Chandigarh: A day after more than 50 senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders sought the resignation of party president Sukhbir Badal, the party working committee Wednesday called the move “a dangerous conspiracy aimed at disturbing peace and communal harmony” in Punjab, with an intent to “blame it on Sikhs”.
In an X post from the SAD handle, the working committee “cautioned” Panth and Punjabis and stressed that “peace (is) essential for the progress and prosperity of the people”. The post further said that the working committee “expresses full faith in the leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal”, “(the) party will intensify its efforts towards genuine federalism”, and “appeals to ‘errant members’ not to violate party decorum and to air views on party platforms only”.
Meanwhile, Sukhbir Badal’s wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday over the rebellion within the Akali Dal.
Speaking to the media outside the Parliament in Delhi, the newly elected MP from Bathinda said the BJP is trying to destabilise and break SAD using its “stooges”.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal later posted a message on X, along with a video of her speaking to the media in Delhi, claiming that all rank and file of the Akali Dal, including 112 of the 117 leaders in charge of constituencies and all district presidents, have expressed faith in the leadership of Sukhbir Badal.
“Only five leaders are working against the party’s interests as per the game plan of the BJP. The BJP wants to reenact a breakaway in the SAD as it did in Maharashtra. It will not succeed,” she wrote.
The rebellion in the Akali Dal comes after the party’s poor results in the Parliamentary polls in Punjab, where it won only one of 13 seats and sent only one MP, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, to the Parliament, while the Congress won seven seats and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party three.
The BJP, meanwhile, refuted the allegations and accused Sukhbir Badal and his wife of trying to blame the failure of their leadership on others out of apprehensions of being completely wiped out from the state.
Speaking to ThePrint Wednesday, Sunil Jakhar, the president of BJP Punjab, said that rather than blaming the BJP, Sukhbir Badal should introspect why Akali Dal has been witnessing a consistent downslide since breaking ties with the BJP.
The SAD-BJP alliance ruptured in 2021 over the farmers’ protests. The Akali Dal was ousted from power in Punjab in 2017 when it had been in an alliance with the BJP. It has only fared worse in the succeeding elections.
“He is the same Sukhbir Badal, who used to describe the SAD-BJP ties as ‘nuh maas da rishta (relationship of nails and flesh)’. I was the one who tried hard to revive ties between the two parties ahead of Parliamentary polls. But, Badal was stubborn on the issue of the release of ‘Bandi Singhs’. But, the ‘Bandi Singhs’ have been in jail since 1986,” Jakhar said.
“Since then, the SAD has enjoyed the fruits of its government in Punjab in alliance with the BJP thrice — from 1997 to 2002, from 2007 to 2012, and again from 2012 to 2017. Also, the SAD enjoyed ministerial berths at the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi for more than seven years before snapping ties with the BJP in 2021. During all these years, Sukhbir Badal never talked of Bandi Singhs at all, though the ‘Bandi Singhs’ were in jails,” said Jakhar.
The ‘Bandi Singhs’ are former Sikh militants who have been incarcerated in various jails across the country for three decades or more now. The demand for their release started over a decade ago, with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) leading the cause.
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‘Stronger SAD serves as a safety valve’
Jakhar feels Sukhbir Badal should understand he is facing a test to prove his leadership because of how his party’s performance has been deteriorating and that he has to convince his party workers rather than shift the blame onto the BJP.
“As BJP president for a state like Punjab, I am for a strong SAD because it is not just another political party, but enjoys an exalted position because of its Panthic background. A stronger SAD serves as a safety valve to keep fringe elements at a distance,” Jakhar said.
Jakhar further said he is worried about the way “radical forces” have been able to win two seats in Punjab in the Parliamentary polls, referring to jailed Sikh hardliner Amritpal Singh’s win from Khadoor Sahib and Indira Gandhi’s assassin Beant Singh’s son Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa’s win from Faridkot. “Punjab has been through a black chapter of extremism and the state can’t afford to even think of going towards that direction,” he added.
Jakhar also categorically refuted the charge of the BJP’s hand in what a faction within the Akali Dal is doing and stated that none of the leaders who demanded Sukhbir Badal’s resignation are in touch with the BJP.
The rebel Akali Dal leaders, led by ex-MP Prem Singh Chandumajra and Bibi Jagir Kaur, who formerly held the SGPC chief’s post, met in Jalandhar Tuesday and announced their plan to appear before the Akal Takht Sahib, the chief centre of religious authority in Sikhism, on 1 July to apologise for the party’s past mistakes and then elect a new leader if Badal doesn’t resign.
Speaking to the media Wednesday, rebel SAD leader Parminder Singh Dhindsa also refuted the charges against the BJP and questioned why it would attempt to break an already-weakened Akali Dal when the party has been able to double its vote share in Punjab in the 2024 election without any alliance with SAD.
In a related development, the Akali Dal Wednesday unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw the party symbol — scales — allotted to its Jalandhar West assembly byelection candidate, Surjit Kaur, considered close to Bibi Jagir Kaur.
Wednesday was the last day for nomination withdrawal for the 10 July byelection. Just 15 minutes before the deadline, Akali Dal district president Kulwant Singh Manan reached the office of returning officer Alka Kalia (RO) to withdraw the party symbol. However, Surjit Kaur also reached the RO office and said that since she does not plan to withdraw from the contest, withdrawing the symbol isn’t possible at such a late stage. Finally, Kalia ruled that the symbol would remain with her.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)