Former Aam Aadmi Celebration (AAP) MLA from Dakha and human rights lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka, 69, on Saturday introduced that he can be becoming a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
Former Aam Aadmi Celebration (AAP) MLA from Dakha and human rights lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka, 69, introduced in Chandigarh on Saturday that he can be becoming a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). (HT Picture)
A Jat Sikh from the Malwa belt of Punjab who has been combating a four-decade-long authorized battle for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Phoolka instructed reporters in Chandigarh that there’s an pressing have to revive and strengthen Punjab’s main regional celebration, the SAD.
“The recent reforms in SAD’s leadership are a positive development that instills hope among those who have long awaited a rejuvenated Akali Dal. Punjab needs a strong regional party to address its unique challenges. The current leadership has acknowledged past mistakes, creating a new opportunity to rebuild trust and expand membership,” he stated.
Phoolka criticised the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP authorities’s failure to make sure ample safety for former SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, who had a slender escape when former Khalistani terrorist Narain Singh Chaura fired at him, whereas he was performing sewa (penance for spiritual misconduct) on the Golden Temple entrance in Amritsar on December 4.
The previous chief of opposition within the Punjab meeting, who resigned in 2017 when he was debarred from practising as a lawyer for buying an workplace of revenue, appealed to the SAD core committee to launch a membership drive, pledging to be among the many first to register.
A regulation graduate from Panjab College, Chandigarh, who went on to change into a human rights lawyer relentlessly combating for justice for the Sikh group, Phoolka has the best credentials to emerge as a consensus candidate to go the SAD.
He, nevertheless, clarified: “I am not seeking any designation within the party or planning to contest the elections. My focus is solely on fortifying the Akali Dal and restoring its original stature.”
Phoolka’s resolution to affix the SAD comes 5 days after Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, requested the Shiromani Akali Dal working committee to just accept Sukhbir Singh Badal’s resignation because the SAD chief and represent a panel to reorganise the celebration in six months.
Sukhbir was declared a ‘tankhaiya’ in August by Akal Takht after he was held responsible of spiritual misconduct “for mistakes committed by the party when it was in power in Punjab from 2007 to 2017”, together with pardoning Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim in 2015 that triggered clashes between Dera followers and Sikhs in elements of Punjab.