New Delhi: The demise of the tallest leader of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, has left a void in the hearts of many. People have come out in large numbers to pay their last respects to the departed soul at different places across India, including Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, where Badal had visited and supported the cause of education.
A day after his demise, a sorrowful gathering of 30,000 students and 4000 staff members on Wednesday observed silence to mourn Badal, who embodied the middle ground in Punjab’s sharply-divided politics for decades.
As a mark of respect, the university LPU raised hoardings and published a full-page tribute in a newspaper. Despite being a Rajya Sabha MP from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), LPU chancellor Dr. Ashok Mittal spoke highly of the former chief minister in an address on the occasion and also participated in a candle march held on the campus.
In his address, Dr Mittal paid an emotional tribute acknowledging Badal’s contributions to the nation, state, and its people. He hailed the five-time Punjab CM as a remarkable statesman.
Dr Mittal recounted how Badal rose through the ranks to become the chief minister from a young sarpanch, leaving his deep mark on the politics of Punjab.
He also said that the SAD patriarch had provided positive solutions to the problems brought before him by the LPU fraternity. “Sardar Badal was the tallest leader in the country, and his visits to the LPU campus are cherished memories,” he pointed out.
Badal, who had been ill for a long time, breathed his last at a hospital in Mohali at the age of 96 years on Tuesday.
He was born into a Jatt Sikh household in the village of Abul Khurana, located near Malout, in 1927. His political journey started in 1947 when he became the Sarpanch of his hometown, Badal, at the young age of 20. This was a time when India had recently gained independence, and Punjab was recovering from the devastating effects of partition.