On a day of two big rallies and a protest, the three main players in Punjab politics – the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – traded political barbs against one another on Sunday.
At all three rallies, Panthic issues were at the centre stage.
Keeping the state law and order machinery on the edge, all three parties flexed their muscles and drew huge crowds.
The highlight of the day was the ruling Congress holding its political rally in Lambi, the village of SAD seniormost leader and five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the SAD returning the favour by holding a rally in Patiala town, the home town of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.
The AAP held a protest march on Sunday from Kotkapura town to Bargari village in Faridkot to protest against incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and the Punjab Police firing in October 2015 on those protesting against the sacrilege incidents.
Congress leaders, in their speeches at the Lambi rally, targeted the Akali Dal and particularly the Badal family for the incidents of sacrilege of the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, in 2015 when the SAD-BJP government was in power in Punjab.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar, Ministers and Congress legislators were present at the rally along with thousands of party supporters.
The Congress targeted the Akalis for being anti-Panthic and hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not doing enough for farmers.
In Patiala, Badal senior and his son and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that the Congress had failed to deliver on any of the tall promises of loan waiver to farmers, jobs to every family in Punjab, eradication of drugs and providing mobile phones to youth.
The Akali Dal’s ‘Jabar Virodh’ rally was held to highlight the failures of the Amarinder government and the alleged repression let lose on the Akali Dal and BJP leaders and workers by the Congress government.
The SAD leadership blamed the Congress for trying to malign the image of the SAD and Badal family by using various means, including the Bargari issue.
Akalis sole target was Capt Amarinder, who they accused of trying to attack the “Panth”.
Speaking at the rally, former Cabinet minister Sikandar Singh Malooka said: “Only the Shiromani Akali Dal can represent the Panth in a better manner.”
Former SGPC president Jagir Kaur accused a TV channel of running a biased campaign to malign the image of the Akali Dal.
The venue was full to capacity and hundreds of supporters had to stand outside to listen to the SAD leaders.
Both the rallies — by the Congress and the Akali Dal — were very well attended and saw participation in thousands. The surprise, however, was the high attendance at the AAP and radical leaders-led ‘Rosh March’.
