JALANDHAR: Veteran Akali leader and senior vice president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) Kuldip Singh Wadala has raised the banner of revolt in the party by announcing his resignation from all party appointments due to differences with the party leadership over SAD’s policies. Announcing this at a press conference held here, Wadala said that although differences had been building up between him and the party president Prakash Singh Badal for the last few months, things came to a head over the unconditional alliance with the BJP for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Punjab and more recently with the projection of Gurcharan Singh Tohra as the party’s candidate for president ship of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC).
Wadala, whose announcement has come a few days after his return from a three month long trip to North America and Canada, said that he was in favor of incorporating the “constructive aspects” of the de cade long extremist movement into the party’s policies and programs. He said that since he was still a primary member of the party, he would strive to form a forum within the party to press for their demands. The direction that the SAD has been taking in recent months negates the sacrifices of Sikh youth for the “pious cause of protecting the Golden Temple” he added. Wadala said that the kind of religious freedom that the Sikhs had been agitating for was not possible within the present Indian constitution which was not equipped to grant a federal structure with greater autonomy for the states. He said that during his foreign trip he spoke at several Sikh extremist platforms about the party’s programs and policies, adding that the Sikh extremist lobby in North America was still active. Hitting out at the decision of the SAD leadership to ally with the BJP he said that such an unconditional support to a party was not in the interest of the party.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 4, 1996
