Do worst defeat in its 100 years of history forces Badals to shun their photographs from SAD posters ?
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
This might be the first election since 1952, when the election process was initiated after Independence that photographs of not a single leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal photo or any photograph of Badal family have been featured on banners, hoardings, posters and other campaign material being used to seek votes for Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Kamaldeep Kaur ahead of the Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection.
This time, only the photographs of party nominee for Sangrur byelections Kamaldeep Kaur and her foster brother Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is on a death row after being convicted for former chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination, find a place on campaign posters and banners along with the symbols of SAD and its ally Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
This is in a stark contrast with the party’s practice in the past elections, whether assembly, parliamentary or even local bodies , when the campaign material of its candidates was dominated by faces of SAD supreme leader Parkash Singh Badal, president Sukhbir Singh Badal, former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia or other senior leader of that area.
Besides, slogans on the demand for immediate release of Sikh prisoners languishing in Indian jails have been written on them.
Gurpreet Singh, a political analysist said “the drastic and all time low performance of shiromani akali dal in the recently held Punjab assembly election have hit the party and their political careers. They are avoiding their pictures on posters. They know they will lose votes by using them as residents of the area are still annoyed with them. Both Badals and their top leaders have lost those elections. The people of Punjab are disgruntled with Badals and their party (SAD) who are aware of this reality. This is a lowest point in their political carrer and they are passing through a bad phase.”
To field a common candidate for the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll, SAD chief Sukhbir Badal held a meeting with SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, before the announcement of party candidate. Harjinder Singh Dhami, SGPC chief, among those who accompanied Sukhbir.
Do worst defeat in its 100 years of history forces Badals to shun their photographs from SAD posters ? The SAD has faced two successive humiliating defeats in the Punjab assembly polls under the leadership of its president Sukhbir Singh Badal. The party could win just three seats in the recent elections, down from 15 in 2017. It has also led to questions being raised on the Badals’ leadership within the party.
However, Sukhbir Badal maintained that it has been decided to only highlight the key demand about ‘Bandi Singhs’ (Sikh prisoners) in the posters. “Kamaldeep Kaur is a joint candidate of the SAD-BSP alliance and all Panthic organisations. It was decided that only the issue of freeing Sikh prisoners should be highlighted in the posters,” he said on the sidelines of a campaign meeting in Sangrur.
June 18,2022
