For first time, Pb govt keeps Longowal ‘barsi’ low-key affair

Bathinda: For the first time in 37 years, the death anniversary of former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sant Harchand Singh Longowal remained a low-key affair, with the state government staying away from holding any large-scale memorial service.
Previous state governments headed by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) or the Congress, had been observing the death anniversary but it is for the first time that only a blood donation camp was organised by the AAP government to mark the event. The only minister to visit the camp was Aman Arora, who also donated blood and paid tributes to Sant Longowal, saying “the government remembers his sacrifice.”
On the other hand, SAD and SAD (Sanyukt) organised a few programmes on a small-scale, but SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal stayed away as he is out of country. Longowal was one of the architects of the Rajiv-Longowal Punjab accord inked on July 24, 1985, for which he had to pay with his life in less than a month. He was gunned down at Gurdwara Akal Parkash in district Sangrur on August 20, 1985.
Pertinently, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary also falls on August 20, and “as both SAD and Congress are out of power in Punjab, no important function was organised to remember Sant Harchand Longowal,” said a senior leader of Akali Dal.
After the killing of Sant Longowal, Surjit Singh Barnala, who had accompanied him (Longowal) in inking the accord, had become the CM of Punjab and used to observe the death anniversary every year. The BJP, too, has been honouring Longowal, with defense minister Rajnath Singh paying tributes to him in the recent past.