Shiromani Akali Dal to launch protest against Congress excesses on July 25
CHANDIGARH: The political affairs committee (PAC) of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday decided to launch a ‘jabar virodhi lehar’ (protest) against the ‘excesses’ being committed against Akali workers by the Congress.
Here is a lowdown on the other decisions taken in the meeting:
1. Contest false cases: The meeting, presided over by party patron Parkash Singh Badal, passed a resolution that party president Sukhbir Singh Badal would launch the protest from Dera Baba Nanak on July 25 and visit families affected by Congress excesses across the state.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said: “We are building a system to contest all false cases registered against our workers.’’
2. Sutlej Yamuna Link canal: The contentious water sharing issue was also raised in the meeting and the party said that the canal should not be built as Punjab did not have excess water. The PAC passed a resolution warning chief minister Amarinder Singh not to agree to any negotiation with Haryana which would take away even one drop of water from Punjab.
3. Rejection of probe commissions: The PAC also took note of the two commissions formed by the Congress government to probe sacrilege cases and false cases – the Justice Ranjit Singh and Mehtab Singh Commissions respectively. Rejecting both commissions, the PAC in a resolution said no justice could be expected from the former judges who had always acted as Congress agents. It said Ranjit Singh was not only the brother-in-law of Congress legislator Harpartap Ajnala, but was also known to show bias against the SAD as a serving judge. In the case of Mehtab Singh, it noted that his closeness to Amarinder Singh could be seen from the fact that he had handed over his house to the chief minister to stay during the Moga byelection.
4. Request revoking GST on ‘Langar’: It was also decided that a delegation of MPs and senior leaders under the leadership of Sukhbir would meet union finance minister Arun Jaitley and request him that all new taxes imposed under the new GST system including those on ‘langar’ purchases by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) as well as on agriculture inputs and machinery, be taken back.
5. Making education free for girls: In another resolution, the PAC noted that despite a cabinet decision being taken to make girls’ education free from primary to PhD level, government colleges were still taking fees from them because no notification had been sent to them on this account. Asking the government to honour its announcement, it also asked it to start releasing the Rs 2,500 per month unemployment allowance to youth as promised earlier.