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SAD END OF AN ERA: Will Passing Of Shiromani Akali Dal Punjab Patriarch Mean The End Of His Family’s Control Of The Party
The former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, who ruled as Chief Minister in record five terms, died on Tuesday at the ripe old age of 95 with 75 of those years spent in politics for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) behemoth. But Badal’s end wasn’t pretty at all as he lost his own seat in the last election where Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept into power, reducing the Badals’ controlled SAD to just a handful of seats in a terrible blow to his and his family’s legacy in Punjab.
By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada
With News Files
CHANDIGARH – The former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, who ruled as Chief Minister in record five terms, died on Tuesday at the ripe old age of 95 with 75 of those years spent in politics for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) behemoth.
But Badal’s end wasn’t pretty at all as he lost his own seat in the last election where Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept into power, reducing the Badals’ controlled SAD to just a handful of seats in a terrible blow to his and his family’s legacy in Punjab.
Will his death mean the end of his family’s control of the SAD as his son Sukhbir Badal has been an atrocious leader with little to no traction with voters or even the Akali base which deserted him in droves in the last election.
Sukhbir’s brother-in-law Bikramjit Singh Majithia, a notorious figure mixed up in the drug racket and jailed for corruption and other crimes, is also not capable of becoming party leader due to his shady image and criminal past.
SAD will definitely have to see post next year’s national assembly elections to see if party retains the Badals’ control or it’s time for new blood from elsewhere to take over the party the Badal family has controlled for decades in Punjab.
Badal, who passed away on at a private hospital in Mohali, had been hospitalised for the past few days and was suffering from breathing problem.
Badal is survived by son and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter Parneet Kaur, who is married to former cabinet minister Adeish Partap Singh Kairon.
His wife Surinder Kaur Badal died due to cancer in May 2011.
In a media bulletin Fortis Hospital said: “S Parkash Singh Badal, Former Chief Minister of Punjab, was admitted at Fortis Hospital Mohali on 16th April 2023 with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma. He was shifted to the medical ICU on 18th April as his respiratory condition worsened. He had been on NIV and HFNC support along with medical management. He was being managed under Prof (Dr) Digambar Behera along with the Pulmonology and critical care team supported by Cardiology. Despite appropriate medical management S Parkash Singh Badal succumbed to his illness. Fortis Hospital Mohali deeply condoles the death of S Parkash Singh Badal.”
Badal's mortal remains were placed at SAD head office in Chandigarh from 10 am to 12 noon on Wednesday. Badal was cremated at Badal village on Thursday.
Badal was the oldest candidate in the electoral fray in the country in the state elections in 2022, but lost to AAP’s first timer Gurmeet Singh Khudian, son of late MP Jagdev Singh Khudian. This was Badal’s 13th Assembly election. After election results, Badal was hardly politically active in the area. Though he had started his thanksgiving tour in Lambi, it too was cancelled midway. Thereafter, he either spent time at his residences at Badal village and Chandigarh farmhouse at Balasar village in Haryana.
Notably, Badal has created many records in the past. He was the youngest sarpanch when got elected from Badal village in 1952. Besides, he became the youngest CM of the state in 1970. Further, he became the oldest CM in 2012. He has also the record of becoming the CM for five times from 1970-71, 1977-80, 1997-2002, 2007-12 and 2012-17. Besides, he has remained a member of Lok Sabha once, served as Union Agriculture Minister for a short stint as well.
In his over 75-year political journey, Badal has lost just two Assembly elections. First, to Harcharan Singh Brar from Gidderbaha in 1967 by 11,396 votes and thereafter in 2022 to Gurmet Singh Khudian from Lambi in 2022.
He won the first Assembly election before the reorganisation of the state from Malout in 1957 on the ticket of Indian National Congress (INC). He won Assembly elections five times in a row from Gidderbaha in 1969, 1972, 1977, 1980 and 1985. Thereafter, he switched to Lambi and has won five times in a row in 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017.
Badal did not contest just two Assembly elections in his political career, once in 1962 and thereafter in 1992 when the SAD had boycotted it.
He even served as Union Agriculture Minister for a short stint. He was conferred with Padma Vibhushan in 2015, which he returned in 2020 in protest against the three contentious farm laws. Besides, he was conferred with Path Rattan Faqr-e-Qaum (Jewel of the Panth Pride of the Community) in 2011, but various Sikh organisations kept demanding that Badal be stripped of this title.
Notably, a Faridkot court in March this year had allowed anticipatory bail to Badal in the Kotkapura police firing case of 2015, reported Tribune newspaper.
