Core Committee Accepts Jhoonda Panel Report: Empower Party President On Necessary Follow Up
SAD Rejects Committee On MSP
Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal Core Committee today fully authorized the party president S Sukhbir Singh Badal to take the necessary follow up action for the implementation of the recommendations of the report submitted by the Poll Performance Review Committee (popularly called Jhoonda Committee) which had been set up by Mr Badal to go into the causes of the showing of the party in the February 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections.
The Core Committee, presided over by Mr Badal, endorsed applauded and accepted the Review panel report and thanked the members of the committee for their thorough painstaking and honest feedback from the party workers and the people at large.
Mr Badal has been given full powers also to reconstitute the party structure in line with the recommendations of the report.
Briefing newspersons after the meeting, the party Secretary General Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder said that the Poll Review Committee report highlights both the strengths and the weaknesses and the achievements and the shortcomings of the party in the past as well as the challenges and opportunities before it in the days to come. Mr Bhunder said that party president had set up the committee for “totally honest assessment of the performance of the party minus the frills as well as the reasons that led to its less than satisfactory showing in the elections”
Mr Badal has been authorized to take whatever steps he deems necessary for streamlining the functioning and refurbishing the public profile of the party, including holding wide-ranging consultations with a cross section of Sikh intellectuals, religious and political ideologues, teachers, students, farmers, traders, employees, social activists as well as eminent Punjabis from all sections of society including the NRIs.
Mr Badal is expected to take inputs from various units of the party including the Working Committee, Zila and circle Jathedars, SGPC members and party cadre at the grassroots.
Mr Bhunder was accompanied at the press conference by other members of the committee as well as senior party leaders including S Charanjit Singh Atwal, Bibi Jagir Kaur, S Jagmit Singh Brar, S Iqbal Singh Jhoonda, S Virsa Singh Valtoha, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Jathedar Hira Singh Ghabria.
Meanwhile, the SAD rejected the MSP Committee set up by the Union Government without taking the principal stake holders, the farmers and representatives from Punjab on board.
The Core Committee also strongly condemned the “utterly insane remarks made by S Simranjit Singh Mann about Shahed-e-Azam S Bhagat Singh.
The party, the entire Khalsa Panth and the country proudly place the Shaheed e Azam in the great line of Sikh heroes. The party also salutes other martyrs such as those who participated in the Babbar Akali Lehar, Namdhari Lehar, Kama Gata Maru, Gadar Lehar, Kirti Kisan Lehar and other movements. The SAD is party of great Panthic heroes and martyrs and has a glorious legacy of Morchas like Chaabian da Morcha, Jaito, Nankana Sahib Morchas, Dharamyudh Morcha etc. and therefore takes deep pride in the exceptionally brave and selfless deeds of our heroes and martyrs. It regards Mr Mann’s remarks as a symptom of sick mentality and an attempt to undermine Punjabis’ and Sikhs’ contribution to the freedom of the country,” said a resolution passed at the Core Committee meeting.
The party also strongly condemned various incidents that have grievously hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikhs through a ban on the religious “kakaars” including the “kadaa” (steel bracelet).
Earlier the Core Committee also demanded immediate girdwari and compensation to the farmers for damage to crops because of rains. The party also demanded an independent probe into the spurious seeds that inflicted massive losses on sunflower growers in Rajpura Tehsil and Moong in Muktsar district.
The party conveyed its felicitations and best wishes to Shrimati Draupadi Murmu on her becoming the President of India.
Earlier, members recited mool mantra and observed two minute silence as a mark of respect to the departed SAD leader, Core Committee Member and former Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha S Nirmal Singh Kahlon.
