Episode no.29
This interview was published on 4 June 2022 and the guest was senior journalist Jagtar Singh. At the beginning of the interview Jagtar Singh was asked about Akali Dal Badal, Amritsar and 1920. He said that Shiromani Akali Dal is an organization in itself. It has a rich and proud history. It was a party of Sikhs only. But later it became only a mafia and a family party. And its end was also necessary to revive the traditional Shiromani Akali Dal. But politics cannot run without Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab. Shiromani Akali Dal’s downfall was due to neglect of religious (panthak) issues after alliance with BJP. Apart from this, the journalist talked to Jagtar Singh about Deraism in Punjab. He said that Deraism has been going on since the time of Baba Nanak. But to some extent our Sikh institutions had failed to propagate Sikhism due to which Deraism flourished in Punjab. Talking about the role of Jathedar of SGPC, Jagtar Singh talked about the good performance of Jathedar Tohra, Gurbachan Singh’s support to the head of Dera Sacha Sauda and about the current Jathedar. They also talked about the Badal family favoring the Dera Sacha Sauda chief. He also spoke in detail about Behbal Kalan Insaf Morcha. He said that when the system does not give justice to the Sikhs, then the Sikhs try to get justice and then the government calls the Sikhs terrorists.
-kulwinder kaur bajwa