CHANDIGARH NOVEMBER 17 – The Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today called upon all political leaders in the state to abide by basic norms of "clean and constructive politics" and said that the resort to vulgar and un-parliamentary publicity gimmicks by some leaders had only lowered the image of public figures in people’s minds. " Politics of abuse and vulgarity mudslinging makes good news, but it’s a bad politics. I am shocked that the language used by some of our political rivals bordered on obscenity. "
In a statement here, Mr. Badal said that the SAD-BJP alliance would go to the people on the agenda of development and good governance alone. and that a resort to gimmicks and mudslinging had never been a part of his political style.
Suggesting that political parties should address themselves to the problems facing the sate and the people and should jointly work for their prosperity, Mr. Badal said, "That’s the primary reason why people send us here and that’s what we want to go back to the people to talk about. As the senior most person in public life in Punjab, I deem it my duty to suggest to everyone to avoid bitterness and sensationalism in public life.
The Chief Minister said that he had been "deeply saddened" by what he saw on television the other day. " I was shocked to see a news programme in which some of our esteemed political adversaries were not fit even to be heard in the company of one’s children, ladies and elders. What must our youth and children be thinking of us when they hear us talking about "molesting" one another, beat and bleed and rub each other’s noses into mud and even worse which I find even to reproduce."
Mr. Badal said that as responsible political leaders, we must always be conscious of what kind of role-models we present for our people and our posterity. "In the past five years in government, we worked hard to end the atmosphere of vicious, bitterness and needless confrontation. Very largely, we succeeded in that. But now with elections around the corner, I find desperation setting in, and some parties and leaders seem to believe that vulgar and obscene sloganeering are a fit substitute for concrete programmes and policies. The SAD-BJP will not deviate from their agenda of development, peace and communal harmony."