Out of power, Akali Dal retrieves past agenda of federalism from its dustbin of history

 

Akali Dal retrieves past agenda of federalism from its dustbin of history

 

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

Chandigarh: It was not surprising when within days of the exit from power and end to the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal on the late evening of October 4  announced the setting up of a “high powered committee” to “coordinate with regional and other like-minded parties in the country to ensure the setting up of a genuinely federal structure in the country”. The party has often functioned differently when in power and out of it going by the record.

The committee comprises Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Prem Singh Chandumajra, ‘Jathedar’ Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Naresh Gujral.

These lines speak volumes about the desperate move of the party to return to its roots. The use of prefix ‘Jathedar’ for Manjinder Singh Sirsa who heads the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee but also inclined to the Sangh Parivar dynamics is also a pointer to this desperation.

This is the agenda from which the Shiromani Akali Dal distanced years ago.

The party is now completely out of power after the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Modi government followed by the exit of the party from the alliance rooted in the unconditional support extended to the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1996. The two parties contested the 1997 Assembly elections as alliance partners that had continued till this strategic exit.

The issue here, however, is that of the party returning to its traditional agenda of the true federal structure that has been the official programme of the party rooted in the Anandpur Sahib Resolution adopted by its working committee in 1973 and the general house in 1977.

The issue of real federal structure is at the centre state in the country following the three contentious farm sector related legislations steamrolled by the Narendra Modi government last month triggering strong outrage in the country in general and Punjab in particular. The Akali Dal was forced to end its alliance with the BJP under pressure of the agitation launched jointly by 31 farmers organisations.

Whatever the federal content was there in the constitution got eroded over the years and the dilution started under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It is Punjab that has been at the other end of the fight on this issue that now concerns the entire country. It is ironic that it is the Congress that is now talking of real federal structure.

Although Tamil Nadu, then known as Madras, was the other state where the issue was first taken up, it was the Shiromani Akali Dal to which the credit goes for articulating this issue beginning with the Batala conference in 1968.

This resolution states: “This conference of the Shiromani Akali Dal strongly feels that great changes have come in the political field of the country during the last 20 years and, as such, new considerations have cropped up, necessitating reconsideration of the State-Central relationship under the changed conditions.  Many non-Congress governments have come in several states of the country, and the Congress party in power has abused the Constitution to the detriment of the non-Congress Governments, and uses its power for its party interest. Therefore, it has become necessary in the light of the experience gained that the Constitution of Bharat should be reconsidered and changes made in the State-Centre relationship to fit in with new conditions. The Shiromani Akali Dal demands that the Constitution of India should be on a correct federal basis and that the states should have greater autonomy. The Shiromani Akali Dal feels that the Central Government's interference in the internal affairs of the states, and the obstacles it places in the proper functioning of the state machinery, are detrimental to the unity and the integrity of the country; therefore, whereas this conference demands of the Central Government that necessary changes should be brought in the Constitution, there it also appeals to the State Governments to raise their voice to protect and safeguard their rights so that the country may be able to go smoothly on the federal system and progress by maintaining unity and entity."

However, the formulation that finally emerged as the Magna Carta of the Akali Dal on federalism was the Anandpur Sahib Resolution adopted by the party working committee in October 1973. It was ratified by the general house years later in 1977 without any discussion.

It is the political objective defined in this resolution that came to be dubbed as anti-national when the Shiromani Akali Dal launched its Dharam Yudh Morcha on August 4, 1982 from the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex. One of the demands of that agitation was the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. This objection was essentially the reference to the pre-eminence of the Khalsa.

Here goes its political objective under the 1973 Resolution: “The political goal of the Panth, without doubt, is enshrined in the commandments of the Tenth Lord, in the pages of the Sikh history and in the very heart of the Khalsa Panth, the ultimate objective of which is the pre-eminence of the Khalsa. The fundamental policy of the Shiromani Akali Dal is to seek realization of this birth right of the Khalsa through creation of a geo-political environment and a political set up”. This political objective has been mentioned in the Akali Dal constitution of 1974 as the policy programme.

However, this resolution was diluted by the party after coming into power in 1977 with Badal as the chief minister.

This articulation was replaced by another resolution at the 2-day Akali dal conference at Ludhiana beginning October 28 that states: “The Shiromani Akali Dal realizes that India is a federal and republican geographical entity of different languages, religions and cultures. To safeguard the fundamental rights of the religious and linguistic minorities, to fulfil the demands of the democratic traditions and to pave the way for economic progress, it has become imperative that the Indian constitutional infrastructure should be given a real federal shape by redefining the Centre and State relations and rights on the lines of aforesaid principles and objectives”.

Unlike the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, this 1978 thesis omitted reference to the Khalsa. The Akali Dal, when out of power, returned to the 1973 version at its working committee meeting in August 1980. Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale till the end talked of implementation of 1973 resolution that was part of the demand charter submitted by the Akalis to Indira Gandhi government.

Under pressure from the Morarji Desai government,  Badal 1979 had cancelled the meeting of the like-minded chief minister he had convened on the issue of federalism. Akali Dal was part of the Desai government.

Badal became the chief minister in 1997 and completed full term followed by two terms beginning 2007.

Did the party ever take up this issue with the government at the centre when in power during these three terms? Did the Akali Dal make any reference to the real federal structure issue all these years?

That is the basic issue here.

Of course, this resolution came up in the Punjab Assembly in 2001 when Gurcharan Singh Tohra had parted company with Badal. That was again under a different situation, not out of any commitment.

The journey of this issue in the Akali Dal proceedings beginning Batala resolution makes interesting study and throws light on the commitment of the party.

Lastly, it may be mentioned that the SGPC under Tohra had adopted similar resolution while emphasising the Sikhs-as-a-separate-nation thesis at its 1979 general body meeting that states: “ The SGPC would provide ideological lead to the Sikh community in its historical crusade for preserving its political identity as a nation – a quest that has been continually operative in Sikh history in various forms and through various means, depending upon the exigencies of the situation. In the context of contemporary realities, this quest has taken the form of our demand for autonomy of the states in a federalized set up which is essential and necessary for preserving the being and identity of the nations, nationalities and minorities that constitute the fabric of multinational Indian society. This is the only way to abiding national unity and integrity of the country.”