Jalandhar/Chandigarh, January 31
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal today said Guru Ravidas Ji’s message of equality and communal harmony was as relevant today as it was 800 ago even as he asserted these principles formed the core ideology of the SAD. The SAD president was here to pay obeisance at the Guru Ravidas Dham at Boota Mandi as well as participate in the Shobha Yatra taken out to mark the birth anniversary of the revered saint.
Asserting that Guru Ravidas taught mankind to respect all religions, Mr Sukhbir Badal said it was because of the teachings of such saints that there was brotherhood among all communities in Punjab and that the State had never witnessed communal disturbances. He said the SAD had also taken up the need to maintain communal harmony as a mission and has always taken people of all religions with it in the path of progress and prosperity.
Badal also spoke on how mis-governance in the last nine years had spoiled the peaceful atmosphere of the State. “Extortions and targetted killings have become the order of the day with gangsters ruling the roost.” He said in such a situation Punjabis needed a regional party like the SAD which was rooted in the State to take this menace head on and eradicate it.
