Buoyed by the presence of a large number of supporters during the Maghi Mela in Muktsar, former Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal has gone ahead with the membership drive of his party. While technically Badal is not the president of the party, he still commands complete control with working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder being a staunch family loyalist.
The rebel group of Akalis has objected to the membership drive launched by the SAD alleging that it is in violation of the Akal Takht directive issued on December 2 last year in which it had said that the SAD will not launch any membership drive on its own. The Akal Takht Jathedar had constituted a seven-member committee, which included members from the rebel group also for the purpose of the membership drive.
The SAD has expressed its inability to handover the membership drive of the party to a committee constituted by the Akal Takht, citing legal complications. SAD is a registered political party with the Election Commission of India and is governed by certain rules and regulations. The Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghubir Singh objected to the membership drive by the SAD and urged it not to go ahead with it.
Sukhbir’s confidence and defiance comes from the support he enjoys among the rank and file among the Akalis. The SAD may have touched its political nadir with dwindling support, but whosoever is left with the party, owes allegiance to Sukhbir Badal. The rebel leaders like Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Parminder Singh Dhindsa and others may have their respective support bases, but when it comes to pan-Punjab support, Sukhbir Badal has no match.
Reports from the ground suggest that the SAD membership drive has been getting good response from the people. Whether one likes it or not, the SAD is still identified with the Badals, although that has also been the reason for the party’s undoing. It is ironic that the same Badals who are held responsible for the decline of the party are seen to be the only hope for the party’s revival.
And it goes without saying that Sukhbir had strengthened the party to a great extent while being the president and the Deputy Chief Minister. Akali workers and leaders were “suitably rehabilitated” at every level. The Badals however lost in the perception battle that was driven by social media. Although Sukhbir is known to be media savvy and an expert in managing the media, the sudden and spontaneous social media revolution took the party and its leadership unawares.
The party was pitched against two powerful rivals, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. It was mainly the AAP, which managed to destroy the reputation of the Akalis, the Badals in particular, the same way in Punjab the way it damaged and destroyed the image and reputation of the Congress and the Gandhi family at the centre. Both are finding it difficult to recover even now. Neither the Congress nor the Akalis initially comprehended the enormous power of social media in first generating the narrative and later creating the perception. The AAP being the first mover and led and managed by technically qualified people took a massive advantage which it is still maintaining.
Ask any of the bitter critics of the Akalis what s/he has against them (the Akalis) or the Badals, they may not have a straight or clear answer. But they will still speak against the both, the Congress and the Akalis. That is the powerful impact of the perception created through social media on the masses.
Sukhbir Badal appears to have learned and realised it now that it is mainly the battle of perception he has to fight, while there is nothing actually against him on the ground. And this is the best time for him and his party to bounce back. The AAP has been in power for three years in Punjab and the anti-incumbency against its government is at its peak. People have already started looking for alternative options.
Sukhbir Badal’s membership drive for the party could not have come at a better time. As the Congress is also battling its leadership issues in the state, the Akalis have a chance to take advantage of the situation till the time Congress realises that it needs to set its house in order. And Congress has a history of taking its own time at the risk of paying a heavy price.
The rebel Akali leaders have a reason to cry foul. They know and realise it very well that they cannot match, leave aside beating, the organisational capability of Sukhbir Badal. Moreover, he is endowed with a lot of resources already. He has the ability and the reputation to mobilise resources and utilise these for the party. Once the membership drive of the SAD under the de facto leadership of Sukhbir Badal picks up and gathers momentum, the rebellion will start fizzling out, if it has not already.
Moreover, nobody stops the rebels from starting their own membership drive to counter the SAD. If people are voluntarily becoming the members of the SAD, it cannot be held against Sukhbir or anyone else in the party. The only option available for the rebels is to counter the membership drive with their own, which is highly unlikely.
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