Chandigarh: As another Lok Sabha rout – much worse than previous defeats – slid Punjab’s regional party Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to further deterioration, the chorus has grown to oust Badals, who have been controlling the party since the 1990s. A group of senior party leaders during their meeting held in Jalandhar on Thursday, June 25 openly called for the ousting of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal as they blamed his leadership for the party’s continuous drubbing in elections.
After ruling Punjab for 10 years in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), SAD reduced to a mere 15 seats in the 117-member state assembly during the 2017 state polls. Five years later in the 2022 state polls, it had a mere three MLAs in the state assembly.
In parliamentary polls, it won two out of 13 seats in Punjab getting a decent 27% vote share during the 2019 general elections. This time, it not only clocked its worst-ever 13% vote share, but as many as 10 of its 13 Lok Sabha candidates lost their security deposits.
Overall, SAD – which once was an important political player in the border state – slid to fourth position, even falling behind BJP, which otherwise was facing large-scale opposition in rural Punjab due to the farmers’ movement.
The mood of Punjab – as poll results showed – was very much anti-BJP. But SAD’s poll debacle despite breaking off its ties with BJP showed that Congress and AAP were seen as far more credible alternatives to the BJP than homegrown parties like Akali Dal.
The victory of two independents – jailed radical leader Amritpal Singh from Khadoor Sahib and Sarabjeet Singh – son of former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassin Beant Singh – from Faridkot further exposed SAD’s alienation from people.
This feeling of alienation is what has now triggered a larger-scale crisis with many leaders worrying about their political future as well as the future of the grand old party of Punjab, which was India’s first regional outfit formed in 1920 to serve and protect Sikh and Punjabi identity.
In independent India, the party had a vital role in securing a Sikh majority state and fought a long battle with the centre over federal autonomy before it reached a stage where questions were now being raised on its political relevance.
Tug of war
In response to the crisis, Sukhbir Badal first chaired a meeting with district presidents and constituency (halqa) incharges of the party on Thursday and then called the party’s working committee a day later on Friday.
In both these meetings, Badal loyalists turned the heat on disgruntled leaders, alleging that they were part of a ‘dangerous conspiracy’ hatched by the BJP to disturb the peace and communal harmony of the state.
Simultaneously, they trashed the chorus to remove Badal as SAD president and passed a resolution hailing him and reposing full faith in his leadership.
Later, Badal’s wife Harsimrat Kaur, the only party MP left in parliament, posted on X that it is unfortunate that some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stooges tried to break the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) but failed.
She said it is heartening that the entire rank and file of the party including 112 out of 117 constituency incharges and all district presidents have expressed complete faith in the leadership of S Sukhbir Singh Badal.
“Only five leaders are working against the party’s interests as per the game plan of the BJP. The BJP wants to re-enact a breakaway in the SAD as it did in Maharashtra. It will not succeed,” she added.
But the other side is equally vocal on Badal’s ousting. Leading the camp are senior leaders like Prem Singh Chandumajra, Sikander Singh Maluka, Surjit Singh Rakhra, along with old Badal family detractors like Dhindsas and Bibi Jagir Kaur.
Talking to The Wire Chandumajra, claimed that families of several Akali stalwarts like Master Tara Singh, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Jagdev Singh Talwandi and Surjit Singh Barnala were fully behind them to get the party free from Badals and revive it back.
Sharing the details of their Thursday meeting in Jalandhar where they officially declared for leadership change, Chandumajra said that the successive electoral defeats of the party in the past decade made it clear that people had no longer faith in Badal’s leadership.
“Akali Dal Arsh ton Farash te aa Gaya (The Akali Dal has plummeted from the heights to the ground) all because of the Badal family,” he said.
Chandumajra then added, “We will seek forgiveness for the past mistakes and shortcomings at the Akal Takht in Amritsar on July 1. A ‘Shiromani Akali Dal Bachao’ movement will also be launched on that day to again connect with people and to regain their trust,” he said.
“We will not let Badals remain in control of Akali Dal any longer,” he added
The revolt against Badals is not anything new. Soon after SAD’s 2017 state assembly defeat, veteran Akali leaders like Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Ranjit Singh Brahmpura partied ways after questioning Sukhbir Badal’s leadership and even floated their own Akali front.
But Badals managed to sail through the crisis without losing their grip over the party and even brought their detractors back.
But the latest rift in the party is believed to be much larger in scale. The initial response of the Badals shows that they are still in the control of the party. How they overcome the latest challenge remains to be seen.
What explains SAD’s current affairs?
Harjeshwar Singh, a political commentator based in Chandigarh, told The Wire that the party historically fought for the rights of Sikhs and farmers, which largely formed its core support base.
Multiple factors are to be blamed for the party not just losing its core base but becoming irrelevant in the state politics, he added.
First, Harjeshwar said, party leadership succumbed to Narendra Modi’s majoritarian and neo-liberal regime due to their hunger for power. By the time they partied ways in 2021, the damage had already been done.
Also read: No Alliance Between SAD and BJP In Punjab As Akalis Focus On Recovering Lost Ground Among Farmers
The perception had then built up against Badals that they were in cahoots with the Modi regime on farm bills and were forced to oppose only after farmers’ movement against these bills had fully blown out, he added.
Other than farm issues, Akali Dal’s silence on abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir too was questioned especially when it had a history of demanding more federal autonomy for states, he added.
Harjeshwar said in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, anti-BJP sentiments were clearly visible in Punjab especially after farmers from the state were badly treated in their latest movement on the minimum support price (MSP) guarantee law.
He explained that Akali Dal made some right noises by coming in full support of the latest farmers’ movement and even decided against alliance with the BJP on farmers’ and Sikh prisoners’ issues.
“But SAD’s poor show reflects that party leadership still faces a major trust deficit. The voters, especially their core base in villages, were somehow in doubt that SAD would again side with the BJP after winning the elections. Therefore, they did not vote for the party,” he added
Harjeshwar said unless the Akali Dal leadership takes a strong stand for the people of Punjab and fights for their issues on the streets, the party’s revival is extremely difficult.
“Punjab has changed politically too. Earlier it no longer has a bi-polar party system after the rise of AAP as well as an exponential growth of the BJP looking to consolidate the Hindu vote bank. Then you have radicals catching public attention. This makes Akali Dal’s revival even more difficult,” Harjeshwar added
Meanwhile, another view among academia and political observers is that past mistakes during the previous Akali regime between 2007-2017 – such as incidents of desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib and firing incident on peaceful Sikh protesters apart from the issue of rampant drug trafficking – continues to hang around its neck.
With Akalis fighting each other now, there are fears that it could further weaken the party, giving another reason to its political rivals to outwit them.
