Akali Dal’s comeback an arduous task as radical Amritpal, Akali rebels could strike a blow

File picture of former Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Even as Sukhbir Singh Badal’s resignation as president of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has been accepted — a move that is being seen as a ‘course correction’ bid to revive the century-old party — the task at hand to bring the party to life could be arduous.

The party rebels are deliberating on launching a new outfit, while Lok Sabha MP Amritpal Singh, a pro-Khalistan (sovereign State for Sikhs) propagator, has already declared his political party’s launch on January 14.

For the SAD, which often claims to be the sole representative of the Sikh community, both developments could mean fragmentation of its vote bank, which has already eroded over the years to the extent that the party is facing an existential crisis. The party’s poor show could be seen in the recent Lok Sabha election, where it won only one seat of the 13 parliamentary constituencies. Earlier, the party faced electoral drubbings in the 2017 and 2022 Assembly polls.

As the SAD witnessed a gradual downfall in Punjab, where Sikh identity and issues have long been central to political discourse, a sense among several Sikhs was evident that under the sway of the “Badal family,” the party had moved away from issues surrounding the Sikh ‘panth,’ deviating from its core ideology of giving voice to Sikh issues. In the recent past, Mr. Badal’s apology for his “mistakes” and his plea for forgiveness from the ‘panth’, the party appeared to making a desperate attempt to garner its ‘panthic’ support but it couldn’t cut the ice with its voters.

On January 14, Mr. Amritpal, currently lodged in jail under the National Security Act (NSA), would launch his ‘Panth’ and ‘Punjab’ centric political party. Besides, the SAD rebels have declared to come out with a new outfit in the coming days. Their presence could dent the SAD’s revival plan.

Rajdev Singh Khalsa, a former MP from Punjab’s Sangrur and Mr. Amritpal’s legal counsel, told The Hindu, “We will launch the party on January 14 at Sri Mukstar Sahib. We are yet to finalise the name of the party, but of course it would include ‘Akali Dal’. Amritpal Singh would be the party president, while his farther Tarsem Singh would be the acting president. The party’s ideology would focus on issues centric to Punjab and Panth. Our party will be for the welfare of all”.

Notably, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, in Punjab’s two parliamentary constituencies, the victories of Independent candidates – Mr. Amritpal and Sarabjeet Singh – son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassin Beant Singh – were seen in political circles as the subtle rise of radical elements in the State. Earlier, the win of Simranjit Singh Mann, a known hardliner Sikh leader and chief of SAD (Amritsar), from Punjab’s Sangrur parliamentary constituency in the 2022 byelection, gave a message that the hardliners are getting strong. One reason behind the radical’s gaining space was attributed to the weakening of the SAD.

Meanwhile, the rebel Shiromani Akali leaders are unhappy with the party not completely adhering to the directions of Akal Takht – the highest Sikh temporal seat. Former MP and rebel SAD leader Prem Singh Chandumajra told The Hindu that if the party doesn’t enforce Akal Takht’s directives, they will be forced to consider launching a new outfit. “The SAD leadership has set up a parallel committee for party restructuring against the one constituted by the Akal Takht, which is undermining the authority of Akal Takht. If by January 14, the party doesn’t comply with Akal Takht’s decision in totality, we will approach like-minded people to join hands for reforming the party,” he said on Monday.

The Sikh radical outfit Dal Khalsa has also in its statement pointed out that Akal Takht’s verdict of December 2, which awarded religious punishments to Mr. Badal and several other Akali Dal leaders for the “mistakes” committed by the SAD government from 2007 to 2017, hasn’t been accepted in letter and spirit.

Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh said that without forceful assertion to implement the Akal Takht’s directives, the situation would be back to square one.