Badungar has eye on SAD leadership, posing direct challenge to Sukhbir, says Jakhar

Jalandhar/Chandigarh, June 13, 2017: Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar on Tuesday charged the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandkar Committee (SGPC) with trying to take over control of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) by seizing advantage of its leadership bankruptcy.

Lashing out at SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar’s decision to participate in SAD’s anti-government dharnas, Jakhar said it was evident that having realized the failure of the Badals to provide leadership to SAD, the SGPC president had decided to throw his hat into the political arena and take over the leadership of the Akali Dal.

Badungar was clearly trying to grab the SAD leadership in a bid to emerge a political horsepower, just as religious leaders like Gurcharan Singh Tohra and Jagdev Singh Talwandi had done before him, said the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief. Both Tohra and Talwandi had their eyes on SAD leadership and had resorted to political game plans to achieve their ambition, said Jakhar, adding that leaders like these, and now Badungar, had crossed the thin line that had been always there between religion and politics.

Badungar had, by participating directly and actively in the SAD protests, posed a direct challenge to Sukhbir Singh Badal’s leadership in the party, which had virtually collapsed in the wake of its dismal performance in the last assembly elections in Punjab, Jakhar said.

The Punjab Congress president warned against mixing of religion and politics, saying it could have a devastating effect on the state’s peace and stability. Abuse of religion for petty political gains would be highly detrimental to the welfare of the state and its people, said Jakhar, underlining the need to keep the two distinctly separate.

The SGPC’s decision to join issue with the Congress government in the state on the issue of the telecast of liquor ads on LED screens at Heritage Street leading up to the Golden Temple had exposed its political affiliations, Jakhar pointed out. The SGPC was blindly backing SAD on the issue despite clear evidence of the erstwhile Akali government having been responsible for leasing out the ad sites in violation of norms, he added.

This, said Jakhar, indicated Badungar’s strong political ambitions, for which he was even prepared to compromise the biggest religious institution of the Sikh community. The move, he warned Badungar, would backfire on him as the Sikhs in the state would not take such abuse of their religious sentiments lightly.