Akali Dal dharna in Delhi for release of Sikh political prisoners ended up more as farce leaving impression Akalis have forgotten to as to how to protest

 

“Meri Request Hai Sir”—Not the Akali way to protest

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

Shiromani Akali Dal, the oldest political party with glorious history of struggles, both before and after independence, has forgotten even how to protest. The party has lost its way during the last two decades.

This was evident at the protest staged by the party in Delhi ‘requesting’ for the release of the Sikh political prisoners languishing in jails for more than two decades. The party has suddenly woken up to their plight after having been dumped by the people in Punjab. This party was in alliance with the BJP from 1996 to 2020.

It was party chief and MP Sukhbir Singh Badal who was heard uttering these words “Meri request hai Sir” as Home Minister Amit Shah was entering the Parliament where Sukhbir, his wife and MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal accompanied by family loyalist Balwinder Singh Bhunder, ex-MP, were staning with placards in their hands seeking attention on the issue of release of these prisoners. Shah just mockingly smiled at them.

Ironically, Harsimrat Kaur Badal as the minister in the Narendra Modi government from 2014 to 2020 had never raised this issue with the prime minister, although the party was forced from time to time to take up some of these specific cases.

It may be emphasised that the Akali Dal protesters never begged for attention. They forced the government.

Many of the times they used to be  ‘welcomed’ with bullets or lathis.

In this particular case, the top Akali leaders staged protest with full protection of their security paraphernalia provided by the government against whom the protest was organised.

This again is not the way to protest.

There is yet another dimension that again hammers this very point as how not to protest.

Apprehensive of lack of participation by the Akali workers, employees of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee were mobilised from Punjab.

Even since the SGPC was constituted in November 1920, the SGPC leaders have not only been participating but also commanding protests under the banner of Akali Dal but did not involve the employees.

The present generation of the Akali Dal leaders should take lessons in history, at least should get briefed  as many of them might not like to read.

The party has now further exposed itself.

Here is a party at whose call thousands of people would go to Delhi to stage massive protests.

This is a party whose volunteers did not allow even Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru to address a function at Fatehgarh Sahib in 1953 that might have happened for the first time in independent India.

The same party can’t now mobilise even a few hundred volunteers and has to depend upon the SGPC employees.

This is more serious than the party having been reduced to just three MLAs in Punjab with both 5-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal having tasted crushing defeat.

The problem is that the Shiromani Akali Dal is not just another political party as it has been an institution of the Sikhs that used to articulate the issues and concerns relating to the community and Punjab.

Punjab and the Sikhs need Akali Dal. Akali Dal symbolises the political dynamics of Punjab.

A party voicing their concerns is needed by every minority and the role of the Akali Dal has been dynamic, at least till 1996 after which the party under the leadership of the House of Badals started distancing from its basic character and core values.

The reaction in social media to yesterday’s protest is indicator of the state of affairs.

The Delhi ‘protest’ has been perceived as farce, just a drama.

What is clear is that the present leadership that lacks even the Akali idiom can’t revive this party.

The Jhoonda committee constituted after the February debacle has recommended that the president should not continue for more than two terms. The leadership has been avoiding discussions on this report.

It is pertinent to point out that ever since its inception, the president of the SGPC used to be all-powerful leader who could command independently. Not any more.

The present generation of Akali leaders should know that even the Akal Takht Jathedar had courted arrest during the first Punjabi Suba Morcha in 1955.

That used to be the spirit.

And it is that spirit that has to be revived for the sake of the Sikhs and Punjab.