CHANDIGARH, India: Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, the ex-Chief Minister of Punjab, and a prominent U.A.D. leader, held the Center squarely responsible for the present Punjab situation and declared that his party will cooperate with the opposition to oust the Congress (I) from power. Mr. Badal was addressing the first news conference at Chandigarh, after his release from the prison, Mr. Badal described the Congress (I) as the biggest antinational organization.

The former Chief Minister who replied questions on various subjects declared that Congress (I) ‘was never interested in solving the Punjab problem, neither it would ever be.

When Badal’s attention was drawn to Rajiv Gandhi’s statement that the doors are always ‘open for discussions, the bitter Badal reiterated that the doors will still remain open even though we are dead.

Mr. Badal put a counter question to the pressmen see when the Center has already lost the credibility. He declared that the Centre can establish its credibility by taking the initiative which meant general amnesty in Punjab and end to fake encounters, punishment to those responsible for mass killings in November, 1984, and reinstatement of army deserters. According to the former Chief Minister, the original demands for which Dharm Yudh Morcha was Jaunched would stand but the present negotiations could only start with the above mentioned demands.

He announced that his party wanted continuance of peaceful and constitutional struggle for the acceptance of these demands. Referring to the previous Puniab Accord, Mr. Badal said that he was of the view that the Center would back out from the accord and would not do anything to implement the same, According to him, the only point of the accord which has been implemented was the completion of the S.Y.L. Canal which was detrimental to the interests of Punjab.

Mr. Badal went to the time when Mahatma Gandhi and Pt, Jawahar Lal Nehru had made promises of special status to the Sikhs before independence. But according to him when Msater Tara Singh, S. Hukam Singh, and Giani Kartar Singh met the Prime Minister in 1952 and reminded him of his promises to the Sikhs, he (PM) flatly refused to accept any responsibility for its implementation by saying that the situation has changed as those promises were made in special circumstances, which now no more exist.

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 18, 1987