By Our Staff Correspondent AMRITSAR: Parkash Singh Badal is against amending the Unified Akali Dal(UAD) constitution under pressure from either the Election Commission or the Centre as this will defeat the very purpose for which the party was formed.
This was conveyed by the detained UAD leader to the SGPC Secretary Manjit Singh when the latter met him in a Forest Department rest house near Dehra Dun on Wednesday.
Parkash Singh advised his party to go to a court of law to ensure that its “fundamental right” to form a political association was not infringed in any manner and to challenge the right sought to be vested in the Election Commission to recognize or not any political party.
Manjit Singh said Parkash Singh was of the opinion that any move to debar the UAD from participating in the elections would certainly be interpreted to mean that the Centre was trying to prevent the Sikhs from participating in the country’s political and democratic process.
The UAD had always been a secular party with full faith in the Constitution Manjit Singh said. Parkash Singh also suggested that the party should challenge the. Prevention of Misuse of Religious Places Act in a court of law as the Centre had no right to interfere in the religious affairs of any individual or organization.
Parkash Singh was critical of the way the Centre was handling the Punjab situation. The Punjab
problem could be solved only by assuaging the feelings of the Sikhs. He demanded the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib resolution which “reflected the Sikh aspirations and was not secessionist.”
Article extracted from this publication >> June 23, 1989
