Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday accused the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of adopting “double standards’’ on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and asked the constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to clarify its stand on support to the BJP.
“The Akali Dal supported the CAA in Parliament but had since come out with conflicting statements on legislation, as well as on the NRC,” Capt. Singh said in a statement. He alleged that the Akalis were misleading people on these sensitive issues.
In the wake of the recent statements of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Rajya Sabha member Naresh Gujral, seeking the inclusion of Muslims in the CAA, the Chief Minister said it was ‘patently obvious’ that the Akalis were playing a double game in the matter.
“It was clear that the SAD leaders had decided to backtrack on their earlier stand in view of the public protests and backlash triggered by the CAA and the NRC. This is not the first time the Akalis had shown such dual standards with regard to their relations with the BJP,” claimed the Congress leader, pointing to the SAD’s support to Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD in the recent Haryana Assembly elections even while continuing to be a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
“It is time the SAD clarified their stand on their continuation in the NDA,” he said. People wanted to know whether the Akalis favoured the BJP’s hardline ideology on key issues, including those that affected India’s constitutional principles and values.
“The people are no longer willing to be fooled by the SAD’s dual standards and misleading statements. Such contradictory stands and statements exposed the fact that the Akalis were only interested in promoting their vested political interests, and had no ideological principles on any issue of national importance,” he stated.
