sukhbir-can-still-learn-from-his-late-father-senior-badal

Even after having resigned from the presidency of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Sukhbir Badal can still learn many lessons from his late father, Parkash Singh Badal. Not only did his father maintain a firm grip on the ‘panthic party’ eventually turning it as his personal party, he also managed to become the Chief Minister of Punjab five times. Besides, he also enjoys the unique distinction of being the longest serving Chief Minister of the state.

 

The senior Badal was endowed with the qualities of patience and perseverance. He was accommodative, but at the same time would keep his political rivals under control, if he was not able to finish them politically. Over the years, he assumed the persona of a ‘statesman’, who was respected across the political spectrum all over the country.

 

Unlike Sukhbir, the Akali Dal presidency had not come to the senior Badal on a platter. He had struggled for it, spending so many years in jail also. At one point of time, during the militancy era, he was completely sidelined. He was not even allowed to become Chief Minister in 1985 and instead another Akali veteran Surjit Singh Barnala became the CM. By 1989, the control of the Akali Dal was completely in the hands of the radicals, led by Simranjit Singh Mann.

 

Many people had erroneously written a premature ‘political obituary’ of the senior Badal way back in 1989. Given the man of patience and perseverance he happened to be, he did not give up. He started his own Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal, in 1991, since when the name of the party was suffixed with ‘Badal’. By 1996, as peace had returned to Punjab, he strengthened his grip over the ‘panthic’ constituency and turned his Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal as the main Akali organisation.

 

Next year, in 1997 Punjab legislative assembly elections, the SAD-B in alliance with the BJP stormed to power with a thumping majority. It was a record breaking performance by the alliance as well as the SAD-B on its own. The senior Badal became the Chief Minister of Punjab for the third time.

 

The senior Badal consolidated his position with the control over the all-powerful Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. His long time colleague and associate in many battles, Gurcharan Singh Tohra fell apart within a year and the two parted ways. Tohra was removed as the SGPC president. Some of the MLAs also rebelled and went along with Tohra.

 

Thanks to Badal’s deft handling of the situation and due support from the BJP at the centre, he survived the crisis. He lost the 2002 assembly elections. The Akalis’ loss was attributed to separation with Tohra, who had constituted his own All India Shiromani Akali Dal. After losing the elections, both Badal and his son, Sukhbir were put behind bars on corruption charges during Capt Amarinder Singh’s government. Both were acquitted later by the court.

 

Akali Dal under Badal’s leadership bounced back in 2007, with Badal becoming the Chief Minister for the fourth time. By now, Sukhbir had come of political age. He had managed the elections, but the control over the party was that of the senior Badal. IN 2008, the senior Badal appointed Sukhbir as the working president of the party, only to be made the full-fledged president a few years later.

 

It may sound ironic, but it is true. The greatest undoing for Sukhbir was the re-election of the SAD-B in 2012, which was unprecedented in Punjab's electoral history as no party had been re-elected. This led to considerable hubris in Sukhbir and also in his young, 'dashing and dynamic' brother-in-law, Bikram Singh Majithia.

 

The seeds of alienation and disillusionment among the traditional, called the ‘taksali’ Akalis started from then. All this was not lost on the senior Badal, who once snubbed Bikram Majithia publicly, albeit in his own characteristic subtle and discreet manner, telling him that he (Majithia) had got everything on the platter as compared to the ‘taksali’ Akalis.

 

While the senior Badal always remained restrained in his approach, Sukhbir was quite ambitious. He broadened the party base, inducting many Hindu leaders and gave them party tickets also. There was no open opposition to the idea, but there was subtle and silent resentment among the panthic circles. Even the BJP was not feeling comfortable with the Akali Dal “encroaching” upon its turf.

 

Here lies the difference. Badal primarily focused on the panthic constituency while he left the Hindu constituency for the BJP. The arrangement worked well for decades. As the Akali Dal under Sukhbir’s leadership got a thumping majority in 2012, he (Sukhbir) believed, and rightly so for someone in his place, that his policy worked well. That was the last election, the SAD won and has since then seen a progressive decline. So much so, the party has now been reduced to mere two seats in the Punjab legislative assembly. Although it had won three in the 2022 elections, one of its MLAs defected to the AAP.

 

While the senior Badal carefully cultivated and jealously protected his panthic constituency, he ensured cordial relationship with the BJP. At the same time, he maintained a good working relationship with all the major political parties, from Communists to the Congress.

 

Sukhbir lacked here. While on the one hand, the panthic constituency has already slipped from beneath his feet, he could not retain/forge a relationship with the BJP. As a result, right now, he has been left alone and lonely, just by himself. This was despite having a clear choice, as he could neither go with the AAP nor the Congress and the BJP was his only option, which he did not avail. He was prevailed upon by a section of leadership against an alliance. This would happen during the senior Badal’s time also, but he overruled all such advice. The senior Badal knew that an alliance between the Akali Dal and the BJP was not only in the mutual interest of the two parties, but for the social harmony of the state also.

 

And Punjab needs a similar alliance once again; for both, the SAD as well as the state, given the attempts at disharmony being made from different quarters, particularly from abroad.