Fissures in SAD-BJP ties on Delhi elections

| | Chandigarh
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Fissures in SAD-BJP ties on Delhi elections

Tuesday, 21 January 2020 | Monika Malik | Chandigarh

Almost seven-year-old alliance between the Akalis and the BJP in the national capital on Monday virtually came to an end over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) declared its decision to stay away from the forthcoming assembly elections in Delhi over the issue after it was asked by the saffron party to change its stance on the controversial law.

After the day-long hectic development that culminated late in the evening, the Akali Dal refused to compromise on minority interest, adding that it would rather stay away from Delhi poll than support CAA, and NRC — signaling at a rift with its NDA ally BJP.

The development came with just a day left for filing the nominations for the February 8 Delhi assembly elections.

Announcing the decision in Delhi, MLA and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa and SAD’s Delhi unit president Harmit Singh Kalka said that the party also reiterated its demand for including Muslims in CAA.

Elaborating, the party said that it would rather not contest elections in Delhi than sacrifice the interests of the minorities or compromise on the secular principles taught by the great “Guru Sahiban”. As such, it would stay away from the electoral process in the forthcoming assembly poll in Delhi.

Earlier, it was believed that the SAD may contest polls alone after the BJP gave it a snub while deciding the seat-sharing. Despite a series of meetings and rounds of talks, the SAD and BJP could not reach a consensus over the seat-sharing.

While SAD wanted to contest polls on four seats on its own party symbol — weighing scales, the BJP wanted it to contest elections on its symbol — lotus.

Moreover, the saffron party preferred Janata Dal (United) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) as its allies for the Delhi election giving no mention to the Akali Dal. Notably, both JD (U) and LJP are BJP’s important allies in Bihar, which will go for the elections later this year.

Sirsa and Kalka, addressing the media, said: “India is a secular country with rich religious, cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity. This diversity is the strength of our unity. We cannot compromise on this vision of India for which ancestors have made supreme sacrifices.

 They said that there were strong ideological differences between the two parties on the issue of the Citizens Amendment Bill, as SAD wanted the Muslims to be included in the Act. Referring to NRC, it said that the SAD firmly opposed it and could never support it.

SAD said that the differences on the sensitive and critical issues came to the fore during the debate on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Bill passed in the Parliament. “The party president Sukhbir Badal took a principled stand on the issue during the debate. He stood by the minorities and upheld the principles of secularism in the spirit of ‘Sarbat da Bhala’. The same stand was repeated by SAD Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder,” they pointed.

The party further added that it was firm that all minorities, including the Muslims, along with the Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, Jains, Parsis, Buddhist facing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh were required to be protected. The Muslim community should not be left out of the CAA process as it would go against the basic principles of the party and the teachings of the Gurus.

As a representative of the minorities in general and of the Khalsa Panth in particular, the SAD said that it followed the footsteps of the Gurus on secular and humanitarian equality. The party truly understood the pain, anguish and sufferings of other minorities and could not compromise on their interests.

A press statement issued by the party added that during past several rounds of meetings with BJP, its leaders were pressing upon the SAD to change their stand on CAA vis-à-vis the minority Muslim community.

The party position was categorical that it would stand by each and every word it said in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and thereafter in Punjab Vidhan Sabha on the inclusion of the Muslim community in the CAA process along with others of the minority.

The party added that it had been making its position clear that the National Register for Citizens (NRC) should not be implemented as the people could not be made to stand in queues to prove their credentials as Indians and to give proof of their forefathers.

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