Chandigarh: With the farmers’ agitation against the Narendra Modi government now raging on the Punjab-Haryana border, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) seemingly finds itself in a precarious position over its ongoing talks of a tie-up with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming parliamentary election.
On Wednesday, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal indefinitely postponed the party’s ongoing ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’ in solidarity with the ongoing protests to demand a law guaranteeing MSP — the minimum price that the Government of India sets for certain agricultural products.
“Shiromani Akali Dal has always stood with and worked for the welfare of farmers and farm labourers,” Badal wrote on X (formerly Twitter), adding that an emergency meeting of the party’s core committee has been convened in Chandigarh Thursday to discuss the prevailing situation.
Shiromani Akali Dal has indefinitely postponed the party’s on-going #PunjabBachaoYatra in solidarity with the farmers and farm labourers agitating on the borders. Shiromani Akali Dal has always stood with and worked for the welfare of farmers and farm labourers. An Emergency…
— Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) February 14, 2024
While Badal is making the right political noises, joining in the chorus of Punjab politicians supporting the agitation, all-out support could jeopardise its ongoing negotiations with the BJP.
BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had in an interview with Times Now Sunday confirmed that talks were on with SAD for a possible tie-up but nothing had been finalised as yet.
The two-decade-long alliance between the Akali Dal and the BJP ended in 2021 after the former decided to part ways in support of the first round of farmers’ agitation against three contentious farm laws brought in by the Centre.
Those protests ended after the Narendra Modi government repealed the farm laws.
According to SAD sources, the party was unwilling to once again risk the political damage that it suffered in the initial stages of the 2021 farmers’ protest, when it tried to defend the controversial farm laws. The SAD’s decision to continue the alliance against the public mood led to a major political backlash for the Akalis, which they could not undo even after breaking up with the BJP.
“Eyeing the forthcoming parliamentary elections all political parties in Punjab have unambiguously supported the farmers’ agitation and the Akalis do not want to stick out like a sore thumb once again,” said Kanwalpreet Kaur, a professor of political science at DAV College in Chandigarh, told ThePrint.
‘Protests come at an opportune time for AAP’
After they broke up, SAD and the BJP had contested the 2022 assembly elections separately — while SAD tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the BJP made alliances with breakaway factions of the Congress and the Akali Dal. Neither party performed well — the SAD was reduced to three seats in the 117-member house, the BJP scored only two.
The last few months, however, have seen a thawing of the relationship between the two parties, especially with the parliamentary election around the corner. But the ongoing farmers’ agitation is expected to at least postpone their ongoing seat-sharing negotiations, if not bring them to a grinding halt.
This is especially true since the SAD’s rival parties in the state, the Congress and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have publicly declared their support for the latest round of protests.
After the Punjab Congress leaders Partap Singh Bajwa and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring came out in support of the farmers Tuesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promised a law guaranteeing MSP.
किसान भाइयों आज ऐतिहासिक दिन है!
कांग्रेस ने हर किसान को फसल पर स्वामीनाथन कमीशन के अनुसार MSP की कानूनी गारंटी देने का फैसला लिया है।
यह कदम 15 करोड़ किसान परिवारों की समृद्धि सुनिश्चित कर उनका जीवन बदल देगा।
न्याय के पथ पर यह कांग्रेस की पहली गारंटी है।#KisaanNYAYGuarantee
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 13, 2024
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, too, have announced their support for the agitation.
“My request to the Centre is that they should sit and talk with the farmers,” Mann said Monday at a function in Tarn Taran’s Goindwal Sahib. “Punjab farmer feeds the country, do not hate us so much Do not create a border between India and Punjab by erecting barricades.”
ਮੇਰੀ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਬੇਨਤੀ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕਿਸਾਨਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਬੈਠ ਕੇ ਗੱਲ ਕਰ ਲਓ… ਉਹਨਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਜਾਇਜ਼ ਮੰਗਾਂ ਮੰਨ ਲਓ…ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦਾ ਕਿਸਾਨ ਦੇਸ਼ ਦਾ ਢਿੱਡ ਭਰਦਾ ਹੈ…ਸਾਡੇ ਨਾਲ ਇੰਨੀ ਨਫ਼ਰਤ ਨਾ ਕਰੋ… ਵੱਡੇ-ਵੱਡੇ ਕਿੱਲ ਤੇ ਕੰਡਿਆਲੀਆਂ ਤਾਰਾਂ ਲੱਗਾ ਕੇ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਇੰਡੀਆ ਤੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦਾ ਬਾਰਡਰ ਨਾ ਬਣਾਓ… pic.twitter.com/9g2dxPbKqG
— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) February 11, 2024
According to Kanwalpreet, the protest has come at an “opportune time” for AAP. The party had swept to power in Punjab with a landslide majority in March 2022 — months after the farmers’ protest ended when the farm laws were repealed.
“The party had reaped the full electoral benefit of the first agitation and came to power in Punjab. If anybody will benefit politically from this ongoing agitation in the elections it is going to be the AAP,” Kanwalpreet told ThePrint.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)