Nanded: Akali Dal chief and former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was injured in a knife attack in Maharashtra’s Nanded on Thursday, August 13, police said.
A man attacked Badal with a knife when he was visiting the Gurdwara Mata Sahib Devan Ji Mugat, police said. One person has been detained in connection with the attack, which took place around 1.45 pm.
Nanded SP Neelabh Rohan told PTI, “A nihang (member of a martial order of Sikhs) attacked Badal with a kirpan inside the gurdwara. The assailant has been taken into custody.”
Badal was rushed to a private hospital for treatment. A viral video showed Badal walking inside a building with a cloth wrapped around his right hand.
A local official said Badal received two to three stitches on his hand and is stable.
Earlier in the day, Badal visited the Takht Sri Hazur Sahib in Nanded along with wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is an Akali Dal MP.
AAP, Akali Dal, condemn attack
Senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Virsa Singh Valtoha strongly condemned the attack on party chief Sukhbir Singh and demanded a thorough probe.
“There should be a thorough probe. Who are the forces behind such attack..,” Valtoha said.
Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) general secretary and media in-charge Baltej Pannu also condemned the attack. “We strongly condemn the attack on Badal. Such attacks should not take place,” he said.
Second attack in two years
This is the second attack on him in around two years. In December 2024, Badal survived an assassination attempt while he was performing ‘sewadar’ duty at the Golden Temple in Amritsar after the Akal Takht pronounced the ‘tankhah’ (religious punishment) for “mistakes” committed during the party’s rule in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.
Badal is the son of five-time chief minister of Punjab late Parkash Singh Badal.
During the SAD-BJP government, Sukhbir became the deputy chief minister in 2009 and was elected as MLA from Jalalabad constituency in a by-election. He was re-elected from Jalalabad in 2012 during the assembly polls and remained the deputy CM. He was again elected from Jalalabad in 2017. Sukhbir Badal fought the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and became MP from Ferozepur seat. Earlier, he was elected from the Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency in 1996 and again in 1998 and 2004.
He completed his schooling at the Lawrence School, Sanawar, earned an MA from Panjab University in 1985, and an MBA from California State University, USA in 1991.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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