Shiromani Akali Dal bid to return to roots has to be accompanied by restoration of credibility Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal on March 22 last undertook a bold exercise after more than two and a half decades to shift to what at one time was the traditional Panthic track, an ideological position with which it had emerged as the main voice of the Sikhs, not just in Punjab but even at the global level. This second oldest party in the country after the Congress and the first regional party in India that included present day Pakistan and Bangladesh has virtually been forced by the alienation from its very roots to change the gear after having been reduced to the lowest ever three seats in the state Assembly with little signal of revival in near future. Would this shift be easily accepted by the Sikhs at large and facilitate its early revival, not by the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections at least? Not necessarily. With the ideological shift of March 22,