The Hindu : Badal jr. to lead Akali youth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 17, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Badal jr. to lead Akali youth

By Sarabjit Pandher

MULLANPUR (LUDHIANA), FEB 16. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asked its "youth power'' to ensure a decisive victory in all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in the forthcoming general elections. The so far innocuous Youth Wing was formally organised as the "Youth Akali Dal'' (YAD) with the former Union Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, as its Patron.

An impressive "Yuva Rally'' was organised here this afternoon. According to observers, it was the largest rally organised by the SAD since its 1996, when the party celebrated its 75th anniversary at Moga. The rally was termed as successful despite the absence of major leaders of the party from Ludhiana, who are said to be annoyed with the inclusion of some candidates in the first list released on Sunday.

The rally was addressed by Union Ministers, Rajnath Singh, Shahnawaz Hussain and S.S. Dhindsa, the SAD president and former Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, the president of the National Conference (NC), Omar Abdullah, and the chief of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), G.S. Tohra. Naresh Gujral, son of the former Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, who has been given an Akali ticket from Jalandhar was inducted into the party.

While the stage was decorated with flowers, professionally done cut- outs carrying pictures of the Badals and Mr. Tohra marked the boundaries of the venue. Youths wearing the "kesari'' headbands interrupted the proceedings regularly. Mr. Badal, who appeared visibly satisfied with the efforts put in by his son, Sukhbir Singh Badal, in his address said that the rally had erased any doubts about the party's popularity among the youth, who constitute 65 per cent of the voters in the State. He dismissed all talk about his differences with Mr. Tohra and asked the party rank and file to work united for the defeat of the Congress, whom he accused of resorting to repression.

In his address, Mr. Tohra said that the youth must prepare for other challenges as well. Bestowing his blessing on the youth, the octogenarian leader listed various duties that related to the well being of the "Sikh Panth''. He called upon the youth to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the second master, Guru Angad Dev, 400th anniversary of the installation of Guru Granth Sahib in the Golden Temple and the tercentenary of the martyrdom of the four sons of Guru Gobind Singh.

The NC chief, touched an emotional and personal note on the occasion. He appealed to the gathering to pray to "Waheguru'' that peace returns to Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest so that he could also organise such big rallies in the Valley. He promised that his party and family would stand by the Badals in their hour of trial.

The YAD patron, in a hardhitting speech, said that the Congress needed to taught a lesson for ignoring the cause of the youth.

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