The less-than-expected attendance at the rallies would have perhaps got Badal thinking about the protracted battle that lies ahead—of carving out a distinct space for the SAD in Punjab outside the NDA umbrella.
With the SAD-BJP alliance— launched in 1996 and at one point extolled by SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal as a ‘nail and skin’ bond— collapsing, this is a critical time for Sukhbir to plan his party’s revival among Sikh farmers and the party’s eroding ‘panthic’ base, voters who take their cues from the Sikh religious establishment.
FARMERS’ CAUSE
The journey, though, is expected to be far from smooth. To begin with, while Badal is trying to rally the farmers, their unions in Punjab would be wary of his leadership. As the ruling Congress points out, the SAD had aggressively supported the farm ordinances as recently as early September. “You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds,” says Manpreet Badal, Sukhbir’s cousin and Punjab finance minister. “Feeling the political ground slipping, he (Sukhbir) has changed sides.”
Badal says his wife Harsimrat Kaur, who quit as Union minister for food processing on September 17, had brought up the contentious issues in the farm ordinances in the Union cabinet and was assured that suggestions from farmer organisations would be incorporated. “It is only when the Union government decided to bulldoze us that we decided to quit [the NDA],” Badal told India today. He argued that the NDA no longer offered a platform to debate issues. “Since 2018, when Chandrababu Naidu (Telugu Desam Party) quit, the NDA has had no convenor,” Badal said.
Bu hikaye India Today dergisinin October 19, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye India Today dergisinin October 19, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Shuttle Star
Ashwini Ponnappa was the only Indian to compete in the inaugural edition of BDMNTN-XL, a new international badminton tourney with a new format, held in Indonesia
There's No Planet B
All Living Things-Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF) returns with 72 films to be screened across multiple locations from Nov. 22 to Dec. 8
AMPED UP AND UNPLUGGED
THE MAHINDRA INDEPENDENCE ROCK FESTIVAL PROMISES AN INTERESTING LINE-UP OF OLD AND NEW ACTS, CEMENTING ITS REPUTATION AS THE 'WOODSTOCK OF INDIA'
A Musical Marriage
Faezeh Jalali has returned to the Prithvi Theatre Festival with Runaway Brides, a hilarious musical about Indian weddings
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
Nikhil Advani’s adaptation of Freedom at Midnight details our tumultuous transition to an independent nation
Family Saga
RAMONA SEN's The Lady on the Horse doesn't lose its pace while narrating the story of five generations of a family in Calcutta
THE ETERNAL MOTHER
Prayaag Akbar's new novel delves into the complexities of contemporary India
TURNING A NEW LEAF
Since the turn of the century, we have lost hundreds of thousands of trees. Many had stood for centuries, weathering storms, wars, droughts and famines.
INDIA'S BEATING GREEN HEART
Ramachandra Guha's new book-Speaking with Nature-is a chronicle of homegrown environmentalism that speaks to the world
A NEW LEASE FOR OLD FILMS
NOSTALGIA AND CURIOSITY BRING AUDIENCES BACK TO THE THEATRES TO REVISIT MOVIES OF THE YESTERYEARS
