Crisis of credibility for Akali Dal after snub from BJP, shoud reject CAA after supporting it in Parliament
Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal seems to have
miscalculated even after having been let down by its alliance partner the
Bharatiya Janata Party in Haryana Assembly elections. The BJP has refused to
honour this alliance in Delhi Assembly polls. The Akali Dal has taken shelter under
the argument that the BJP set the precondition of support to the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act in present form, the controversial legislation that this party
supported in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. What an irony. There should
have been a better excuse.
The CAA excludes the Muslims, the first legislation in India
after 1947 that discriminates on the basis of religion.
The Shiromani Akali Dal announced its withdrawal from the
Delhi polls last evening.
Not only the Akali Dal supported the CAA in both houses of
Parliament, the party did not support the resolution adopted in the Punjab
Assembly that was moved by the ruling party demanding its repeal. It is this
positioning that is important.
It is outside the legislative forums that the Akali Dal has
been taking the stand of including the Muslims as well under this legislation
that in effect means nothing. This party that for years articulated the
aspirations and ambitions of the Sikhs, the second largest and aggressive
minority, went against the basic Sikh doctrine of universal brotherhood while
extending this support to the CAA.
More important is as to what went wrong as it was the Akali
Dal that had been talking of contesting Delhi elections in alliance with the
BJP all these days. This has to be seen in the context of current political
discourse in Punjab too.
The perception in
Delhi is that the Sikhs by and large would vote for the Aam Aadmi Party.
The alliance would not have helped the BJP. The BJP wanted the Akali Dal to
context four seats at its own. That would have been a total disaster for the
Akali Dal. In the process, however, the party might have secured a few hundred
votes in each seat and that would have been the perceived gain to the BJP.
The split in the Akali Dal in Delhi has further damaged the
party. Former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Manjit Singh GK after
having been sacked from the Shiromani Akali Dal has succeeded in roping in all the
non-Badal Akali formations including the Delhi Akali Dal led by Paramjit Singh
Sarna. Sarna is considered close to the Congress.
It is pertinent to mention that it was Sarna who was given
the signal by the BJP top brass about evolving alternative to the Akali Dal.
Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa is moving in that direction.
The BJP has made it clear that the Shiromani Akali Dal is of
no use to it. Earlier, the party refused to have alliance with this party in Haryana.
It was not unusual as the Akali Dal used to be in the company of Om Parkash
Chauatala’s party. However, it was the Akali Dal that wanted to contest Haryana
polls in alliance with the BJP last
time.
Delhi is the second turf where the BJP has rejected it.
Here is one more dimension to the CAA argument.
The BJP has not ditched its alliance partner the JD(U)
despite the fact that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has opposed both the
CAA and the NRC. How come that the BJP did not ask the Bihar CM to change his
stand? This party too had supported the CAA in the Lok Sabha but repositioned
itself after review of the situation. Nitish rather has gone a step ahead on
NRC.
It is for this reason that the argument extended by the
Akali Dal lacks weight and is unconvincing.
The Shiromani Akali Dal is losing whatever credibility is
has in its 99th year.
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