From youngest Sarpanch to five-time Punjab CM: Parkash Singh Badal’s indelible legacy

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron and five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal passed away at a private hospital in Mohali late Tuesday evening due to a chronic respiratory ailment. Several political leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid their last respect to Badal’s mortal remains kept at SAD headquarters in Chandigarh. His last rites will be held on Thursday at his ancestral village, Badal, in Muktsar district.

Badal was the youngest chief minister of the country when he first took charge at age 43 in 1970. Badal was the oldest to helm a state when he was sworn in for a fifth term in 2012 at the age of 83. With more than 70 years of experience in political life, Badal often used to call himself a ‘Doctor of Politics’.

From free power to farmers and social security pensions to a scheme to provide free atta and daal to families below the poverty line, former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was the architect of several populist schemes in Punjab.

Take a look at Parkash Singh Badal’s life

– Timeline infograph: Varsha Sriram