The return of former minister and three time party legislator Balbir Singh Bath to the parent party Shiromnai Akali a(SAD) after short stint in AAP reflects of gross failure of the AAP leadership to accommodate “pro-Punjabi and pro-Sikh elements” who are committed to protect interests of Punjab including its river waters.In a statement issued here today, former education minister Upinderjit Kaur and former member parliament Paramjit Kaur Gulshan said that the SAD grooms and nourish its workers and leaders and treat them as family members providing them all opportunities to grow politically. Here in SAD, leaders and workers work in unison in perfectly democratic environment. Both the Akali leaders are from traditional “Taksali Akali families” and are well conversant with the functioning of the party for decades.
The duo said that Bath had rightly observed that the “ AAP is totally Anti- Sikh and Anti-Punjab” party and had a dictatorial environment where the workers are only to receive diktat and commands and never consulted or invited to give feedback but treated as slaves or mercenaries sans wages. The net result is that working, as revealed in the experience of Bath, is suffocating for any self respecting man.“ Moreover, the AAP paratroopers from other states are averse to Punjabis and it’s their writ that runs in the party and any voices of dissent from Punjabi volunteers are gagged”, they added.The Akali leaders felt that all those who had thronged to the AAP during last few months are progressively realizing it and are deserting the party in hordes. And this trend would pick up fast in run up to elections as the AAP is not only degrading their voluntary workers but even making fast buck on one or other pretext as per the field reports.