The Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch, Sardar Prakash Singh Badal breathed his last on April 25th evening leaves behind a mixed legacy. While he helped restore peace in Punjab, he also succumbed to nepotism. Parkash Singh Badal, who remained a central figure of Punjab politics for nearly half a century, was a towering figure in Sikh and Punjab politics and widely respected in national politics too. As the news of his demise spreads, tributes pour in for the veteran politician. The Union government has declared a two-day mourning period on April 26 and 27 as a mark of respect. Punjab government declared a state holiday on April 26.
He was 42 years of age when he became Punjab CM in 1970 for the first time. He was 88 years when he demitted office for the last time in 2017. In total, he Was the chief minister of Punjab for a record five times. He also served as the Union minister of agriculture and irrigation in the Janata Party government in 1977. Badal, who was president of the SAD from 1995-2008, was elected as an MLA 11 times (out of 13 times contested), a record in Punjab and lost only once in 1967 by merely 57 votes. He began his political career in 1947 as a sarpanch of his native village Badal and ended his political career with a humiliating defeat in 2022 and with him Akali Dal too is struggling to keep its existence and relevance in Punjab politics alive under leadership of his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. he joined the SAD during punjabi suba morcha and became a central figure of anti-Congress politics within the state and outside, after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966. Badal leaves behind a mixed legacy. he is viewed as a people’s politician, by some while others accuse him of making the SAD a family-driven party. His son Sukhbir Singh Badal is the current president of SAD.
Badal’s demise marks the end of an era. “He belonged to that generation of politicians who handled every situation with political maturity, unlike reactionary politics today. He represented a moderate voice of Punjab politics and tried not to encourage divisiveness in society, He is considered to be the main architects of restoring peace in Punjab after a decade of militancy in the state in 80s to middle of 1990. He changed the core ideology of the Akali Dal through the SAD’s Moga Declaration in 1996 under his leadership, which projected the Akali Dal as the party of Punjabis of all faiths not the political party of the Sikhs.
Most of Prakash Singh Badal’s political life was spent targeting the Congress, Parkash Singh Badal contested his first election on the Congress symbol in 1957 as that time Akali Dal had dual membership with congress party since it’s political inception but in 1960 Akali Dal leadership decided to part ways with congress and directed its mla’s who fought on congress symbol to resign. all resigned except Prakash Singh Badal he refused to resign. 1962 elections he didn’t contested but completely aligned with the Akali Dal. After Independence, the Akali Dal launched a movement for a separate state of Punjabi-speaking people, giving the slogan of ‘Punjabi Suba’. The Congress government banned the slogan, and the conflict reached a point that the police entered the Golden Temple in July 1955.
Congress and Akalis with time softened their stand and tried to work their way towards a ‘Regional Formula’ to end the dispute. For a brief while, the Akalis pondered merger into the Congress to realise this, and for the “greater good of Sikhs, Punjab and country”. A Haryana front which backed the Regional Formula had already merged with the Congress. In 1967 elections a hung Assembly came out and three alliance governments fell before Badal eventually was picked as CM at the age of 43, on March 26, 1970.
Badal was a strong believer of federalism, Badal didn’t entertain any talk of a separate “Sikh homeland” and was a committed Indian nationalist till end as it suited his personal politics. the internal factionalism within the Akalis eventually forced badal government to submit his resignation on June 13, 1971. During his tenure as chief minister the first fake police encounter took place and the victim was a known gadaar party activist Baba bujha singh. he was in his eighties when he was shot by the police. a “known “secular” voice among the Akalis, he had said after being sworn in as CM for the first time that “my government would try to restore communal harmony in the state and his government was in alliance with hindutva committed party who vehemently opposed the punjabi suba morcha. This stand was severely tested when the Indian Army stormed the Darbaar sahib in 1984 June and bombed the Akal takht to crush the Dharam yud morcha going on since 1982 in Punjab about punjab and Sikh related issues. Badal was accused of calling Sikh soldiers to mutiny from the Indian Army over 1984 attack and was jailed for sedition. Badal politics never moved in a separatist direction or Sikh nationalism ideology but kept a low profile in Akali politics and on surface showed a soft stance towards ongoing Sikh struggle.
Badal formed his third government in 1997, and in 1999, took full control of the SGPC, managing to remove Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who had headed it for more than two decades and eventually all Sikh institutions were centralised under his and in Badal family control till his end and Akali Dal became a private party of Badal’s. Badal ignored Sikh bodies who wanted him to take action against police officers who allegedly violated human rights after 1984. despite having a promise to constitute a commission to go into the state repression after 1984 Indian army attack. Badal’s tenure that began in 2007 would be remembered for the clash between Sikhs and Dera Sacha Sauda. Badal failed to prosecute Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim over allegations of sacrilege levelled by the Akal Takht and completely weakened the Sikh institutions. During his fifth term as chief minister in 2012 his populism policies and appeasement trends towards Dera’s and anti Sikh narratives Akali Dal slide started. A new political entrant emerged with base in Delhi emerged in Punjab and won four parliament seats in 2014 eventually Akali Dal suffered drubbing in 2017 assembly elections and in 2022, the Akali Dal suffered its worst-ever defeat. And Badal’s death comes at a time when the party is struggling to get its Sikh vote bank back. presently as Badal departed few days back leaves behind a party with diminished Sikh institutions fighting a existential crisis. The mild-mannered Akali Dal patriarch will be remembered for his decades-long domination in Punjab politics and his efforts to foster peace in the state. Badal’s political career spanning more than 75 years, several politicians, bureaucrats and journalists knew him closely, yet none could claim to have understood him completely or predict his political moves as he presented a closely crafted deceptive face.
