IF the Shiromani Akali Dal wants to take its leaders and also those of its coalition partner, BJP, to a luxury resort in Goa for serious deliberations, it is perfectly within its right. Previously, the party used to have a strictly religious base and baptised Sikhs as its members. They were busy with morchas, religious work or kar seva, and never felt the need for entertainment in five-star hotels and casinos. All that has changed under the youthful party CEO, Sukhbir Singh Badal. Parkash Singh Badal did feel the discomfort initially but the air in Goa changed the thinking. The party floated a youth wing in 2004 called the “Student Organisation of India” to harness the power of less or non-religious Punjabi youth in winning elections. The expansion has brought in workers and leaders who no longer find peace of mind in gurdwaras. Stressed, some of them frequently get involved in drunken brawls, drug peddling and other criminal activities. While in Goa, the leadership must have given a thought to lawless party workers who tend to beat up or even kill hapless policemen.
Relieved from the pressure of work, ministers and legislators found time to share their intimate thoughts with one another. Back in Punjab, people keep pestering them for petty things like jobs, transfers, power, police cases and old-age pensions that they no longer find time for fellow party men. At the beach they could relax without someone breathing down their neck. After days of serious “vichar manthan” the Akali and BJP leaders reached the conclusion that if the system was not delivering, it was because bureaucrats were not doing their job and must be held accountable.
The only nuisance at an otherwise rejuvenating Goa conclave was, perhaps, the presence of journalists who kept raising irrelevant questions about the state’s deteriorating finances. They asked irritating middle-class questions about how much the leaders were spending on their pleasure trip and where the money was coming from. It is like asking Sukhbir Badal how he is coping with rising food prices. It is time to rise above the mundane. |
