Conversions hurt poll prospects: Akali Dal panel; suggests ‘one family, one ticket’ rule

Its former ally the Bhartiya Janata Party has often raised the issue of conversion of Sikhs into other faiths, but it is for the first time that Akali Dal has acknowledged it as a problem that played a role in scuttling the party’s electoral chances.

A part of the report, submitted by the panel that was formed on march 24, and accessed by The Indian Express also sought to address the issue of dynasty politics in the 100-year-old panthic party.

Without naming the Badals, the committee has suggested that only one member from one family should be allowed to contest either of the Assembly, parliamentary, block samiti, local body or zila parishad election. “If a person has won any election on the party symbol, then no other member from his family should be allowed to take any position in any official capacity in the party,” the committee suggested.

This may come as an indictment for the Badal family. In this year’s Assembly polls, the party had fielded former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal from Lambi, his son and party president Sukhbir Singh Badal from Jalalbad, Sukhbir’s brother-in-law Bikram Majithia from Amritsar, and latter’s wife Ganieve Kaur from Majitha. All barring Ganieve lost.

Sukhbir’s wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal is Lok Sabha MP from Bathinda. Detailing the other reasons behind party’s rout in the Vidhan Sabha polls — SAD registered its worst-ever poll performance winning only three seats in the 117-member Assembly; its previous low was 17 in 2017 polls — the committee pointed out that the the incidents of sacrilege and subsequent police firing on peaceful protesters in 2015, the appointment of Sumedh Singh Saini as state police chief, and the political support of Dera Sacha Sauda in Assembly polls has hurt the sentiments of the Sikh masses. “These incidents still has great impact on Sikh psyche and it hurt Sikh sentiments,” reads the report.

The 2015 Bargari sacrilege incidents followed by the police firing at Behbal Kalan had hurt the credibility of the party, which was ruling Puinjab, among the Sikh masses and the SAD is yet to recover from the impact.

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SAD had appointed Saini as DGP ignoring his controversial past and allegations of human rights violations against him by Sikh bodies. Ahead of the 2017 elections, the party had openly took the support of Dera Sacha Sauda, which was excommunicated by Akal Takht in 2007.

The committee has now asked party leadership to seek apology for all these developments.

“Such developments has created a heavy anger. Then CM Parkash Singh Badal, the then Cabinet members, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and the whole party leadership, as humble Sikhs, should seek apology from the almighty and the Sikh masses,” reads the report.