In what could be seen as a politically correct move ahead the 2022 Punjab assembly polls, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday declared to have two Deputy Chief Ministers — one from Dalit and another from Hindu community — once voted to power.
“This will make the SAD-BSP Government truly representative of the composite Punjabi culture and a symbol of complete Punjabi unity, peace, and communal harmony as espoused by five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal,” said Sukhbir while making the announcement after the party’s Core Committee meeting.
Sukhbir said: “We understand that there are external forces which want to disturb the peace of Punjab by pitching communities against each other. We want to guarantee Punjabis that the SAD will continue to follow the policies of Parkash Singh Badal under which all religions were respected and honoured.”
“We are committed to keeping all communities together and it is with this in mind that the SAD has decided to have a representative from the Hindu community as a Deputy Chief Minister once it secures power in Punjab,” he said.
SAD chief said that the next SAD-BSP Government would have two Deputy CMs as he had earlier already announced on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar that the SAD would offer the chair of Deputy CM to a Dalit once voted to power.
“Punjab has the highest population of Dalits vis-Ã -vis other states and it was felt that more efforts should be made to protect their interests. Earlier also, it was the SAD which had always extended the maximum social welfare benefits to the Dalit community when in government,” he said.
SAD president said that the decision to have two Deputy CMs was in consonance with “the liberal secular ethos of Sarbat da Bhala handed down to us through the rich heritage of the great Guru Sahiban. It is also symbolic of the strong emotional bonds that bind the different communities together, he added.
In addition, the party is committed totally to ensure complete social justice based on human dignity and equality and repairing the emotional social fabric of Punjab was fractured by Congress conspiracies of ‘divide and rule’, he said.