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Badal dusts shoes to underline Raj
Nahi Sewa claim
But if this is his idea of sewa, Akali Dal has a long way to go
WSN Network
 AMRITSAR: A
hilarious slogan often splashed across election posters of Akali Dal
which normally carried pictures of Badal family members says "Raj
Nahi Sewa."
Last week, in
order to pre-empt any criticism lest someone notices Parkash Singh
Badal or his family members have never even been seen inside a
gurdwara performing the kind of "sewa" the sangat members often do,
the Chief Minister landed at Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar.
But so out of
sync has he been for years that he has totally forgotten what it
means to be a humble Sikh. No wonder, the full paraphernalia of
Chief Ministerial hangers-on accompanied him and any sewa was
performed only under the gaze of news cameras.
Badal cleaned a
few slippers, already cleaned and handed over respectfully by those
accompanying him. Mrs Surinder Badal made some chapattis, and the
Badals distributed a few.
Since it was
almost a royal sewa, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, D S
Guru, seen after a long time in public, carried around a basket-full
of chapattis so that the Badals can pick from it and hand these to
the waiting Sangat -again members of the entourage themselves.
"This is the
first time in recent years that Badal has performed such “sewa” at
Harmandar Sahib," the local newspapers noticed, not to much glee of
the Badals.
The only Sikh
who looked humble in the presence of the CM was Avtar Singh Makkar
who dutifully reached and also moved along performing sewa at the
exact speed of his master and kept pace in cleaning utencils and
distributing chapatis.
The Badals
stayed the night in
Amritsar and
were back for a bit of more sewa, reaching 'jorra ghar' and dusting
shoes of pilgrims.
From here, they
reached langar hall where a large number of people from his Lambi
constituency had especially come to perform sewa. The sewa these
days has been regionalised and only people from designated districts
are allowed to do sewa on orders of Surinder Kaur Badal. As to who
has given her this right is for the sangat to ask and Makkar not to
answer.
Badals partook
of the food with devotees from his constituency. None of those
performing the sewa with the top couple were seen earlier or later
again engaged in similar tasks.
19 November
2008
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