Akali Dal Is The Flavour Of Punjab Politics For Now

The flavour of turbulent Punjab politics at the moment is the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal). The beleaguered political party is making headlines on various counts.

On one side is the fallout of the punishment given by the Akal Takht which is the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs to former deputy chief minister and former party president Sukhbir Singh Badal for religious misconduct. On the other is the outcome of an assassination bid on Sukhbir Badal’s life while he was undertaking this punishment at the entrance of the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar.

Both these developments have thrown up a bagful of questions that are expected to be answered with the passage of days. This simply implies that there is a lot more to come on the Akali front.

It all began with a rebellion of sorts in the Akali Dal that led to Sukhbir Badal presenting himself before the Akal Takht and being declared a ‘Tankhaiya’ (guilty of religious misconduct) along with some other leaders who were a part of the Akali government between 2007 to 2017.

This was followed by his resignation as the president of the party while awaiting the quantum of punishment.

The charges included being instrumental in granting pardon to the now jailed Dera Saccha Sauda chief Ram Rahim who was charged with blasphemy, the failure to deliver on sacrilege of holy texts since 2015, appointment of a tainted police official to the post of Director General of Police (DGP) and not bringing to book the officials responsible for police action against innocent people protesting against the sacrilege of holy texts that had also resulted in two deaths.

The punishment announced was pretty ‘harsh’ that observers feel was never expected by anyone given the fact that the Akali Dal retains control over the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) that appoints the Jathedars to the different religious Takhts including the Akal Takht.

It entailed directing the working committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to accept Sukhbir’s resignation and constitute a committee for the re-organization of the party in the next six months.

It also entailed the Akali leadership that ran the government for a decade to put on plaques around their necks mentioning the ‘sins’ committed by them. Sukhbir and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa who is from the rebel camp were asked to clean utensils and shoes of devotees besides functioning as ‘Sewadars’ outside the Golden Temple and the four other Takhts of Keshgarh Sahib, Damdama Sahib, Darbar Sahib at Muktsar and Fatehgarh Sahib for one hour each for two days.

Another blow came in the form of the Akal Takht withdrawing the title of Panth Rattan Fakr-e-Quam (Pride of Sikh Community) from Parkash Singh Badal who was the chief minister between 2007 and 2017.

Just when Sukhbir Badal, who has a fractured leg, was performing Sewa at the entrance of the Golden Temple on Wednesday, he was shot at by an alleged Khalistani militant Narayan Singh Chaura. He escaped unhurt as a vigilant cop Jasbir Singh was able to foil the attempt. This led to the politics in the state heating up with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) drawing flak from various quarters.

There are several interesting inferences being drawn from these developments amidst several questions. There are observers who feel that there is now a small window that provides the space for revival of the Akali Dal yet there are many ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ around this possibility.

There is the all important question of whether the era of the Badals at the helm of the party is over. Many feel that the party which is the oldest regional force in India had declined into a dynasty fiefdom in the last `couple of decades. The all important question is who would be the new leader of the party on whom will rest the burden for revival.

It is also being debated who sets to gain from the Khalistani narrative again standing resurrected in Punjab’s political domain. At the same time there is the often expressed view that the Akali Dal revival is of utmost importance as it is seen as a ‘safety valve’ in the face of radicalism in the Sikh domain.

An interesting view came from an expert SS Jodhka who expressed his opinion in The Tribune saying, “It was perhaps in the hope of regaining lost ground that the SAD leadership decided to appear before the Akal Takht to seek forgiveness. However, this time, the institution of the Akal Takht acted with a sense of autonomy.

In the full glare of the Sangat assembled at the Takht, and during live transmission by the electronic media, the Jathedars exposed the misdeeds of the senior SAD leadership.

December 2 would perhaps mark the end of the Badal brand of Akali politics and a foregrounding of justice and the moral authority of the Panth. What would be the new nature of Akali politics? Would it be possible to revive its cadre and build a new regional party of Punjab that also represents the Sikh identity and interests? How would it change the equations between the regional politics of Punjab and the larger political context of Indian democracy?”

Meanwhile chronicler of Punjab’s political history Vijay Bombeli told this reporter, “The revival of the Akali Dal is unlikely till the time the people pardon the party leadership. It was the immense pressure coming from the people that compelled the Akal Takht to come out with the indictment and harsh punishment. The party needs a totally new leadership to evolve.”

He further pointed out a major catch in the situation saying, “While the Akali Dal leaders have confessed to their sins and wrong doings before the Akal Takht which is a temporal body it remains to be seen what they have to say in the Courts as many of the issues are being tried in various courts.”

Many feel that the assets of the guilty leaders need to be confiscated by the temporal authority and used for the welfare of the people.

Meanwhile the SAD’s core committee met in Chandigarh on Friday and came out describing the assassination bid on Sukhbir as a ‘full blown assault on Sikh traditions, Khalsa heritage and the sacred values and institutions bequeathed by the Great Guru Sahiban’.

It also referred to the entire incident as part of an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government sponsored programme which was part of a deep rooted conspiracy to finish the moderate Akali leadership.

Saying that the assassination bid was also an attack on the concept and ideology of ‘Miri Piri’ symbolized by the Akal Takht, the committee while referring to the ‘anti Sikh assassin’s’ bullet mark on the Harmandir Sahib said, “This bullet mark is also meant to cover up similar bullet marks left by Indira Gandhi.”

The committee that had met under acting party president Balwinder Singh Bhundar also made it clear that an attempt was being made to create conditions which could be used as an excuse to start a fresh wave of repression and elimination of Sikh youth in fake encounters.

“The man who made the assassination bid is not a lone wolf but was actually a member of a pack of wolves. He was acting merely as a sharpshooter on behalf of powerful anti Sikh forces. Even on the day of the assassination attempt, he was being assisted and guided to Sukhbir Singh Badal by senior officers of the Punjab Police. The over eagerness of the police officers to now dissociate themselves from their own wolf forcefully proves their own guilt,” it said.

Rejecting the police probe into the matter, the committee decided to approach the Punjab Governor for an impartial investigation.

Senior party leaders Bikram Singh Majithia and Daljit Cheema questioned Akali leader Gurpartap Singh Wadala’s presence at a programme held by Dal Khalsa in Moga on Thursday saying that the Dal Khalsa did not believe in the Constitution and stood for Khalistan.

The core committee passed a resolution stating the attack was part of a conspiracy to finish the moderate leadership of the SAD.

After the attack on Sukhbir Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had praised the Punjab Police for ‘foiling a deep rooted conspiracy to defame Punjab’ by vigilantly preventing an attack on the Akali leader.