paramjot Singh Chahel, Ranjit Singh Kamthekar and Thakur Singh Bawari were present. After the meeting, the amendment in the law was put in the cold storage. In this way, Badal was leader not for regional Sikhs of Punjab but Sikhs all over the India. We pray that his soul rests in peace.
The writer is former judge
and former secretary of Hazoor Sahib Board Nanded.