Parkash Singh Badal built a 'beautiful jail' for Akalis during a tumultuous period in Punjab, which he himself was a part of
Chandigarh, April 27: In 1978, Parkash Singh Badal, the patron of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and five-time chief minister, laid the foundation stone of Ludhiana central jail.
Jokingly, he said, "Akaliyan nu jail bohat jana painda, islai asi sohnian jaillan bana ditiyan' (Akalis have to go to jail often. Therefore, we have built beautiful jails)." Little did he know that he would be among the first few inmates of the same prison in a few years.
In 1982, Badal was arrested for protesting against SYL (Satluj-Yamuna link) canal and was lodged in Tajpur Road jail for about two months. Maheshinder Singh Grewal, an SAD leader from Ludhiana, recalled that Dharam Yudh Morcha was launched by the Shiromani Akali Dal to protest against SYL, at first in Kapoori village and then in Amritsar.
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Badal was protesting in Amritsar and was arrested there, and later on shifted to Ludhiana jail. Grewal visited him every Sunday in the jail with home-cooked food.
During Emergency, Badal was also lodged in Ludhiana jail which was located in Ludhiana's Old City part from July 18, 1975, to September 23, 1975. In August 1992, he was again lodged in Tajpur Road jail from August 28, 1992, to September 1, 1992.
In December 1992, the then jathedar of Akal Takht, Gurdev Singh Kaunke, of Jagraon's Kaunke Kalan area, had disappeared after he was arrested by the police. Badal staged a protest against police over the disappearance of jathedar and was arrested and lodged again in Ludhiana jail from January 1 to 13, 1993.
Thus, throughout his life, Parkash Singh Badal spent a significant amount of time in jail, due to his fight against injustice.
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- With inputs from agencies
