The Waqf (Amendment) Bill has, for a while, put all the non-BJP political parties of Punjab on the same page, at least in the parliament. The BJP does not have any representation in the parliament from Punjab. All the MPs are from Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). But that does not mean it will lead to any similar political realignment in Punjab, which looks highly improbable, at least in near future. But one thing is for sure that any future alliance between the SAD and the BJP is quite unlikely now.
In Punjab the Congress, the AAP and the SAD are bitter rivals. However, during the debate on the Waqf Bill in parliament, the three parties found a common cause against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the centre. From Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring to Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the SAD and Meet Hayer of the AAP were unanimous in their stance accusing the BJP of trying to interfere in the religious matters of Muslims and grab their properties.
While the fierce opposition by the Congress and the AAP was along the expected lines, as the two parties have always been bitterly opposed to the BJP and its ideology, Badal of the SAD, attacking the BJP, was a surprise. The tone and tenor of her speech with a highly aggressive body language revealed a deep-rooted bitterness with the party they were in alliance with less than five years ago. Interestingly she accused the BJP of trying to interfere in the affairs of the minority religions like the Muslims and the Sikhs. She even quoted the examples of some Sikh religious places, which she alleged were demolished in the states of Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Orissa.
She also challenged the BJP to bring an amendment to the Article 25-B to define constitutionally Sikhism as a separate religion from Hinduism. Her appeal was to the Sikh constituency back home in Punjab, which is completely alienated with her party, particularly her family. Otherwise, the SAD, under the leadership of her family, remained in an alliance with the BJP for about 25 years, during which period the party was in power at the centre for about 12 years and Badal also remained a minister for about seven years. She or all her party hardly ever raised the issue of Article 25-B.
Although the Waqf Bill debate had not much to do with Punjab, yet it signalled the direction the state politics can take in future; that the three parties including the Congress, the AAP and the SAD can have a common cause against the BJP precisely the same way the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was conceived and set up against the BJP. However, in Punjab the BJP is really not a strong force that all the non-BJP parties can form a common platform against.
But one thing appears to be highly likely that the SAD appears to have burnt down its bridges with the BJP after Badal’s speech in the Lok Sabha on the Waqf Bill. Issue is not the SAD’s opposition to the bill, but the way Ms Badal articulated her opposition to the bill in a fiercely aggressive tone, while attacking the basic ideology of the BJP and accusing it of being anti-minority, against the Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. Badal appeared to forget that five years ago her party was the alliance partner with the same party and she herself happened to be a cabinet minister continuously for seven years.
There appears to be another reason for Badal’s fierce attack on the BJP. The SAD led by Sukhbir Singh Badal believes that the rebellion in the party has been orchestrated by the BJP. There is suspicion even against Bikram Singh Majithia that he rebelled against the party to protest against the dismissal of Jathedars at the behest of the BJP only. It is rumoured among the Akali circles that the BJP wants to install Majithia, Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s brother, as the SAD president.
To assume that the three parties can come together in any way is unimaginable as they are daggers drawn against each other in Punjab. The Congress is in direct conflict with the AAP. So there is no question of them ever coming together in the near future. The SAD can never imagine going along with the Congress because of Operation Bluestar and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. However, the SAD and the AAP do not have anything against each other in ideological terms. Although it will be too premature and too early to suggest anything about the political realignment in Punjab, an AAP-SAD alliance is not unimaginable.
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