Parkash Singh Badal: Grand old man of Punjab politics

Former Punjab chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal. Pic/PTI

Parkash Singh Badal was not the one to give up easily, on life or on politics. Only last year, the Shiromani Akal Dal fielded the patriarch again from home turf Lambi in Punjab's Muktsar district for the assembly elections. He lost but entered the record books for being the oldest person to fight an election in the country. This was his 14th electoral battle in a long political career that began when he became the sarpanch of Badal village in Bathinda district.

Badal, who became Punjab's chief minister five times and had been part of the movement for a separate Punjabi-speaking state, died at a private hospital in Mohali near Chandigarh on Tuesday, nine days after being admitted there with breathing problems. He was 95. The grand old man of Punjab politics first became chief minister in 1970, heading a coalition government that did not complete its term. He was also the CM in 1977-80, 1997-2002, 2007-12 and 2012-2017.

He was MLA 11 times, losing an election for the state assembly only twice. In 1977, he joined Morarji Desai's government briefly as the Agriculture minister at the Centre. In 2008, Badal handed over the reins of the SAD, which he had headed from 1995, to son Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also became the deputy chief minister under him.

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Born on December 8, 1927 in Abul Khurana near Malout, Badal graduated from the Forman Christian College in Lahore. His first political posts were the sarpanch of Badal village and the chairman of the block samiti. He entered the state assembly from Malout in 1957 as the Congress nominee. In 1969, he won the Gidderbaha assembly seat on the SAD ticket.

When Gurnam Singh, the then chief minister, defected to the Congress in 1970, the SAD regrouped and forming the government with the support of the Jana Sangh. Badal then became the youngest chief minister in the country, even if the coalition government lasted just a little more than a year. In 2017, when he ended his last stint as CM, he was among the oldest to have held that post. Badal's governments focused on farmers. One key decision was introducing free electricity for agriculture.

The Akali leader bitterly opposed the idea of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal, meant to share river water with neighbouring Haryana. In 1982, he was arrested for leading an agitation over the project, which is yet to become a reality due to Punjab's continuing opposition. Under his leadership, the state assembly passed the controversial Punjab Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal (Transfer of Proprietary Rights) Bill, 2016. This was aimed at stalling the progress on the project.

His party broke off ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party over the farmers' agitation against the Centre new agri laws in 2020. He also returned the Padma Vibhushan award he received in 2015. Another award brought controversy in 2011. The Akal Takht conferred on him the title of 'Panth Rattan Fakhr-e-Qaum' ' or the Pride of the Faith -- a move criticised by many.

Badal's wife Surinder Kaur Badal died of cancer in 2011. They had two children ' Sukhbir Singh Badal, the heir to his political legacy, and Parneet Kaur, who is married to former minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon. SAD chief Sukhbir Badal's wife is Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

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