Shiromani Akali Dal course corrects, joins hands with Bahujan Samaj Party for 2022 polls
Ground Zero
Jagtar Singh
Having ended its almost quarter of a century old alliance
with the Bharatiya Janata Party under pressure from the farmers struggle, the
Shiromani Akali Dal today joined hands with the Bahujan Samaj Party to pose a
formidable challenge to the ruling Congress in the February 2022 Assembly
election.
The BSP that has not won a single Assembly seat in the last
several elections, would contest from 20 seats with 97 seats in the quota of
the Akali Dal. Under the arrangement with the BJP since 1997, the quota of junior partner was 23 seats.
It is pertinent to recall here that the Akali Dal and the
BSP had entered into alliance way back in the 1996 Lok Sabha election in which
the Akali Dal won eight and BSP three seats out of 13 with two having been
retained by the Congress. Punjab was still coming out of the hang over of long
period of militancy at that time.
Earlier in 1989, the BSP had won Phillaur with the support
of the Sikh radical organisations in which the Shiromani Akali Dal had been
completely marginalised.
The Akali Dal at one time used to be a Panthic party and
Panth symbolises classless and casteless social structure with liberal
humanistic functioning. This approach has never been forcefully manifested as
during COVID when this dimension of Sikh service has made its impact globally.
This dimension is diametrically opposit to the approach of Sangh Parivar that practices
divisive politics and the BJP is its political front. The Akali Dal all along
was in the wrong company. It is a different matter that party’s patron Parkash
Singh Badal used to define the power-sharing Akali Dal-BJP relationship as that
of nail and flesh.
It would not be out of context to revisit the election rally
in Hoshiarpur by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 Lok Sabha election that
was also addressed by Badal Senior. At the end of his speech, he had raised the
‘Modi, Modi, Modi…’ slogan like a BJP worker. The political class treats the
human memory to be too short but it is not.
History just can’t be overlooked.
Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced the new
arrangement in the presence of BJP leaders at a news conference that ended up
as a one way affair as he said he would not entertain questions today.
Interestingly, he did not refer to the BJP.
The impact of this alliance has to be seen in the broader context
of the 2022 contest that would mainly be
3-cornered with some fringe elements too in the fray.
The BJP that had been trying to add fourth dimension stands
completely blocked by the farmers. The party at one time was looking for an
effective Sikh face. That is not the situation any more.
At the same time, it should not be overlooked that in the
2017 Assembly elections, BJP chief Amit Shah and Punjab Congress chief Capt
Amarinder Singh had entered into tacit understanding to block the Aam Aadmi
Party that was perceived to be very strong.
BJP is a pan-Punjab party although with support base mainly in urban areas. Both
the Congress as well as the BJP share the Hindu support base.
AAP is not in a better position as compared to 2017.
The ruling Congress has landed in self-made crisis with a
major section questioning the functioning of Capt Amarinder Singh when there is
virtually no time to make amends. The Congress rank and file has never been
happy with the own government.
Punjab represents a new model that can be called Distance
Governance. This model has been characterised by bureaucratic domination. Even many
of the political offices were filled with retired bureaucrats adding to
resentment.
The dormant volcano turned active a few weeks earlier and
the so-called high command is in damage control mode. The Congress, that had no
threat from outside, has become its own enemy.
The Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal now share a trait-
both these parties are family controlled.
Punjab political domain is characterised by three dimensions
– religio-political dynamics, electoral dynamics and electoral arithmetic.
This new formation seems to be based mainly on electoral arithmetic.
Unlike the alliance with the BJP, this arrangement is
unlikely to impact state’s religio-political dynamics.
The welcoming of this alliance by Sardar Parkash Singh Badal
has to be viewed in this backdrop. He hailed it as “the beginning of a secular,
federal democratic revolution in the state and the country for a total socio-economic
and political revamp of our polity. The process of justice and equality
for the poor, the down trodden and the minorities will also get a boost with
this development. ”
Going by this reaction of it being a secular alliance, was alliance
with BJP that lasted 24 years communal?
This admission is too late.
Lastly, the electoral dynamics is likely to be dictated by
the farmers struggle and issue of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib followed by
the rest like non-governance. Corruption has ceased to be an issue in Punjab. The
new arrangement has to be assessed in this framework.
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