Ex-Punjab MLA H S Phoolka to join Akali Dal, calls for strengthening party     

Former Punjab AAP MLA and human rights lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka on Saturday announced that he would be joining the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

His announcement came days after the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, formed a panel to reorganise the SAD within six months after accepting the resignation of Sukhbir Singh Badal as party president.

Phoolka, the Supreme Court advocate who had represented the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, had resigned as Aam Aadmi Party legislator in 2018 over the then Congress government’s alleged failure to take action against those involved in 2015 sacrilege incidents.

Addressing the media here, Phoolka said he would become a member of the SAD after its membership drive starts.

“A new hope has arisen,” said Phoolka (69), while referring to the Akal Takht’s decision regarding the Akali Dal. He said the Akal Takht has directed for the start of the membership drive, elect new delegates and reconstitute the party.

Calling the SAD as Punjab’s “regional party”, Phoolka said he has decided that he will fill the form when the membership drive starts and become the member of the Akali Dal.

The Sikh clergy on December 2 had announced the formation of a six-member committee for overseeing the membership drive to be conducted in a transparent manner and ensuring the elections for the post of the president and other office bearers within six months.

Phoolka said Punjab has peculiar issues and problems, emphasising the importance of the state’s regional party to address them.

He cited examples of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu which also have peculiar issues, saying in these states also, regional parties have been successful.

Phoolka said it has been seen that the major parties mostly focus on national issues, not on the state’s specific issues.

“Therefore, Punjab needs a regional party,” he said.

The former MLA said Punjab’s “regional party” Akali Dal needs to be revived.

Asked whether he will fight any elections in the future, Phoolka replied in negative, saying his intention is to strengthen the Akali Dal and has no greed for any position in the party.

“I think that the problems of Punjab can only be resolved by a regional party. We have only SAD as a regional party,” he added.

The Akal Takht had appointed six-member panel comprising Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami, party leader Iqbal Singh Jhunda, rebel leader Gurpartap Singh Wadala, MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali, Santa Singh and Bibi Satwant Kaur (representing the Akal Takht).

But before announcing the formation of the committee, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh had observed that the SAD leadership had lost its moral right to lead the ‘Sikh Panth’ because of its past mistakes.

Jathedar Singh had also directed the working committee of the SAD to accept the resignation of those who tendered from their positions.

Badal had last month resigned from the post of SAD president but the working committee did not accept his resignation. PTI