AAP Punjab Senior Leader Jagroop Singh Sekhwan on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal, saying the rally held by the Badal Dal in Qadian was not meant for the people of the constituency or about "saving Punjab" but was purely a campaign to “save Sukhbir” and “save the Badal family.”
Addressing the media, along with MLA Gurdeep Singh Randhawa, Sekhwan said the rally was projected as a Qadian event, but in reality people were mobilised from across Punjab, including all Assembly segments of Gurdaspur district and even from districts like Ropar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran and Amritsar.
“People were gathered from all over Punjab. The youth wing leadership organised youth from across the state. Still, nothing big could happen there,” he said. He added that despite repeated claims of major joinings, the Akali Dal failed to bring even a single meaningful addition.
“They kept announcing 25 sarpanches will join, 30 sarpanches will join. But not even one panchayat member joined Akali Dal there. They only brought their old cadre, the same people they take wherever they hold a rally in Punjab,” Sekhwan said.
Pointing to what he called growing internal divisions within the Akali Dal, Sekhwan highlighted that Bikram Majithia did not attend the rally. “This was the first rally in Majha. Majithia is a big Akali face of Majha, and his absence in Qadian proves that internal cracks have emerged in Akali Dal.
Two big power centres have formed. A very big rift has come between Sukhbir and Majithia. In the coming time, Akali Dal can split into more parts,” he said. Sekhwan also referred to revelations made by former Akal Takht Sahib Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh, saying they exposed how “a particular family” has turned Sikh institutions into a business.
He said that irregularities are taking place in SGPC affairs, gurdwara land is being sold at throwaway prices, and religious services are being commercialised. “Where a path was earlier done for Rs 8,500, now the sangat is being charged up to Rs 5 lakh,” he said, also pointing out that deras are being promoted.
Questioning Sukhbir Badal’s appeal for another chance to rule Punjab, Sekhwan said, “People gave the Badal family power five times. What did you do with that power? Sacrilege incidents happened, you gave pardon to Sauda Sadh, you got our Singhs martyred, and then you went to Akal Takht Sahib, you accepted everything, sought forgiveness, accepted tankhah, and later you backed out.”
He said Punjab’s people are fully aware of what happened. “Do not think people don’t understand. The sangat knows everything. Punjab will not elect you anymore. Instead, people want gurdwaras to be freed from you,” he said.
On Qadian specifically, Sekhwan criticised Akali Dal’s ticket announcement, saying, “They announced a ticket yesterday. Their candidate has around 10 criminal cases against him.”
He also attacked the party for giving tickets to “criminals and gangster-linked families,” including citing a case from Tarn Taran. He questioned why “sacrificing and traditional families” were sidelined, and said his own family parted ways with Akali Dal because “we cannot turn our back on the Guru, like Badal family did.”
Sekhwan said Punjab’s present challenges, gangsters, law and order issues and drugs, are the outcome of Badal rule. “Punjab rejected you completely in 2022. No matter how many rallies you do, people will see through you again and respond to you in your own language,” he said, adding that the bigger fight ahead is to “free gurdwaras from the Badals.”