‘Sacrilege’ and Sukhbir Badal apology: 8 years late, but may be on time for LS polls

After a recent SIT report practically cleared the Akali Dal for the incidents, which saw torn pages of the Guru Granth Sahib being found in 2015, leading to violence, Badal’s apology is seen as a final attempt by him to put the chapter finally behind him and the party.

The Akali Dal’s political position has only worsened since 2015, having suffered two successive Assembly poll losses – first to the Congress in 2017, and the AAP in 2022 – and having gained little from its desperate decision to part ways with long-time ally BJP over the contested farm laws.

In last year’s Assembly elections, the party got only three seats.

Earlier this year, in a further blow, the Akali Dal lost Parkash Singh Badal, the party’s biggest mascot and the state’s tallest leader.

In his apology, Sukhbir was severe on himself and the party: “Submitting myself to the Guru’s will in the precinct of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, the highest religio-temporal seat of the Sikh quom (community), I sincerely and unconditionally seek forgiveness of the Khalsa Panth for that heinous act of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji that happened during the Akali govt. I also apologize that we couldn’t apprehend and punish the culprits during the brief remaining part of our tenure. I am very sad that we couldn’t understand and defeat the conspiracies of some so-called Panthic individuals and organisations and allowed them to compel us to hand over the probe to the CBI. These incidents remain the most painful events in my life and the life of S Parkash Singh Ji Badal.”

Thursday’s apology was perhaps the only recourse left for Sukhbir to repair the party’s perception among the Sikh community, and to improve its chances before the Lok Sabha elections.

Another electoral loss will leave Sukhbir’s position in the party even shakier. Several leaders have openly questioned the fact that the party has seen no shake-up despite the poll setbacks, with senior names such as former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur quitting citing the lack of “reforms” in the Akali Dal structure.

Ironically, Sukhbir was provided this “opening” by a surprise decision by the AAP government led by Bhagwant Mann last year to make public the SIT report into the 2015 sacrilege cases – handing over the same to Damdami Taksal Ajnala faction head Amrik Singh Ajnala, who enjoys good relations with the AAP.

The SIT report held that the Akali Dal had no direct role in the 2015 sacrilege incidents, and made almost no mention of then-Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and then Deputy CM Sukhbir.

The Akali Dal quickly dubbed it a clean chit to its top leadership – Sukhbir’s apology Thursday was more of an acknowledgment of “administrative failures”.

The Congress and AAP, as well as other parties and Sikh bodies, have constantly attacked the Akali Dal government over the incidents, accusing it of “failure” to check them or to punish the guilty.

However, on one aspect, the Akali Dal continues to be on the back foot. The SIT report blamed Dera Sirsa, led by the controversial Gurmeet Ram Rahim, for what had happened, and during its 10-year stint in power ending in 2017, the Akali Dal was seen to have favoured and helped the Dera Sirsa grow.

While a case was registered against Gurmeet Ram Rahim in 2007, just after the Akali Dal-BJP government came to power, for hurting Sikh sentiments, with the Akal Takht even ex-communicating him, this was quashed after the Punjab Police itself filed contradictory affidavits, weakening its case.

The Akali Dal leadership was also accused of using the SGPC, which it controls, to make then Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh issue a pardon in 2015 to Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the 2007 case and revoke his excommunication just before the release of a movie featuring him.

By then, the first of the sacrilege incidents had already happened. Then came the 2017 Assembly elections, where Dera Sirsa openly supported the Akali Dal.

In 2018, under the Congress government, a police investigation found Dera Sirsa to be involved in the sacrilege incidents.

The taint of its association with the Dera has been hard for the Akali Dal to brush off.

Now, apart from the Lok Sabha polls, the coming SGPC elections will also be on the Akali Dal’s mind. Its hold on the Panthic space has come under pressure since the more hardline Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) won the Sangrur parliamentary seat bypoll held last year.

The Akali Dal will be dependent more than ever on the Sikh vote in 2024 as these will be its first Lok Sabha polls without the BJP, which drew the Hindus to the alliance. While the two parties have been making noises about coming back together, the BJP may be in no mood to oblige its former partner now, given its recent Hindi heartland state poll successes.