OPINION: Is Goa Shivir justified?

The two-day SAD-BJP ‘Chintan Shivir’ on the beaches of Goa, concluded with an announcement that the next camp will be organised at Sri Hazoor Sahib, was a sheer wastage of time and money. 

The Shiromani Akali Dal is not a national level party that it should hold the Introspection Camp at Goa like that of Congress at Jaipur.  The alliance partner Bhartiya Janata Party has committed a blunder in agreeing to this journey by spending a huge amount especially when the financial position of the government is not so sound and 3.5 lakh employees are crying for the wages. 

During the last six years, despite the fact that the income of the state has enhanced manifold, as too claimed by SAD-BJP leadership in their Chintan Shivir at Goa, there is increase in debt of Rs.38,109 crores on state and Rs.69,270 crore on public sector.

It looks that it was an exercise to celebrate the second term unexpected winning by the SAD-BJP alliance besides projecting Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, who got appreciation from his father, happens to be Chief Minister. He was given the rightly deserved credit for the successive victories of the Akali Dal in various elections.

In view of the criticism from a section within the party, the Badal has wisely acted to announce the next such camp at Sri Hazoor Sahib.  Had the first camp been at Hazoor Sahib, being a religious place, there would have been less opposition from any section.

Since the newly appointed Partap Singh Bajwa as President, PPCC is active in daily releasing he counter statements on the policies of the government, taking stock of the situation, Junior Badal thought of an assembly of alliance members to make a long term strategy in view of coming Panchayat and Lok Sabha elections. Akalis being a regional party has no option to fully back alliance partner BJP in its selection for NDA’s prime ministerial candidate.  The other issues like curbing terrorism, poverty, price rise and worst ever external diplomatic relations with neighboring states,  have become so common and merely a subject of discussions.

Whatever may be the outcome of the camp at Goa, the team is back to the pavilion but till such time the common man is happy with the availability of uninterrupted power supply, no power hike, availability of day today usable items at cheaper rates, no additional taxes and above all corruption-free services in government offices, the alliance government in Punjab is not going to have its standing now.

No doubt, the tall claims of planning to rule the Punjab for the next 50 years by providing the clean and efficient administration with a greater emphasis on administrative reforms are on the anvil,  but only the time will tell, as to how much this four day sojourn has helped the alliance in Punjab to identify several strategic and win the Parliament seats?

(Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of City Air News.)