Amritsar, Punjab (January 27, 2014): Dal Khalsa today said that the Shiromani Akali Dal could not achieve its long standing demand for autonomy so long as the party was under the shadow of the BJP.
Pertinently, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal in his Republic day address at Ludhiana on Jan 26 has once again raked up the demand of recasting the Constitution on true federal lines.
Dal Khalsa’s spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said this demand remained the central theme of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. However, after wresting full control of the once considered Sikh Party, Badal had deliberately abandoned the resolution, he pointed out. Taking a jibe at CM, he said in the absence of any action plan, mere words of Badal would not cut the ice as the saying goes “goal without plan is just a wish”.
“His party’s alliance with the BJP- the party that favours strong centre and unitary Constitution- reflects Badal’s double standards”, said he. “Congress and the BJP are at the same page so far maintaining Centralized structure of the Indian polity is concerned”.
Devolution of political power from the centre to the provincial governments was the guiding principle of India’s democratic progress. However, ironically the framers of the Constitution defied it and made the Centre all powerful, he recalled. Obviously, for a readjustment of centre-state relations on the lines suggested by the Akali Dal, the Indian Constitution has to be redrafted from cover to cover, he opined.
Unless Badal severs his ties with the saffron party and join hands with regional parties who are long votaries of federal structure, the goal for autonomy would remain a distant dream, he said.
“Badal should show some seriousness in resolving the long standing issue of his party, for which hundreds of Sikhs have faced hardships including long detentions”. To start with, Akali Dal should also pass the resolution in favour of complete autonomy in the Punjab assembly like National Conference did in J&K assembly on Jun 26, 2000.
Dal Khalsa, which is strong votary of Sovereign Sikh State has urged the Punjab CM to tell the Centre: Hands off; we don’t need your planning; we don’t want your doles; we don’t want your legislative supervision; your governors; damn your safeguards, we don’t want to be ruled by you”.
Accusing the successive central governments for provoking communal reactions against Sikhs in other sections of the country, he said repression of Sikhs in Punjab was first and foremost a political resolution legitimized by Indian democratic institutions like the parliament, the judiciary, the press and carried out by its executive limbs.