Parliament should unanimously condemn 1984 Sikh genocide: Harsimrat Badal

Chandigarh: Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today demanded the 17th parliament unanimously condemn the 1984 Sikh genocide even as he called for dedicating the old parliament building to Hind ki Chadar Guru Tegh Bahadur ji who laid the foundation of democracy in India. The former union minister also demanded the Women Reservation Bill be taken up by the Lok Sabha and be passed to empower women in the true sense of the word.

Participating in the discussion on evolution of India’s parliamentary democracy in parliament, Mrs Harsimrat Badal in an evocative speech spoke on how she witnessed the murder of minorities as well as the murder of religious tolerance as an eighteen year old in 1984.

She went on to describe how the Congress party stooped down to trying to eliminate an entire generation of Sikhs by engineering genocide in the national capital as well as other parts of the country. “The then Congress government even sent tanks into the Sri Darbar Sahib in Amritsar and destroyed Sri Akal Takht Sahib”.

Asserting that State sponsored genocide had been unheard of till then, Mrs Badal said “had this government ensured justice to the Sikh community, other tragedies could have been averted” while referring to the incidents of mass murder and rape of women in Manipur.

The Bathinda MP also called for dedicating the old parliament building to Guru Tegh Bahadur to honour the supreme sacrifice made by the Guru to protect religious freedom. Mrs Badal said the Guru’s initiative to sacrifice his life to save the minority Kashmiri Hindu community from forced conversion had laid the foundation for democratic principles like human rights, equality and freedom of religion.

The SAD leader also made a fervent appeal for women reservation, adding the Lok Sabha should pass the bill to empower women in the true sense of the word. Asserting that women’s rights continued to be trampled upon like in the case of Nirbhaya, women wrestlers and even women of Manipur, Mrs Badal said “women constitute a majority of voters with 67 per per cent women turnout in the last parliamentary election and their voice should be heard in parliament”.

Mrs Badal also raised the issue of increasing suicides among farmers and distress in the community at large. She said the central government had promised to double farmer income but had failed to deliver. “Farmers need money in their pockets, not hollow promises”, Mrs Badal asserted, saying farmers were suffering because they were not able to fulfill their basic needs. She also gave the example of farmers of Punjab who had filled the food coffers of the country for the last 50 years but now in a state of crisis.

The Bathinda MP also devoted a portion of her speech to talk about her family while relating how her grandfather S Surjit Singh Majithia had served as a parliamentarian three times even as her father in law was a member of the sixth house.

She also spoke on how she was inspired by Mr Parkash Singh Badal who had followed the edict of Sarbat da Bhala and worked for the betterment of all sections of society besides fighting against the repressive Emergency regime and making the country a truly federal State by giving more powers to States.