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Har Koyee Simrat This New Badal
WSN Network

BATHINDA: Bathinda seems to be becoming a hotseat in the next Lok Sabha elections as not just the Badal family but several Congressmen seem to be vying to get their party ticket. Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal’s wife Harsimrat Badal is being  rojected for the seat though she may pull out if the going seemed tough. At the Jor Mela at Fatehgarh Sahib or at any other religious, social or political event, there seems to be an unwritten code in force: Every speaker has to spend considerable time and words praising Harsimrat Badal’s Nanhi Chhaanv program and her efforts at saving the environment. So Cooperative Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar and everyone down the line gets to speak only with this proviso.

 Since praise of Sukhbir Singh Badal for his “unmatched guidance” and “new generation force” is also mandatory and no one can escape praising the senior Badal for contributing so many years and so many family members in the service of the panth, the poor panth remains almost  unmentioned.

All with the eyes firmly focussed on Bathinda seat. Those left with any  time within their allotted 10 minutes can spend it praising Surinder Kaur Badal who is now acting as a one-man, sorry, onewoman, SGPC by herself. The family is all over in Punjab. On the roads, everyone knows the orbiting buses are Badal buses, and all cable operators know the only worthwhile channel to be telecast is PTC.

The one channel  which often faces trouble is Zee Punjabi. But with so much of Badalmania around, one wonders if a progeny of the Badal parivaar will still dare to jump into Bathinda fray. Ready to take them on are the likes of Surinder Singla, Harminder Singh Jassi and Capt Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh.

31 December 2008
 

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