Chandigarh: The death of Parkash Singh Badal, the doyen of Punjab politics who had dominated the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the past 25 years, has brought the century-old party at crossroads.
Badal, who passed away last week, had taken over as SAD chief in 1996 and handed over the baton to his son Sukhbir Singh — who continues to be the party president — in 2008.
He had been criticised by party leaders and political opponents alike, for what they termed as turning the party into his personal fiefdom. But as long as the party had been in power in the state till 2017, the voices of dissent remained smothered.
However, following the 2017 election results, when SAD’s share in the 117-seat assembly dwindled to 15, leaders of the old guard such as Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Rattan Singh Ajnala and Sewa Singh Sekhwan split the party, forming SAD (Democratic) and SAD (Taksali).
The steady spate of leaders deserting the party continued, the latest being Charanjit Singh Atwal, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in early April.
Apart from the party losing top leaders, it has also been grappling with a diminished core vote bank among the Sikh peasantry. The party lost its panthic (Sikh politics) credentials in 2015 when a series of incidents of alleged sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib (considered to be a living Guru by the Sikhs) took place when Badal was the state CM. The Akalis were perceived to have failed to bring the accused to book. The party has not been able to retrieve its panthic vote base since.
The party’s position on the three contentious farm laws passed by the central government in 2020, which led to the farmers’ agitation of 2021 resulting in the laws being repealed, dealt a further blow to the party’s image.
SAD had initially supported the laws. By the time they got around to supporting the stir, even to the extent of breaking their 40-year-old alliance with the BJP in the state, it was too late.
In the 2022 assembly elections, SAD won only three seats, putting a huge question mark on its political future. Badal himself, who had not suffered an electoral defeat since 1969, lost his home seat of Lambi to an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate.
Badal’s persona loomed large over the party and with his death, all hopes of an easy or early revival of the beleaguered party seem dashed. Can Sukhbir fill the void that his father’s death has created? What is the way ahead for the party?
ThePrint reached several SAD leaders for comment, but they all declined saying it would be graceless on their part to make any political statements till Badal’s Bhog (final prayer) ceremony later this week.
According to Ashutosh Kumar, professor at the department of political science, Panjab University, Chandigarh, a leading expert on SAD politics, “The future of Akalis is bleak but it cannot become totally irrelevant because AAP, the BJP and the Congress cannot play gurdwara politics even if they desire so.”
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Scope of another BJP-SAD alliance?
Analysts feel that with SAD’s political fortunes dwindling and the BJP also realising it needs a regional ally in the state, the two parties may come together again, though it may happen on the latter’s terms. In the 2022 assembly elections, the BJP fighting in alliance with the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress had won only two seats.
Professor Pramod Kumar, who heads the Institute of Development and Communication, Chandigarh, predicted a coming together of the former allies. “The Amritpal episode [the radical preacher and Khalistan supporter was arrested in April] has shown that Punjab can turn into a communal tinderbox anytime. Maintenance of peace and communal harmony has to become the dominant discourse. Badal’s formula of aligning with the BJP succeeded on that count and there is a fresh need for a similar setup,” he told ThePrint over phone.
Pramod added: “The BJP too has realised that it cannot come to power in Punjab without the help of a regional party. It has experimented with SAD’s breakaway leaders and realised that they were only spent forces and that Akali leaders of any consequence and the party’s cadre remain with the Badals,” he said.
Calling the BJP top leadership’s response to Badal’s death “extraordinary” — Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a glowing tribute to the five-time Punjab CM in an article published in The Tribune last week — Pramod said, “The manner in which the Prime Minister has paid homage to Badal shows that all is not lost between the two parties.”
According to him, Badal’s death has brought the party to a “1996 Moga declaration-like moment” when “Badal rose from the ashes and realigned the focus of the party from panth to Punjabiat. The Akalis again need to bring the focus back on Punjab’s economic development and not go back to doing Sikh identity politics, loosely called panthic politics,” he said.
Pramod was referring to a convention in 1996, when SAD had passed the ‘ Moga Declaration’, projecting itself as the party of Punjabis, people of all religions in Punjab. This has come to be regarded as a watershed moment in the party’s history, as it marked an ideological shift from its long-time character of a party only for the Sikhs.
However, Ashutosh Kumar pointed out that Union minister Hardeep Puri has already ruled out another BJP-SAD alliance. “If it takes place ever, it will be on the BJP’s terms and not Akalis,” he said. He was referring to Puri’s outburst last week where he told the media in Jalandhar that he was always against the alliance and still felt the same.
While factions aren’t new to the party, he said, “further disintegration under Sukhbir’s leadership will certainly take place. He has a lot of burden to carry and things will become more difficult for him.”
Also read: Parkash Singh Badal, grand master of Punjab’s politics, leaves behind an unmatched historic legacy
SAD’s traditional role
According to Dr Amanpreet Singh Gill, associate professor at Delhi’s Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College and author of Non-Congress politics in Punjab, SAD came into existence to fulfill a historical role of articulating political aspirations of the Sikhs. “It acted creatively to link this role with the demands of regional autonomy. This goal has not been achieved yet. Akali Dal’s role is far from over, whatever its electoral politics,” he said.
He added that the Akali-BJP (erstwhile Jan Sangh) coalition under Badal’s leadership made a positive contribution towards political stability in Punjab.
“This coalition used the paradox of majority as minority and minority as majority to devise a creative consociational model (where communities share political power) of democracy in Punjab. Sikh minority tasted power in the central government and the Punjabi Hindu minority tasted power in the state,” he said.
Gill added: “The BJP cannot be popular among rural Sikh masses. The path to the heart of rural Sikhs lies through the SAD. The party’s control over the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages gurdwaras across the state, helps it distribute material and cultural values among the rural constituencies. With the SGPC, Akali Dal is never out of power.”
Little time left
Meanwhile, some other experts feel SAD has very little time left to revive its prospects in the state.
Harjeshwar Singh, professor of History at Khalsa College, Chandigarh, said the window of opportunity for Akali Dal to revive itself is short. “Akali Dal has been in a continuous decline since 2015. Its vote bank has been reduced to 18 per cent and seats to just three, while its all-weather ally BJP has not only deserted it but is now poaching Akali leaders with vigour,” he said.
According to Singh, the party’s core vote bank of rural voters and Sikh has deserted it over the sacrilege issue and its stance on the contentious farm laws and it “has been lacking in ideas to take it forward”.
“Its leadership, Sukhbir and Bikram Majithia, lack the credibility and stature of Badal…The current Akali Dal does not resonate with the young Punjabis. Akali Dal is far behind in the narrative led by the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress in the state,” he said.
Singh added that Punjab temporarily has a four-horse electoral race which should turn into a two-horse one within the next two-three elections. “If Akali Dal is not able to become at least Number 2, it would be almost curtains for it,” he said.
The only silver lining, according to him, is that Sukhbir still has the party and resources with him and is known for his fighting spirit, while Majithia too is slowly gaining ground.
“Also, as the BJP is struggling to gain a foothold in the state by itself, it could be forced to ally again with Akali Dal which could help the latter but the BJP will be seeking at least parity now instead of a subordinate position,” he added.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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