Opinion Express View on SAD-BJP separation in Punjab: Two apart

In Punjab, a revival of the SAD-BJP alliance is reportedly not to be. State BJP chief Sunil Kumar Jakhar has confirmed that the BJP will go it alone in the coming polls. Sukhbir Badal, whose father was an architect of the long-running alliance with the BJP, now frames it as a struggle between the “panth” and Punjab on one side and parties aligning with Delhi on the other. The partnership, described by Badal senior as a bond between nau (nail) and maas (skin), weathered many political storms, but unraveled in 2020 due to the now-repealed farm laws, which triggered a farm agitation lasting for over a year. The decision not to come together again may have been influenced by the gathering signs of a farm protest 2.0. While it is a mere shadow of the 2020 agitation so far, it highlights the discontent that continues to simmer in the fields. There are also the remains of another agitation at the Mohali-Chandigarh border, for the release of Sikh political prisoners.

The SAD-BJP alliance was born in unique circumstances in Punjab, after the dark decade of militancy. SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal had set the stage with the famous Moga declaration in February 1996, pivoting the party founded in 1920 from being the sole guardian of the Sikh “panth” to one that aimed to work for “Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat”. In its best version, therefore, the coalition between the oldest regional party in the country and the national party looking to widen its grip was more than a mere marriage of convenience — it promised an easing of tensions, and greater harmony between communities. Additionally, it struck what seemed to be a tidy balance between urban and rural Punjab, with the BJP representing the former and the Akalis the latter. It appeared to be a division of labour with hardly any overlap or conflict.

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Although cracks had begun to appear between the two as the state BJP sought a greater share in the power pie, the party high commands were swift to paper over the differences. Many in Punjab thought the SAD-BJP separation was temporary. Speculation about a rapprochement between the two has been in the air for several months following their dismal performance in the 2022 assembly polls. Now, caught in an existential quandary, however, the Akalis seem determined to regain their lost support base, once symbolised by the blue turbans that peppered the countryside. And a resurgent BJP, which has finally got several Sikh leaders in its own ranks, who have crossed over from Congress, will now be flexing its muscle in a state that often springs a poll surprise — the Aam Aadmi Party’s landslide win most recently.