Akali Dal plans expansion beyond Punjab, seeks to emerge as voice of minorities
First halts would be Bihar and Maharashtra, which have Akal Takhts outside Punjab; chief Sukhbir Badal says despite its small numbers, Sikh qaum remains strong because of its unity and should build on this.
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Badal’s announcement came after he met members of the community from Bihar and Maharashtra at SAD’s Delhi chief Paramjit Singh Sarna’s house. (File Photo)After its call to unite splinter units of the party earlier this month, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is now looking to expand its footprint outside Punjab.
As a part of its expansion and Panthic unity plans, the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led party has initially zeroed in on the states of Bihar and Maharashtra, which house Sikh Takhts outside Punjab. While Bihar houses the Patna Sahib, Nanded in Maharashtra is home to the Huzur Sahib, though Sikh numbers in the two states are minuscule. According to the 2011 Census, Sikhs constitute 0.2% of Maharashtra’s population while in Bihar they amount to 0.02%.
Sikhism has five temporal spiritual centres, called Takhts, across the country with the other three all in Punjab – Akal Takht at Amritsar, birthplace of Khalsa Takht Kesgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib and Takht Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo.
Badal’s announcement came after he met members of the community from Bihar and Maharashtra at SAD’s Delhi chief Paramjit Singh Sarna’s house. “A committee of the SAD, which will be in Patna Sahib on December 30, will not only hold meetings with the members of the community but will also make necessary arrangements for the establishment of the party unit,” he said.
The SAD chief said the move (to expand the party) as a part of his attempts to achieve Panthic unity in the Sikh “qaum (populace)”. “The community faces numerous challenges and the only way to resolve them is uniting under the Panthic flag,” he told The Indian Express.
To drive his point, the SAD chief referred to the Muslims saying though they “are present from Jammu to Hyderabad and constitute nearly 18% of the population”, they do not have a representative as they are divided. “They (Muslims) do not have leadership and hence could not fight despite the demolition of the Babri Masjid. We constitute only 2% of the population but our biggest strength is our qaum is united under the Akal Takht. Our (religious) parliament – Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) – also unites us,” he said.
Badal said the SAD will also set up its units in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Incidentally, SAD’s former ally BJP stormed to power in the two states recently, following Assembly polls, and buyoed by its success in the elections, the BJP is looking to go it alone in the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab.
The SAD contested the last Lok Sabha elections in 2019 in Punjab in alliance with the BJP as the “bigger partner”. It walked out of the NDA over the now-repealed farm laws in September 2020.
The SAD chief was tightlipped over a possible reunion with the BJP. “The party will not compromise on Sikh and Punjabi pride,” he said.
Senior SAD leader and former MLA Gurpartap Singh Wadala said that everything else notwithstanding, the Akali Dal is the sole representative of Sikhs. “We have taken up issues of minorities from time to time,” he said, adding that an undercurrent of religious polarisation exists across the country.
“Minorities are apprehensive about their rights and other issues. Keeping this in mind, the SAD has taken the decision (to spread its wings) to organise and channelise Sikhs across the country,” he told The Indian Express.
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