Parkash Singh Badal, the Baba Bohr (banyan tree) of the Shiromani Akali Dal, left for his eternal journey on April 25, 2023, at the very hospital in Mohali he had inaugurated in 2001. He had a brush with death when he was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1998. There could hardly be a more paralysing moment than being told of a terminal ailment. He, however, took the news as if he had caught a flu. An innate calm and courage were his strengths. I have known him for over 43 years but never saw him ruffled, except in 2011 when he lost his life-partner, Surinder Kaur Badal.
What made him popular with the masses? It was his illimitable humility and grassroots people contact — he was a man of the masses with boundless faith in Akal Purakh. He bore no grudges, acrimony or animosity towards anyone, not even to his political opponents. A moderate in political thought, he restored harmony in the state after the bloody 1980s. Hindu-Sikh amity was a matter of immutable faith with him. He used to say: “Hindu-Sikh da nau-maas da rishta hai.”
A consensus builder, Badal never imposed his opinion on others. His impromptu wit, one-liners, often politely slipped in during dreary or long-winding official speeches, would lighten up animated discussions and calm tense situations. He had a way of getting what he wished, without ruffling others or giving the impression of having overruled their views.
It was his quintessential courtesy and unfailing politeness that often prevailed over the occasional resistance to his ideas or proposals from officers. No matter how senior or junior a civil servant was, for him, they all were “Sardar Sahib” or “Kaka Ji” or “Bibi ji” and “Biba ji”, depending upon their age. However, he was extremely sensitive to public opinion and would expect his officers to respond promptly to any adverse news. As his principal secretary, I remember him ringing up as early as 5 in the morning, after reading some sensitive news in newspapers, demanding an explanation and then directing corrective measures.
My first interaction with him was during his second term as CM. I was serving as additional deputy commissioner of the then-undivided Faridkot district in 1978. He would leave Chandigarh at midnight, covering a distance of over 200 km and reach some remote part of the district early in the morning. He would tour 10-12 villages each on Saturday and Sunday, before returning to the headquarters. He would meet people, and address their problems, the most acute of which those days was saline-water logging in the district. Projects would be sanctioned on the spot. Thousands and thousands of acres of agricultural land were reclaimed thus.
He kept a hectic schedule, meeting and mingling with the masses, which he enjoyed immensely. He called it “Sangant Darshan”. His passion for agriculture and commitment to the development of the muffasi was remarkable. In his second term as CM, he conceived and launched an initiative that was to change the rural economy. Popularly called Focal Points, the initiative clubbed the entire state into groups of five-six contiguous villages, with one village in each group selected as an economic growth centre for the development of basic infrastructure that included an agricultural marketing yard, godowns to stock agro-inputs, covered storage space for food grains, a veterinary dispensary, medical dispensary, a bank counter, telephone, petrol-diesel outlet, few shops to meet daily needs of people etc. A network of pucca roads linked these habitations to towns and this laid the foundation of rural growth and anchored the green revolution in Punjab.
In his third term as CM (1997-2002), agriculture having reached a plateau, he moored the state towards a white revolution. He established a statutory Punjab Dairy Development Board to promote and safeguard the interests of dairy farmers, milk processors and consumers. Modern scientific dairy farms mushroomed and milk production peaked, placing Punjab at the top in per capita milk availability in the country. A number of new milk processing plants came up in the private sector, apart from the expansion of cooperatives.
In 1977, a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem moved him. He saw a bonding in the sufferings of Sikhs during the evolution of the Khalsa and the torment of the Jews. Moshe Safdie, the architect of the Jerusalem Museum, was invited to undertake a similar project at Anandpur Sahib. The Khalsa Heritage Centre or Ajuba, as it is called, was built in 1999; it celebrates the 300th year of the birth of the Khalsa and is an amazing recollection of the composite culture of Punjab through a combination of electronic interpretive projections, exhibits, murals, paintings, artefacts, woven tapestries etc. It is an eternal gift of Badal to Punjabis.
The Software Technology Park, Mohali laid the foundation of the IT industry in Punjab. In his third term (2007-2012), he brought the only oil refinery in the state. A number of new power projects were established to make Punjab power surplus, and an international airport was built in Mohali. A number of iconic educational institutions like the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Indian School of Business, National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, all in Mohali, and an IIT at Ropar were set up, apart from an IIM at Amritsar.
His indelible imprint on the state’s administration was a Governance Reforms Commission. Its recommendations transformed the citizen-state interface, simplified procedures, and weeded out red tape — the suvidha centres were one of the many outcomes of the reforms. He established a string of quality schools, starting with the Dasmesh Academy at Anandpur Sahib (1980), Adarsh Schools in rural areas, and a string of meritorious schools to provide quality education to bright children and the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institution in Mohali.
Spartan in his personal life, Badal had no interest or time for self-indulgence. His day began early in the morning and stretched till late night. Despite the very hectic schedule, he administered Punjab for 19 years without ever wearing a watch or carrying a pen on his person. And yet he was never late and kept his appointments to a minute and disposed of matters promptly, rarely leaving a paper unattended before retiring for the night.
It may be a long time before we get to see another leader like him.
Singh is a former chief secretary of Punjab and author of Turmoil in Punjab: Before and After Blue Star: An Insider’s Account
What made him popular with the masses? It was his illimitable humility and grassroots people contact -- he was a man of the masses with boundless faith in Akal Purakh. 
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