Akali Dal on verge of disintegration as revolt erupts against leadership following crushing defeat in election

 

Akali Dal in turmoil after humiliating defeat, loses grip on Delhi gurdwara panel

 

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh.

Shiromani Akali Dal is on the verge of disintegration following crushing defeat in the Assembly election. The party has lost control over the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, the second most important gurdwara body after the Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

Crisis has hit the Sikh religio-political domain too as the Ragi Sabha of Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) has questioned the position taken by Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh in his reaction to the defeat of the Akali Dal thereby taking a partisan stand.

Shiromani Akali Dal members of the DSGMC led by Harmeet Singh Kalka today announced the setting up a new party and named it Shiromani Akali Dal Delhi State. He was sacked from the Shiromani Akali Dal yesterday as news appeared of his decision to float a new party  along with these members. Within hours after the defeat in Punjab, this is the second worst situation that the Akali Dal is now confronted with.

It may be mentioned that a few months earlier, DSGMC chief Manjinder Singh Sirsa, a close confidant of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had left the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The core committee of the party that met after the defeat had decided to maintain the leadership status quo following intervention by 5-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal whose long inning has ended on a note of embarrassing defeat.

However, going by what has happened in Delhi, revolt has already got triggered against the incumbent leadership as discordant voices are getting shriller. Sarup Chand Singla, who was the party candidate from Bathinda Urban, has resigned while levelling serious allegations against Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The religio-political domain today witnessed repeat of the 2015 narrative on the issue of exoneration of Dera Sirsa chief Gurmit Ram Rahim by the Akal Takht Jathedar led clergy. That exoneration had been manipulated by chief minister Badal who had summoned these high priests at his official residence in Chandigarh in violation of the Sikh Maryada (Code of Conduct).

The Ragi Sabha today submitted a memorandum to the office of the Akal Takht Jathedar questioning statement of Giani Harpreet Singh calling upon the Sikhs to save the Akali Dal. His appeal has been interpreted as the move to save leadership of Badals.

Not only the Ragis of Darbar Sahib, many of the Sikh leaders have strongly reacted to Harpreet Singh thereby further eroding what little credibility this supreme institution of the Sikhs for prayer and politics has been left with. Akal Takht created by the 6^th Guru, Guru Hargobind, symbolises the Sikh sovereignty and this basic character has witnessed steady dilution over the years.

SGPC general secretary Karnail Singh Panjoli has already called for reverting to Panthic and democratic character of the Shiromani Akali Dal from which the party distanced over the years under the leadership of the Badals for which they themselves have paid a heavy cost.

This defeat is unlike in 1989 Lok Sabha election when the party was marginalised by the candidates put up by the Sikh radicals and thus the Akali Dal was pushed to the margins by the Sikhs, unlike the 2022 situation. Now the Akali Dal has been  defeated by the Aam Aadmi Party that is not a Sikh party.

That defeat had forced Badal to sign even the Khalistan memorandum submitted to the United Nations before he staged a come back as the militant movement phased out.

It is for this reason that the defeat in 2022 is different.

In order to emerge unchallenged leader, Badal started exerting total control over Sikh institutions since 1999. These very institutions used to be the main strength of the Akali Dal in the Panthic domain. Badals are now paying the cost of this type of politics.

The crisis faced by the Akali Dal continues to deepen.