Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday termed the Punjab government’s decision to deny permission to their proposed ‘Pol Khol’ rally at Faridkot a “broad daylight murder of democracy”.
The SAD has decided to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek a review of government’s denial of the permission to hold the rally, slated for September 16.
Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, in a statement, said that it is “a brazen and cowardly abdication of constitutional responsibility by the State government whose primary duty is to ensure that no one is allowed to sabotage and disrupt peaceful expression of democratic aspirations of the people and to ensure and safeguard normal democratic activity in the State”.
He said the State government has virtually admitted that the constitutional machinery in Punjab has broken down so much that it cannot even ensure a peaceful democratic rally by a mainstream political party.Mr. Sukhbir Badal said that the Congress has used the fabricated report of the Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission to defame the Akali Dal and its leadership.