CHANDIGARH: The Akali Dal (Badal) president Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday appealed to the people to ensure that the “traitors who have defied the will of the people to join the Punjab poll should be prevented from entering villages.
Ina statement issued here Badal expressed the desire to shift all villages and towns of the state to meet the people personally. “My heart is overwhelmed with the response that they have given to the present struggle” he said.
The Akali leader however apprehended that the government might order the arrest of those spearheading the anti-poll campaign to prevent them from visiting the rural areas. He said the Center had already “panicked” in the face of the unity of the Punjabis i the struggle and a number of non-Sikhs had been meeting with him to express solidarity with the current fight. He thanked the Hindus for turning up in large numbers at Ludhiana to support the poll boycott rally.
He said the Punjabis should prepare for a Tong and decisive battle ahead as the Center had sensed the doom of its disastrous policies against the Sikhs and the Punjabis.”
Claiming that the historic fight of the and-poll bodies had been won at Ludhiana on February 2 he alleged that all kinds of primitive methods were being used by the administration to stop the panthic leaders from meeting the people personally.
“If the Center thinks it can browbeat us into submission it is living in a fool’s paradise. We gladly accept the challenge thrown at us” Badal said adding that the Punjabis were quite capable of fighting the nefarious designs even if all the leaders of the panthic organizations were put behind bars.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 14, 1992
