Chandigarh: The crisis in the Shiromani Akali Dal – once a strong political force in Punjab and the face of its majority Sikh community – has deepened after a group of dissident Akali leaders approached the Akal Takht Sahib (the Sikh temporal body) on Monday (July 1) to seek atonement for four major “mistakes” that they say led to the party’s political downfall.
In his letter sent to the Akal Takht jathedarGiani Raghbir Singh, the rebels prominently said that these lapses occurred between 2007 and 2017 during the Akali rule in Punjab and largely attributed them to decisions of the party leaders at the time, and especially party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was then deputy chief minister and home minister.
“This resulted in the party’s estrangement from the Sikhs. panther as well as a large sector of the people,” the rebels said.
It is pertinent to mention that the Akali Dal has been losing one election after another since its defeat in the assembly elections in 2017.
Another electoral defeat in the recent Lok Sabha elections – in which ten of the 13 Akali Dal candidates lost their security deposits and its vote share dropped to an all-time low of 13 per cent – has triggered a major split in the party.
A group of rebels under senior leaders like Prem Singh Chandumajra, Surjit Rakhra, Parminder Dhindsa, Bibi Jagir Kaur and Gurpartap Singh Wadala are calling for ousting Badal as party president and are vowing to revive the party from scratch.
Seeking atonement at the Akal Takht Sahib was the first step before launching the Akali Dal Bachao Andolan, the rebels told the media last week.
On the contrary, the Badal-led faction has also raised its guard, claiming that most of the party leaders were satisfied with his leadership and those rebelling against him were doing so at the behest of the BJP to weaken the party.
The BJP was the junior alliance partner of the Akali Dal for decades before the latter pulled out of the alliance following the farmers’ movement in 2020.
Since then, the BJP has been trying to expand its presence in Punjab. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the party did not win any seats, but its vote share was much better than that of the Akalis.
Four ‘mistakes’
The exoneration of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in an old case involving his alleged blasphemous attempt to impersonate the 10th Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh is one of the four major “mistakes” these rebels mentioned in their joint letter to the Akal Takht Sahib.
In 2007, in Salabatpura in Punjab’s Bathinda district, the Dera chief, who is currently serving a 20-year jail term in a rape case, imitated the 10th Guru by dressing similarly to him and performing a ceremony.
This led to a police case against him and in response to this incident, the Akal Takht also excommunicated him and called for the Sikh Sangat boycott it socially and politically.
But according to the rebels, the then Akali government withdrew the case against the Dera chief.
Secondly, Badal used his influence to get the Dera chief pardoned for his blasphemous act before the Akal Takht.
Rs 90 lakh was spent on advertisements to defend the decision but due to strong opposition from the Sikh Panth, the Akali Dal leadership eventually had to reverse the decision, the rebels claimed.
Another major issue raised by the rebels was the party’s mishandling of the 2015 sacrilege cases.
On June 1, 2015, a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book revered by Sikhs as the living guru, went missing from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in Faridkot district of Punjab.
Months later, in October, copies of the Guru Granth Sahib were found desecrated at several places, including Bargari in Faridkot, triggering a massive protest by Sikhs across the state.
The problem escalated after police retaliated against Sikh protesters at two locations in Faridkot on 14 October 2015: first in Kotkapura town, where many were injured due to police cannons and whipping, and then in Behbal Kalan village, where two Sikh protesters were killed in police firing.
According to the rebels, the then Interior Minister Badal was unable to carry out a timely and proper investigation and successfully punish the culprits involved in these incidents.
Finally, the rebels also pointed out that the Akali Dal government made another big mistake by appointing as the Punjab Police Chief an officer who was known for his fake encounters with the police that resulted in the martyrdom of Sikh youth.
They also alleged that the Akali regime during that time failed to conduct an impartial investigation into the fake encounters with the police or provide relief to the victims despite promises made to the people.
In short, the rebels stated in the letter that they were part of the Akali leadership during the occurrence of these events and accepted that they failed to prevent the leaders’ wrongdoings.
However, they claimed that they had repeatedly raised these issues within the party. The senior leaders of the party were repeatedly urged to come before Akal Takht Sahib to repent for these mistakes in accordance with the Sikh spirit, but they did not agree, the letter added.
Other equally pressing reasons
Harjeshwar Singh, a political commentator in Chandigarh, said: The wire that the four issues highlighted by the Akali rebels may have damaged the Akali Dal, but there were other pressing issues responsible for the party’s ultimate political downfall.
According to him, if the party’s performance is analysed after the sacrileges or the Dera events took place, its vote share remained stable between 25-27 per cent during the 2017 Assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. At that time, the party was also not contesting on all the seats as it was in alliance with the BJP.
According to him, the party’s initial stance on the Modi regime’s controversial farm laws was something that made it lose more ground in Punjab.
The party’s damage control after the historic farmers’ protest began was too little, too late, he said, adding that later, the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party in the 2022 assembly elections made the Akalis even more unpopular, as reflected in a drop in their vote share to 18%.
“Given the party’s failure to reinvent itself after a series of electoral defeats, the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections came as an even bigger surprise,” Harjeshwar said.
According to him, the latest split in the Akali Dal is another sign of concern for the party. Instead of working towards revitalising the party, its leaders are now fighting among themselves, which is further weakening the party.
“While valid questions are being raised about Sukhbir Badal’s leadership, the rebel leaders were also complacent during the crimes committed in the party. They are now trying to adopt a moralistic stance, which cannot be justified now,” he added.
