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Journalism of Courage
ONCE among the country’s longest-lasting political allies, the BJP and Akali Dal’s efforts to re-unite ahead of the Lok Sabha polls did not bear fruit eventually. The announcement that the BJP would fight the elections alone was made by its state president Sunil Jakhar, who had been among the strongest votaries of tying up with the Akali Dal.
In the days leading up to the announcement, Jakhar, a former Congress leader, had said: “I strongly believe that regional parties should be strengthened as they are the voice of the people. The minority community tag is often applied to the Sikh community and I feel that there should be a party to raise their voice.”
There are still more than two months to voting day in Punjab (June 1), and going by the past few days, the BJP has other means to catch up. On Tuesday, sitting Ludhiana MP of the Congress Ravneet Singh Bittu joined the BJP; on Wednesday, it was the turn of sitting Jalandhar MP of the Aam Aadmi Party, Sushil Kumar Rinku.
In the 2019 elections, bucking the Modi wave, the Congress had won eight of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, the Akali Dal and BJP two each, and AAP 1.
This will be the first Lok Sabha elections where the Akali Dal and BJP will contest separately. In 2019, their alliance had won four seats after the BJP won two of the three seats assigned to it and the Akali Dal the same, out of the 10 in its kitty.
A little over a year later, the Akali Dal walked out of the NDA over the controversial farm laws that saw year-long protests on Delhi borders.
As part of their tie-up till 2019, the Akali Dal would contest 10 of the 13 seats in Punjab, with the BJP fielding candidates in Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar. In 2019, the BJP won Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur; while actor Sunny Deol was victorious from Gurdaspur, the BJP’s other winning MP, Somparkash, was made Union Minister of State Commerce and Industry. The third seat that the BJP contested, but lost, was Amritsar. But the BJP sent its losing candidate from there, Hardeep Puri to the Rajya Sabha and made him Union minister.
The two candidates of the Akali Dal who won were its president Sukhbir Singh Badal (Ferozepur) and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Bathinda). Underlining the importance attached by the BJP to Punjab, Harsimrat was also accommodated in the Union Cabinet.
BJP state general secretary Anil Sarin said the party was not at all apprehensive about contesting alone. “Our cadre has been saying we are capable of this… We are ready with preparations at booth, mandal and district levels.”
The results for the 2022 Assembly polls, which were the first elections fought by the BJP and Akali Dal separately, make this enthusiasm seem incongruous. In that election swept by the AAP, the BJP – in alliance with Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) and Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress – won only the Pathankot seat.
No longer bound by the Akali Dal, the BJP contested from 73 seats, much more than the 23 it would contest as part of their alliance, but saw its vote share climb only marginally from the 2017 Assembly polls – to 6.6%, from 5.39%.
However, the BJP believes the ground has shifted since, particularly with the continuous stream of big-name defectors to its side, including sitting MP Ravneet Singh Bittu (Ludhiana) on Tuesday and sole AAP MP Sushil Kumar Rinku (Jalandhar) Wednesday.
A senior BJP leader said: “The party now has village-level committees at work in Malwa districts such as Sangrur, Bathinda, Mansa, Faridkot, Muktsar etc, which were earlier left for the Akali Dal… Once we go alone, we will realise our strength.”
The party believes that while it already has some base in the urban areas, the Modi government’s many welfare schemes will help it in the rural regions.
The rout in the 2022 Assembly polls coming on top of a series of electoral debacles faced by it, the Akali Dal had been more keen on returning to its powerful former ally. In recent speeches, the Badal-led party had kept its focus on attacking the Congress and AAP, and stayed away from the BJP.
While the BJP doors may now be closed, in recent days, the Akali Dal reunited with SAD (Sanyukt) and former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur. Indicating the party’s renewed hopes, Badal said after Jagir Kaur’s return on March 7 that “my family is now complete”.
But by March 22, a statement after an Akali Dal core committee meeting indicated that chances of a reunion with the BJP were receding. The statement said: “The party will continue to put principles above politics, and it will never deviate from its historic role as a champion of the interests of the Khalsa Panth, all minorities as well as all Punjabis.”
The meeting, chaired by Badal, also passed separate resolutions asking the Modi government to honour its commitment regarding release of political prisoners, vowing to continue championing the cause of farmers and farm labourers, and seeking a halt to “brazen interference in the religious affairs and institutions of the Khalsa Panth”.
After the BJP announcement saying it would go alone in Punjab, an Akali Dal leader told The Indian Express that it was preferable for the party too. “With farmers sitting on protest and threatening to boycott the BJP for failing to meet their demands, it wasn’t the right moment for an alliance with the BJP… It could have backfired as the party is trying hard for a revival.”
The Akali Dal is making a play for its traditional Sikh vote, to retrieve ground in Punjab. The 2022 Assembly elections saw its vote share fall 7% from 2017, to 18.38%. In the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll held in 2022, it finished fifth, behind the BJP. In the most-recent election held in the state, the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, the Akali Dal was third, just finishing ahead of the BJP.
In his first reaction to the BJP announcement that it was going alone, Badal said: “The Akali Dal is not just a political party driven by number games, unlike some national parties. We are a 103-year-old movement with a clear vision and principles. They will continue to be our goal. The Akali Dal core committee has already made our priorities clear… We are the largest democratic representative organisation of farmers… Our party stands by high principles and is committed to safeguarding the Panth and Punjab.”
The failure of the BJP and Akali Dal to unite has left the Punjab contest a four-cornered one, with the AAP and Congress the two other parties in the fray.
The BJP and Akali Dal’s line of attack is almost similar. The BJP accuses the AAP and main opposition Congress – which are partners in INDIA partners and in alliance in Delhi – of being in an “informal” tie-up in Punjab. The Akali Dal is calling for “strengthening the Opposition”, suggesting that the Congress isn’t capable of putting up a resistance in Punjab or at the Centre.
Even farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher has argued this, saying: “Had there been a strong Opposition, what would have been the need for people to stage dharnas and sit at borders?”
