High time to create a new Panthic outfit for Punjab, will talk to Amritpal, says Khalsa

Pro-Khalistan radical preacher and Waris Punjab De (WPD) chief Amritpal Singh is currently lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, along with nine associates, under the National Security Act (NSA). Amritpal won the Lok Sabha election from the Khadoor Sahib seat as an Independent, defeating Congress’s Kulbir Singh Zira by 1,97,120 votes.

Asked why did he feel the need to create a new Panthic outfit, Khalsa said, “See the people voted this time (in the parliamentary elections), they made me and Bhai Amritpal victorious, clearly indicating they need a new platform to get themselves heard. Sukhbir Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal and Simranjit Singh Mann-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) have failed to provide any direction to the Panth. Had that not been true, people would not have elected us.”

Asked about the upcoming SGPC elections, Khalsa said, “We will contest for sure. Our candidates are ready to contest. People are looking at us to float a Panthic outfit, and so is the enthusiasm. However, we are yet to formulate things. We will do it after talking to Amritpal Singh or his family.”

“I couldn’t even visit all 650 villages in my parliamentary constituency during the election, yet people voted for me. They campaigned for me despite knowing the CM’s best friend contesting against me and the entire Punjabi film industry helping him, except for AAP leaders, including the CM. I contested polls in the past too, but people finally realised that they needed a change as the AAP fell flat on its promises,” said Khalsa, who won the Faridkot parliamentary constituency, defeating AAP’s Karamjit Singh Anmol, a close friend of Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and a popular Punjabi actor and singer, by a margin of 70,053 votes.

“As of now, I cannot decide on my own about creating a Panthic outfit, but it can be a collective decision, along with Amritpal and his family members,” said Khalsa contested on the election symbol of a farmer with a sugarcane (ganna kisan) and during his poll rallies, people would serve fresh sugarcane juice to visitors and campaign for him.

Notably, Sukhbir Badal has been facing criticism from within the party and rebels like Bibi Jagir Kaur, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Gurpartap Wadala, Charanjit Singh Brar, etc., have launched a new outfit the Shiromani Akali Dal (Sudhar Lehar).

Khalsa had unsuccessfully contested the 2004 Lok Sabha polls from the Bathinda seat as a Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate and had polled 1.13 lakh votes. He had also unsuccessfully contested the 2007 Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections from the Bhadaur seat in Barnala as a SAD(A) candidate.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he again tried his luck from the Fatehgarh Sahib seat as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate but lost again. He didn’t contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent 2022 Assembly elections.

Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, who were the then-prime minister’s bodyguards, assassinated Gandhi on October 31, 1984 at her residence.