Parkash Singh Badal (8 December 1927 – 25 April 2023) was an Indian politician and Sikh rights advocate who served as the 8th Chief Minister of Punjab from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017, the longest serving Chief Minister of Punjab till date. He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from 1972 to 1977, 1980 to 1983 and from 2002 to 2007 and the 11th Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare in the Morarji Desai ministry from 1977 to 1977. He was the patron of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a Sikh-centered regional political party, and the president of the party from 1995 to 2008, when he was replaced by his son Sukhbir Singh Badal.Badal Jr. is Akali president. The Hindu (1 February 2008). Retrieved 17 October 2015. As the patron of SAD he exercised a strong influence on the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak CommitteeSAD-Sant Samaj combine sweeps SGPC elections. The Tribune. Retrieved 17 October 2015. and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.
Early life and family Parkash Singh Badal was born on 8 December 1927 in Abul Khurana, near Malout. He belonged to a Jatt Sikh family of Dhillon Clan, who were generally apolitical and worked in their fields. His father was a landlord named Raghuraj Singh Badal. In 1959, he married Surinder Kaur. The couple had two children, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Parneet Kaur, who is married to Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon. Surinder Kaur died in 2011 after a long illness due to cancer."Surinder Kaur Badal dead: Former Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal's wife passes away", The Economic Times (24 May 2011). Retrieved 25 October 2011.
His younger brother Gurdas Singh Badal had also been in politics in both, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Indian National Congress. His nephew Manpreet Singh Badal served as Finance Minister of Punjab.
Badal graduated from the Panjab University and FC College, Lahore and became a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee at a young age. During the Partition of India he was not able to board any train and was left to fend for himself in Lahore, Pakistan. He was later escorted by a party of Indian soldiers as his father requested Brigadier Mohinder Singh Chopra to help him.
Political career Badal started his political career in 1947. He was Sarpanch of the Village Badal and later chairman of Block Samiti, Lambi before rising into Punjab politics. He was elected to Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 1957 for the first time from the Shiromani Akali Dal political party, when he was hardly thirty years of age."The grand old man of Akali politics", CNN-IBN, 2 March 2007. He was re-elected in 1969, serving as Minister for Community Development, Panchayati Raj, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries. He was Leader of Opposition in 1972, 1980 and 2002. He had been elected in Vidhan Sabha for a total of 10 times, in 1957 and in each election since 1969, except for the February 1992 election, in which he led a boycott of state elections by the Akalis.Punjab Polls 2012. The Tribune. (26 December 2011). Retrieved 17 October 2015.Parkash Singh Badal. pbplanning.gov.in. In 1997 elections he won from Lambi Assembly constituency and had been a consecutive winner in four terms. He was a union minister in Prime Minister Morarji Desai's government in 1977, serving as Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation.
Chief Minister of Punjab Badal served as Punjab Chief Minister for five terms, the first time in 1970 when he became the youngest chief minister of an Indian state. He completed his last term in March 2017.
First term (1970-1971) Badal first became Chief Minister of Punjab in March 1970 and headed a coalition government of Akali Dal - Sant Fateh Singh and Jana Sangh. In June 1970 Jana Sangh withdrew support from the Badal government over their difference about the place of Hindi in Punjab. Later, in early July, seven of Akali Dal (Sant) defected to rival Akali Dal headed by ex-CM Gurnam Singh. An early session of the assembly was called on 24 July to prove the majority of Badal's government. However, the motion of no confidence was not admitted due to lack of requisite support of one-fifth of MLAs. Congress decided to stay neutral and did not support the no-confidence motion.
Second term (1977-1980)
Badal became CM for the term 20 June 1977 to 17 February 1980 with the support and alliance of Janata Party. He led major developments in infrastructure and kept harmony in the state despite the fiery tensions that were running during the Emergency from 1975-1977.
Third term (1997–2002)
Badal became CM for the term 12 February 1997 to 26 February 2002. Election Commission of India He had put a complete end to all human rights violations in Punjab by the Punjab Police- along with the dreaded Black Cats and bounty system.
Fourth term (2007–2012)
In the 2007 Punjab state election Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government won 67 out of 117 seats and Parkash Singh Badal was sworn in as chief minister for the fourth time.Punjab Assembly Election 2007 Results . indian-elections.com He held 10 portfolios, which included the ministries for Home, Housing & Urban Development, Excise & Taxation, Power, Personnel, General Administration, Vigilance, Employment, Legal & Legislative Affairs and NRIs Affairs.Badal allocates portfolios. The Hindu. (8 March 2007). Retrieved 17 October 2015. Badal launched many schemes such as free ambulance service,. dayandnightnews.com. April 2011 Talwandi Sabo thermal plant, etc.Talwandi Sabo thermal plant okayed. The Hindu (10 December 2007). Retrieved 17 October 2015. Through a new transportation policy, he reduced taxes on air-conditioned buses, making it less expensive for companies to operate luxury buses. This also increased profits of a bus company owned by his son, Sukhbir Singh Badal, which soared to 1.7 million U.S. dollars.
Fifth term (2012–2017)
In the 2012 election, Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party combined won 68 seats out of 117,Punjab elections results 2012. Zeenews.india.com (6 March 2012). Retrieved 17 October 2015. despite a tradition of anti-incumbency in Punjab.Punjab Polls 2012: Warhorse Badal beats anti-incumbency for the first time – Politics – Elections – ibnlive. CNN-IBN.in.com. Retrieved 17 October 2015. Badal again became the chief minister of Punjab on 14 March 2012 after being sworn in by the governor of Punjab, Shivraj Patil. He is also the oldest chief minister ever and is the only person who has been both the youngest and the oldest chief minister of his state.Parkash Singh Badal takes oath as Punjab chief minister. The Times of India. 14 March 2012 In the 2012–2017 government he held the portfolios of Personnel, General Administration, Power, Cooperation, Science Technology, and Environment, Vigilance and Employment Generation.. dayandnightnews.com. March 2012
Badal opposed FDI, and sided with political ally BJP.
Detentions, protests and issues
Detentions When he had become the Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal had constructed "beautiful jails", with the reasoning that he and his followers visit jails so often that he must make them pleasant to the eye.
Badal was first detained in the Karnal jail in connection with Civil Liberties Agitation later under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act during the Indian Emergency. As the Emergency progressed, conditions in jail became relaxed between prisoners.
He was then imprisoned in 1982 over protesting against the Sutlej Yamuna link canal which would have made the Punjab land barren of water resources.
He was jailed for sedition against the Indian Government in June 1984 when he had asked for Sikh soldiers to mutiny against the Indian Government after Operation Blue Star.
In August 1992, he was again lodged in Tajpur Road Jail from 28 August 1992 to 1 September 1992 for protesting against the false encounters perpetrated by Kanwar Pal Singh Gill.
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 Punjab Police. Badal staged a protest against police over the disappearance of Jathedar and was arrested and lodged again in Ludhiana jail from 1 to 13 January 1993.
He was under house arrest multiple times from 1984-1995, over 50 times in total as noted by Bhai Ajmer Singh.
Janata Party Whilst in jail, Badal began to speak to the other political prisoners about forming an opposition group to Indira Gandhi’s Congress and the idea of the Janata Party was made, a party that works for the people. On 6 February 1976 Badal hosted a lunch for about 409 political detenus which marked the beginning of a dialogue.
In the 1977 elections, the Janata Party came to power with an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal, running under a platform of democracy and retaining civil liberties.
Indira Gandhi would lose her home seat of Rae Bareilly to Raj Narain, with the Congress Party not even receiving one seat in states like Punjab, Haryana, Bihar (including Jharkhand), Uttar Pradesh (including Uttarakhand) and Himachal Pradesh.
Separatism He was a part of the Dharam-Yudh Morcha and was a close associate of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, even attending his Dastarbandi ceremony.
During the Dharam-Yudh Morcha he went undercover and reached the Indian Parliament and had burnt copies of Article 25B of the Indian Constitution over the demand for a separate identity for Sikhs.
In protest of Operation Black Thunder which was approved by Chief Minister of Punjab Surjit Singh Barnala, 27 Shiromani Akali Dal MLAs led by Parkash Singh Badal and Captain Amarinder Singh split from the mainstream Shiromani Akali Dal and formed Akali Dal – Parkash Singh Badal Group in 1986.
He was a part of the United Akali Dal, which supported Khalistan. He was contesting alongside politicians like Simranjit Singh Mann, Baba Joginder Singh Rode (father of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale) and Captain Amarinder Singh.
Badal had said that the militants of the Damdami Taksal and other terrorist outfits were "engaged in a struggle of the Panth". During the Khalistan Movement he had shifted to political protests and armed insurrection; he stated, "Barnala is a traitor. He is a tyrant worse than the Moghuls. Even Mrs Gandhi's despotic regime pales before his misdeeds. At the behest of the Centre, he is finishing the Sikh youth and attacking the Sikh holy shrines. Neither God nor Sikhs shall pardon him. The Delhi Darbar is out to finish the Sikhs. We must fight back. I shall go to each Sikh youth's house killed by the security forces, visit Sikhs detained in jails. We shall do everything possible to stop the massacre of Sikh youth."
He had protection from the Khalistan Commando Force in 1992 as various militants saw him as an ally; he used to go to various Bhog ceremonies of militants as well.
On the militants' orders he had boycotted the 1992 Punjab elections, no one from his party had contested and the only ones participating were the Indian National Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (Kabul) and Bhartiya Janata Party, and even those only in Hindu rural or Urban areas, as the candidates feared the militant's gun. Only 25 percent of the population voted due to the boycott and insurgency.
In 1993 Badal had signed the memorandum submitted to the United Nations, demanding Khalistan, which also carried Tohra’s signature. The memorandum stated, "Like all free people of the world, the Sikh nation, in accordance with the UN declaration on granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples, seeks an independent and sovereign state to break the shackles of apartheid, slavery, colonialism and a retrograde political system and structure.”
He publicly shed his separatist ideologue in 1998.
Protests