INDIA: Parkash Singh Badal, five-time Punjab Chief Minister, and considered the patriarch of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), passed away on Tuesday evening at a private hospital in Mohali. He was being treated since April 21.
His daughter Parneet Kaur (married to former Cabinet minister Adeish Partap Singh Kairon) and son, SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal, survived him at the age of 95. His wife, Surinder Kaur Badal, died of cancer in May 2011. His mortal remains were placed at the SAD head office in Chandigarh till noon on Wednesday to enable people to pay their last respect. The last rites will be performed at Badal village in Muktsar district on Thursday.
National mourning
In a message to all the state governments and Union Territory administrations, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated, “Shri Parkash Singh Badal, former Chief Minister of Punjab, passed away on April 25. As a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, the Government of India has decided that there will be state mourning for two days on April 26 and April 27 throughout India.”
Early beginning
Belonging to a Jat Sikh family, Badal was born on December 8, 1927, in Punjab’s Abul Khurana, near Malout. He was elected sarpanch of the village in 1947 at the age of 20. In 1957, he was elected as an MLA for the first time from the Malout seat, which he contested on a Congress party ticket. Badal became the Punjab CM in 1970–71, 1977-80, 1997-2002, 2007–12, and 2012–17. Besides, he was elected a member of the Lok Sabha and served as the Union Agriculture Minister during the Morarji Desai government in 1977.
He was elected MLA 10 times. He lost two Assembly elections—first to Harcharan Singh Brar from Gidderbaha in 1967 and thereafter in 2022 to Gurmet Singh Khudian from Lambi.
Blue Star
Badal was accused of going underground at a farmhouse in Uttarakhand, during the Blue Star Operation ordered by the then Prime Minister, the late Indira Gandhi, between June 1 and June 6, 1984, to flush out militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers from the Golden Temple, Sikhs’ holiest shrine in Amritsar. Bhindrawale and his associates were killed in the operation.
Similarly, in 2007, he was criticized for his alleged failure to prosecute Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim over allegations of sacrilege levelled by the Akal Takht.
He was the patron of SAD, a Sikh-centred regional political party, and served as its president from 1995 to 2008. Later, he handed over the reins of the party to his son, Sukhbir Singh Badal. As a patron of the SAD, he exercised a strong influence on the Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC).
In 2015, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award, by the Government of India. After the 2022 election results, he gave up participation in political activities and was largely resting at his home in Lambi and his farmhouse at Balasar village in Haryana.
Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said, “Extremely saddened by the passing away of Shri Parkash Singh Badal Ji. He was a colossal figure in Indian politics and a remarkable statesman who contributed greatly to our nation. He worked tirelessly for the progress of Punjab and anchored the state through critical times.”
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