Parkash Singh Badal death HIGHLIGHTS: PM Modi terms loss as personal as he pays tributes to SAD patriarch in Chandigarh
Government offices in Chandigarh to remain shut on April 27 following the demise of Sardar Parkash Singh Badal: Punjab govt
Funeral procession arrives in Tapa Mandi, to reach Badal village by evening
Sardar Parkash Singh Badal received the country’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 2015.
However, in 2020, the former Punjab Chief Minister became the first to return his award in protest against the treatment of the protesting farmers by the Central government.
Singer Gurdas Maan paid his last respects to Sardar Parkash Singh Badal. Talking to the media, the singer shared an old memory with the political stalwart and said that 'he was a good friend of my father'.
PTC News Desk: Parkash Singh Badal, a five-time former Chief Minister of Punjab and Akali Dal patriarch, passed away at a private hospital in Mohali on Tuesday. He was 95. The veteran leader, who served as a village sarpanch, was the youngest Chief Minister to ever hold office in Punjab, at the age of 43.
He had contested assembly elections for the first time in 1957, when he was 30 years old, as a Congressman. He lost only two elections in his career spanning over seven decades - one in 1967, and the latest in 2022.
Badal courted arrest during Operation Bluestar in June 1984 when the Army had entered the Golden Temple complex at Amritsar to flush out militants. He was admitted to Fortis Hospital in Mohali a week ago after he complained of uneasiness while breathing.
The Akali Dal leader vehemently opposed the idea of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, and under his leadership, the state assembly passed the controversial Punjab Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal (Transfer of Proprietary Rights) Bill, 2016. His party broke off ties with the BJP over the farmers' agitation against the Centre new agricultural laws in 2020.
In protest against the treatment of the protesting farmers by the Central government, Badal had returned his Padma Vibhushan award - the second highest civilian honour of the country that he received from the government in 2015.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes to the Punjab leader, calling him a “colossal figure of Indian politics, and a remarkable statesman”. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh termed the veteran leader's death a “personal loss”, while Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge expressed his deepest condolences to Badal's family. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also tweeted his condolences.
Badal was born in Punjab's Abul Khurana close to the Rajasthan border and studied at Lahore's Forman Christian College. He leaves behind a legacy of political and social impact laced with simplicity, loyalty and progress for the state of Punjab.
- PTC NEWS
