Chandigarh, Jan 4 (UNI) Five-times Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce “an economic, political, agricultural and territorial package” concerning Punjab before visiting the state.
“It would be a great gesture if you go beyond optics and announce steps like an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to go into the conspiracy behind the painful series of sacrilegious incidents against Sikh faith and address other issues facing the people of the state,” he said in a statement.
Badal listed five major issues on which he said a Prime Ministerial package would lend credence and respectability to Modi’s visit to Punjab.
“As PM, you would earn a lot of goodwill and my personal gratitude if, before coming here, you announce an economic, political, agricultural and territorial package to meet the demands of the Punjabis.”
He drew Modi’s attention to Sikh families awaiting justice since the 1984 massacre following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
He said the Prime Minister’s visit would be a welcome gesture and heal many past wounds inflicted by successive Congress governments.
Badal said he was making the request “just to remind him of his sacred obligations to the country’s food bowl and sword arm, Punjab”.
He also demanded a major agricultural economic package to pull the Punjab farmers out of agricultural indebtedness.
The Akali Dal leader said the Prime Minister’s visit was always welcome despite being too close to elections to sound genuine.
Badal also referred to the transfer of Chandigarh and other Punjabi-speaking areas and a resolution of the river waters issue along the Riparian principle.
He drew the attention of the Prime Minister to the death of over 800 lives in the struggle against the three farm laws and said these sacrifices must be acknowledged by concrete gesture by the Union government to help their families.
