Chandigarh: President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Sukhbir Singh Badal, has offered an unconditional apology before the Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of the Sikhs, for “all the allegations” levelled against him in a complaint given by a rebel group of the party.
Without questioning or rebutting the charges, Badal said he is “no one” to offer any arguments or defence before the Akal Takht — which he said was “supreme” — and that he is seeking forgiveness as a “humble devotee”.
According to his written response, made public by the Akal Takht Monday, Badal added that he would accept any decision taken by the body.
A decision on Badal’s apology will be taken during a joint meeting of the jathedars of the five takhts (seats of authority of the Sikhs) in the coming days. If found guilty of ‘anti -panthic acts’, he could be declared a “tankhaiya” (guilty of religious misconduct) and punished.
Badal was summoned by the Akal Takht on 15 July to furnish clarification on a set of allegations levelled against him by the party’s dissident group. In a letter submitted to the Akal Takht, the rebel group consisting of more than half-a-dozen senior leaders of the party alleged that Badal “failed to satisfactorily represent the Sikh Panth (community)”.
The complaint was submitted to Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh on 1 July.
In its letter, the rebel group also apologised for being party to wrong decisions taken by Badal. It held him responsible for the failure of the then SAD government to nab those responsible for the incidents of sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 and orchestrating the grant of pardon to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh the same year through the Akal Takht — a decision later retracted in the face of backlash.
On 24 July, Badal appeared before the Akal Takht and handed over his reply in a sealed cover.
Reacting to Sukhbir Singh Badal’s written response, Charanjit Singh Brar, one of the leaders of the rebel group, told the media Monday that they await the Akal Takht’s decision on the matter.
“However, it would have been much better had Badal given a more detailed explanation of the various allegations against him,” said Brar.
‘Taking full responsibility’: Badal
In his written response, now in the public domain, Badal said he was seeking an apology from the “Guru” and the “Guru Panth”.
“As the head of the family I am taking full responsibility for all the mistakes that were committed knowingly or unknowingly. Even though the decisions taken at that time were of the party and the government, I seek forgiveness for all the mistakes that were committed,” he wrote.
He also reproduced a letter handed over to the Akal Takht by his father, the then Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, in October 2015 in the wake of a series of incidents of sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib and grant of pardon to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.
Senior Badal had in his letter said that though he did his best to lead Punjab “humbly and wisely”, some circumstances were “beyond his control”. He went on to add, “It is that feeling of regret and pain that I am going through right now.”
‘Rebel group not above board’
Asked about his views on the matter, political scientist Dr Amarjit Narang told ThePrint that the Akal Takht might not be able to take an unbiased view of Badal’s apology.
“It is well known that the Akal Takht jathedar is appointed by the Shiromani Akali Dal, so to expect him to take an independent decision on Badal’s apology is expecting too much. People know this and are not taken in by such things anymore. Badal can be forgiven only when the people of Punjab decide to forgive him,” said Narang.
Narang, the author of Region, Religion and Politics: 100 Years of Shiromani Akali Dal (2022), also pointed out that the Akali Dal has historically “used the Akal Takht for its political benefits and that is exactly what is going to happen this time as well.”
“In the 1990s, the Akal Takht ordered all factions of the Akali Dal to join hands but Parkash Singh Badal who was leading the Badal faction refused to comply. A few years later, he himself asked Akal Takht to order all the factions to come together and the Akali Dal was united,” said Narang.
He also said that the rebel group of the Akali Dal which moved the Akal Takht against Badal is also “not above board”.
“They are very cleverly hunting with the hounds and running with the hares. They were part of the Akali Dal when decisions regarding pardon to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief was taken but nobody spoke up then. Now they go and offer an apology on their behalf and they want the entire blame to come to Sukhbir Badal. They are rank opportunists,” he said.
Narang also explained that though the prospects of the Akali Dal have been declining since the 2017 assembly elections, the present situation is different owing to the entry of hardliners like Amritpal Singh and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa into the political scene in Punjab.
“Both the rebel group and Akali Dal are trying to find a panthic solution to their political downfall. All eyes are on the 2027 elections and the SGPC elections if they are held before the assembly polls,” he said.
These developments come in the wake of a deepening crisis within the SAD leadership with the rebel group demanding that Badal step down as head of the party and take complete responsibility for its consistently poor showing in elections since 2017.
On 15 July, the rebel group launched the “Shiromani Akali Dal Sudhar Lehar” in Chandigarh with Gurpartap Singh Wadala as its convener.
A day before he appeared in front of the Akal Takht, Badal had disbanded the core committee of the party which included most of the rebel leaders. Last week, rebel leaders including Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Sikander Singh Maluka, Surjit Singh Rakhra, Surinder Singh Thekedar and Charanjit Singh Brar were removed from the party.
This was followed by the formation of a new core committee.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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