CHANDIGARH: Factions of Badal Akali Dal have now joined hands to pursue the party’s agitational program which somehow was not taking off all these weeks.
S.G.P.C. Chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra had kicked off the movement when he planned a march to Delhi to protest against sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Gujarwal (Ludhiana district) at the hands of Punjab police.
The Badal group was cool to the idea as it saw a game by Tohra to emerge as the sole leader of a reorganized Akali Dal by sidelining the former chief minister. But the Indian government rebuffed Akalis by not permitting them to go to Delhi. Most leaders were arrested.
Tohra now appears to have realized that cooperation of Badal was necessary to successfully run the agitation. Moreover, the leaders felt that a single religious issue, howsoever important, is not enough to sustain the agitation.
The party has therefore added a host of issues such as seeking punishment 1 the guilty of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, an end to police repression in Punjab and a permanent solution to the Punjab problem. The party also wants power mates reduced, house tax increase withdrawn and several of measures aimed at privatization etc.
The party has also toned down the mode of the agitation. Instead of a one place action, it has called for peaceful sit in at all district headquarters, but the Indian government has ruthlessly failed all attempts at organizing these political shows.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 17, 1993
