Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal inaugurated the ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’ on Thursday from the Indian-Pakistan international border at Attari in Amritsar, following in the footsteps of the Congress ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’. This month, the yatra will traverse five parliamentary and 45 assembly seats.
While launching the yatra, Badal issued a loud appeal for the reopening of the IB with Pakistan to encourage commerce between the two nations, as well as an increase in compensation for farmers who till land beyond the barbed wire fence on Indian territory. Interacting with inhabitants of border villages, the former chief minister stated that hundreds of people had lost their livelihood owing to the closing of the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Wagah and had not got compensation of Rs 12,000 per acre per year for land across the barbed wire fence since two years.
The SAD released a 4.48-minute “protest song” called ‘Utth Jaag Punjabiyo…Punjab Bacha Lo’ (Wake up Punjabis, rescue Punjab) will be played throughout the yatra. The song’s video features footage of rallies against the state’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) administration, as well as Sukhbir Badal, the SAD’s tallest leader.
Convoys of cars carrying Akali Dal banners will go around constituencies, where Badal will meet with people. On Friday, the yatra would march through Amritsar’s Ajnala and Majitha constituencies before taking a weekend respite.
Badal stated, “We will expose all of AAP’s and Mann’s lies throughout the yatra. We shall demonstrate that the party of outsiders, led by a Delhi-based chief minister, can never provide justice to Punjabis.”
What will they showcase during the Yatra?
A pamphlet showcasing the achievements of the erstwhile SAD government as well as the ‘failures’ of the AAP government was also released on January 30. Both will be circulated amongst people during the yatra.
The pamphlet highlights the accomplishments of the previous SAD administration, concentrating on how the party not only provided free power to farmers but was also crucial in awarding 3.81 lakh tubewell connections. It also highlights how the SAD term resulted in a thorough renovation of Punjab’s existing road network system, as well as the construction of four-lane roads costing Rs 40,000 crore.
The pamphlet claimed that, in contrast, the AAP administration led by Bhagwant Mann was intent on “ruining Punjab”. The AAP administration allegedly borrowed a record Rs 60,000 crore in the previous 20 months but had nothing to show for it in terms of development. It stated that up to Rs 1,500 crore had been squandered on commercials and self-publicity stunts, while hundreds of crores were used to fund AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal’s plane travel and election campaign events around the country, at the expense of the Punjab exchequer.
It further claimed that industry was fleeing Punjab for Uttar Pradesh and other states owing to the AAP government’s failure to maintain peace and order. According to the report, 565 farmers committed suicide as a result of anguish after not receiving the minimum support price for pulses and maize, as well as compensation for crop losses. It further claimed that 350 individuals died from drug overdoses during the AAP rule.
How does AAP reply to Yatra?
The AAP quickly responded to SAD’s calendar, stating that it was Badal’s “Parivar Bachao Yatra”. Referring to the period the SAD government was in power in Punjab, the AAP claimed in a post on X, previously Twitter, that the Badals had done their development and hence it was “Vikas of Badals and Vinash of Punjab”. In yet another article, AAP implied that SAD was obeying BJP orders.
The AAP blamed the SAD for the drug mafia, desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib, and initial support for farm regulations under the SAD-BJP regime, but then reversed course.
