Parkash Singh Badal was revered by both friends and rivals

Archit Watts

Muktsar, April 26

Not only Akalis, but rivals of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal are also remembering him as a great leader, saying that his death has created a void in the state politics.

Worked for downtrodden

He worked for the welfare of the downtrodden, introduced several schemes, made monuments during his tenure and always addressed youngsters as ‘kaka ji’ and elderly persons as ‘Sahib’

Badal was known for his simplicity, accessibility, punctuality and humility. He always appealed to the public to maintain communal harmony and brotherhood. He was a strong critic of the Congress and never missed a chance to speak about the attack on the Golden Temple in his speeches.

Some of his relatives say, “Badal sahib never took anything personal. He always kept his cards close to the chest and never looked worried in his long political career.”

He worked for the welfare of the downtrodden, introduced several schemes, made several monuments of all religions during his tenure as CM and always addressed youngsters as “kaka ji’’ and elderly persons as “sahib”.

Though he was never seen upset, yet whenever there was chaos at his public meeting, he used to say, “Chalo ji, fer hun main challya.” When he wanted to duck a query of mediapersons, he never refused to answer but preferred to say, “Kaka ji tuhanu sawaal puchhna nahi aaya.”

He often said, “Mai aavdi zindagi vich kade kise di koi shikayat nahi kiti.” Badal was always against defection in politics and used to say, “Party maa hundi hai te jehda aavdi party chhad gya, oh kade kise da nahi ho sakda.”

He was so fond of agriculture that when doctors advised him rest, he used to ask his personal staff to send videos of his fields. SAD used to project him as kisana da messiah (saviour of farmers). However, the party had once supported three farm laws, but later retracted and termed these “black laws”. On the SYL canal issue, he used to say, “Eh nahar mai kade banan nahi deni, chahe meinu jail jana paye ya aavda khoon hi dena paye.”

One of Badal’s relatives said he was seen upset just twice in the past few years. “He was seen emotional only when Bibi ji (Badal’s wife) passed away and later when Dass ji (Badal’s younger brother Gurdas Badal) died,” he said.

When Badal was having good health till a few years ago, he used to get up early at 4.30 am and perform exercise. Besides, he used to perform ‘paath’ thrice daily. He used to sleep around 8 pm.

Manpreet meets Sukhbir, shares grief

• Estranged Badal cousins — Sukhbir and Manpreet — may have parted their ways in October 2010, but their family bonding appears to be intact
• Manpreet not just went to a private hospital where his uncle Parkash Singh Badal passed away, but also remained present at the SAD office
• Both Sukhbir and Manpreet hugged each other at the hospital. Manpreet is son of late former MP Gurdas Singh Badal, younger brother of Parkash Singh Badal
• Due to the family feud, which started for political power, Manpreet was expelled from SAD in October 2010
• Maj Bhupinder Dhillon, cousin of former CM said, “Badal Sahib always wanted to see Sukhbir and Manpreet working together.”