The Sikh community is facing an unprecedented situation of losing its century-old political organisation, Shiromani Akali Dal. In fact, the Sikh community, including those opposed to the Badals, is already discussing its concern about the fate of SAD on social media. Even Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh, who expressed grave concern over the Panthic party’s present ‘situation’ after its near decimation in the just-concluded Punjab assembly elections, apparently understood the enormity of the problem. The Sikh community till now has been mainly doing its politics through Akali Dal. In the last 100 plus years, one Akali faction would replace another, but there was never such an existential crisis, which the party faces now after it has lost space to a Delhi-based party even after it lost ground in the 2017 assembly elections.in the past too akal takht jathedar’s have intervened when Sikh politics faced structural challenges to forge a surface unity. Two situations surfaced earlier in 1994 and 1999 but not accepted by Sardar Prakash Singh Badal and his family clan and emerging challenges from within were snubbed with passive support of clergy and Akal takht Jathedar’s. Major challenge of Simranjit Singh mann and Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra were snubbed by Sardar Parkash Singh Badal and he through his Machiavellian machinations strengthened his complete hold on Sikh politics and religious sphere decimating the hold of sgpc president and Jathedar Akal takht.

The Akali Dal constitution read, “Akali Dal is the sole manifestation of collective political will of the Khalsa Panth,” till its identity was changed from Panthic to Punjabi under the leadership of Parkash Singh Badal at the Moga conference in February 1996, organised to mark 75th anniversary of the second oldest party of the country. However, Badal Senior while speaking at Fatehgarh Sahib in the last week of December 1998, claimed that Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was a wing of SAD. Even as this statement was historically and conceptually incorrect, it reflected the reality of the time as he had already taken complete control of SAD and was on his way to exercising hegemonic control over SGPC.

Akali Dal formation in 1920 was a product of the Gurdwara Reform Movement and was founded in December 1920 to protect the functioning of the SGPC, time pushed the party into active politics. By that time, Akalis had already created their own unique and unparalleled history during agitations of the early 1920s and subsumed the political aspirations of the Sikhs and became a wing of predominantly Hindu face of the Indian national congress party. From 1930 till 1936, Akali leaders debated on their role in religious and political spheres. They contested the 1937 elections. They did their politics on their own terms even as Congress leadership wanted them to play the second fiddle. Then Akali leaders also played a central role in representing Sikh side during talks around the Partition. SAD and Sikhs had faced immense challenges in the past and the community confronted the situation and overcame the challenges but the situation this time has put a question mark on the future of Akali Dal and the hegemonic control of Badal’s is chiefly responsible for this crisis.

Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and other prominent Congress leaders had been arguing that Sikhs should be doing their politics through Congress only. They did not want exclusive politics of Sikhs as was being done by Akali Dal as they argued that Congress was a national party for all. After the country’s Partition, Nehru and Congress wanted Akali Dal to confine its role to social work and not participate in politics, which centered around Sikhs and their identity. At that time, there was a dual membership between Akali Dal and Congress and the former cooperated with the national party till middle of 1950’s. Presently concern is being expressed in the Sikh circles as the Sikh political space stares at a structural challenge. On any issue, social, religious, or political, in Punjab or the rest of the country or even abroad, Akali Dal is supposed to react on the Sikhs behalf. However, the party now is facing an existential crisis as a major section within the Sikhs in particular and punjabi’s as a whole have turned against the Badals after the Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan police firing issues and misgovern-ace in regards to farmer issues and widespread proliferation of the drug culture among youth and rise of gangsterism. Now strong concern is being expressed by Sikhs and people of Punjab about SAD’s future and hegemony of Badal leadership, the Akal Takht jathedar’s appeal was criticised by many on social media that this was an attempt to save the Badal leadership who actually created the situation. The Akali Dal Badal presently is facing a retrogressive decline mainly due to fallacies of Sukhbir Singh Badal who is still holding on to a mistaken belief of adopting a Veneer of panthic image and optics based on unsound arguments or narratives.

After 26 Years, SAD’s Politics Returns to Its Old Haunt. Speeches by SAD leaders and Sukhbir Singh Badal in recent meetings signified that the party was ready to return to its Sikh ‘Panth’ agenda. Many feel this reeks of convenience. Shiromani Akali Dal patron and five-time chief minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal recently said, “Devious conspiracies are at work to weaken the ‘Khalsa Panth’ and dilute its separate and unique religious identity.” He added, “Our sacred [religious places] and their unique religious ideology are being targeted. The ‘kaum’ [an Urdu-Punjabi word which means nation, nationality will have to guard against attempts by powerful agencies to create dissensions, disunity and mutual distrust within the community by using the age-old tactics of Trojan horses.” After 1997 Moga conference when Akali Dal adopted a punjabi party pattern now Akali Dal is facing political, religious and existential challenges party leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal is back to its core ‘Panthic’ politics again. The Akali leadership wants to use the sacrilege incident of December 15, 2021, at the sanctum sanctorum of Darbaar Sahib to create a narrative that the Panth is under attack. But in fact they should apologise for the 2015 Bargari sacrilege, which happened during their tenure. If the Panth was not under attack during their SAD-BJP rule, how come it is under attack now? Parkash Singh Badal the patron of Akali Dal is worried now that his political ground is gone. He is simply concerned about himself and the political future of his son Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Badal played with sentiments of the Panth and is now using the Akal Takth Jathedar and SGPC to attain some semblance in Sikh and Punjab politics. SAD shielded IPS officers like Izhar Alam and Sumedh Singh Saini, who were accused of killing youth in fake encounters? While Saini was made DGP Punjab, Alam led ‘Alam Sena’ and killed several youths during militancy in Punjab. Perhaps, Akalis are now remembering the Panthic ideology to reclaim lost political ground.” in November 2020, Akal Takth Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh had also given a call to SAD (Badal)to start a journey from ‘Punjab to Panth’. The BJP since its inception has remained committed to core ideology of Hindu Rashtra but Akalis abandoned Anandpur Sahib Resolution reflecting its shift from panthic ideology. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution also spoke about Sikh religion, Panth and way of life, which they abandoned at Moga Conclave of 1996.

Sukhbir Badal who became the president of SAD in 2008, shifted party office to Chandigarh, which neither appealed to Sikhs nor to Punjab. Interestingly, when SAD(Badal)celebrated its 99th foundation day, Sukhbir had stated that they would make a party office in Amritsar but that never happened. Akalis under the retrogressive leadership of Badal’s reduced Panthic issues to their visits to Harmandir Sahib Amritsar, which holds a sacred place in Sikhism. “The Panthic agenda of SAD witnessed a setback in 1999, when Parkash Singh Badal started the ‘envelope culture’ of appointing SGPC chief through an envelope. Repeated interference of Badals in the functioning of SGPC to reap political dividends dented Sikh issues to such an extent that many ardent members of Akali Dal and majority of Sikhs started drifting away from Badal Akali Dal.

Sukhbir Badal remained silent on the Babri Masjid Supreme Court judgment, supported the reading down of Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act, the now repealed farm laws. This shows how Akalis under the aegis of Sardar Prakash Singh Badal and Sukhbir supported attack on the federal structure of the country whereas they had been demanding more power to states under Anandpur Sahib Resolution. During the 1996 Lok Sabha Elections as SAD president Parkash Singh Badal had promised a judicial probe in the Sikh killings in its election manifesto. But in August 1997, when Badal became chief minister and was questioned about his promise of judicial probe, he refused stating that he does not want to open old wounds. The Akalis should have exposed the Congress misrule and taken action against it but that was not the case. SAD also failed to take action against guilty police officials responsible for human rights violations and extra judicial killings of innocent youth from 1984 onwards to middle of 1990’s in Punjab. Straddling panthic and political tags, Akali Dal finds itself ‘trapped at crossroads of region and religion at present and needs a structural transformation to reignite itself.