sad: Lack of alternative, money clout to help Badals keep SAD reins

The humiliating defeat in the Punjab Assembly elections is likely to churn out churn within India’s oldest regional party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

The Akali Dal has been reduced to three seats, its worst performance till date. The insult to injury is compounded by the fact that the entire top leadership – party patriarch and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, his sons and deputy chief ministers Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia – have lost. This means that the Badal family’s hold on the party is not immediately challenged, but the loss has increased the need to re-establish the party. What has particularly hurt the party is the fact that its core support base – conservative sectarian voters – did not vote for it this time.

By now, the party had established its roots in the area between the Majha, Beas and Ravi rivers, which is the seat of Sikhism. However, except for the Majitha constituency, the entire region has voted for the AAP, with SAD bigwigs losing to lesser-known AAP candidates. A senior SAD leader told ET on the condition of anonymity, “It will mean no challenge for Badals. There is no one to challenge him. The old leadership which could have challenged him lost the election.” Another aspect is that the finances – the family is well affluent and can still raise money for the party.”

The Akali Dal has called a meeting of the party’s core committee on Monday to discuss the results and the way forward. There is a growing realization within the party that its alliance with the BSP may not have worked. This was the first election in decades that the party contested without the BJP. Senior leaders have felt that though the SAD walked out of the BJP-led NDA over the issue of farmers, it severed ties too late.

With the repeal of agricultural laws, the issue is now over in Punjab and the SAD may look to rekindle its ties with the BJP. “The SAD-BJP alliance was a winning combination that brought Hindu and Sikh votes to the candidates. This is the first time the elections were fought without the BJP. But the party has to think carefully whether its experiment works at all,” the leader said. quoted earlier.

AAP has also raised questions on the political pitch in Punjab. It has penetrated the traditional sectarian support base of the SAD and the socially and economically weaker vote bank of the Congress. The Akali Dal will have to reinvent itself to remain relevant in Punjab.

The party has recently seen rebellion from within – first in 2018, when Ratan Singh Ajnala, Sewa Singh Sekhwan and Ranjit Singh Brahmpura took on Sukhbir Singh Badal and Majithia and formed the Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali), and then In 2020, when Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa formed SAD (democratic). Both the factions have joined hands to form SAD (United).

Originally published at Pen 18