Akali Dal discontent over Lok Sabha rout flares up after Sukhbir Badal flip-flop over Amritpal row

He also said, “Akali Dal is fully committed to the atmosphere of peace and communal harmony in the state and will continue to lead the efforts to preserve it. At the same time, we are equally and firmly opposed to repressive black laws like the NSA and the UAPA. Black laws are unacceptable.”

Badal has however drawn flak from various quarters, including from a section of his own party, over his “political opportunism”, with many asking him why he had fielded an Akali candidate against Amritpal in the Lok Sabha poll. Even his former political advisor Charanjit Singh Brar, a senior SAD leader, said, “The Shiromani Akali Dal shouldn’t have fielded candidates against Amritpal Singh from Khadoor Sahib and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa (son of Indira Gandhi assassin Beant Singh) from Faridkot.”

Amritpal was arrested in April last year, over a month after a massive manhunt was launched following his evasion of arrest from a police check post.

Brar said, “In 1989, when Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa’s mother Bimal Kaur Khalsa and his grandfather Sucha Singh Khalsa had contested from Ropar and Bathinda constituencies, respectively, on SAD (Amritsar) tickets… SAD (Badal) had not fielded any candidates against them. That decision was taken by Parkash Singh Badal. But this time, not only did we field candidates, but also spoke against them during the poll campaign.”

He also said, “On the one hand, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is fighting a court case in support of Amritpal. On the other hand, the Akali Dal fielded a candidate against him in Khadoor Sahib. This has cost us dearly in the entire state, as we could win just one seat.”

The SAD has effective control over the SGPC. However, in the party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign, Badal made frontal attacks on Amritpal and Khalsa. He even said that Punjabis should understand the “conspiracy” behind fielding Amritpal as an Independent from Khadoor Sahib. “You should determine whether a person who acquired Sikhi Saroop one year ago, is fit to lead you or your own 103-year-old party (SAD), which is steeped in the blood of our forefathers,” Badal had said in Baba Bakala, while campaigning for his party’s Khadoor Sahib candidate, Virsa Singh Valtoha.

Akali leaders now claim they were speaking against repression and injustice, irrespective of differences in ideology.

SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, too, condemned the extension of Amritpal’s detention, saying, “I strongly condemn the extension of the NSA by a year on Bhai Amritpal Singh, who was elected as the MP from Khadoor Sahib, and is currently detained in Dibrugarh jail in Assam, along with other Singhs. At the Lok Sabha polls, the people of Punjab elected Bhai Amritpal Singh as their MP from Khadoor Sahib with a large number of votes.” Dhami also said, “Both the state government led by the AAP, and the Central government led by the BJP, have shown disregard for the sentiments of the people of Punjab, by taking this highly condemnable action of extending the NSA on him (Amritpal), which is not appropriate, considering human rights. He has not committed any crime that could be considered anti-national and kept imprisoned thousands of kms away from the state. The Punjab and Central governments should also revoke the NSA imposed on the youths detained in Dibrugarh jail, and release them.”

In the Lok Sabha polls, of the 13 seats in Punjab that it contested, the SAD managed to win just one seat — Bathinda — which was retained by Badal’s wife Harsimrat. Its candidates lost security deposits on 10 seats, as the party got only 13.42% of the vote share, against 27.45% in 2019.

However, the SAD’s former ally BJP got 18.52% vote share, up from 9.63% in 2019. Since the Lok Sabha results, the SAD is not only facing criticism over the Amritpal issue, but also over demands for reforms within the party.

Charanjit Singh Brar, who is also one of the SAD spokespersons, has led the move, even posting his suggestions online with the option for people to fill the forms regarding it. So far, a few thousand people have filled them, mostly in favour of his suggestions.

With the Assembly bypoll for Jalandhar West scheduled on July 10, and four more — for Gidderbaha, Chabbewal, Barnala and Dera Baba Nanak — set to be held in the coming months, Brar has doubled down on the matter.

He said, “Though I wanted to give these suggestions in a face-to-face meeting, party president (Badal) didn’t give me the time, so I had to post them online on Wednesday.”

He further said, “According to my suggestions, a presidium — a committee of 5-7 members — should be formed to take decisions like launching a SAD membership drive, selecting candidates for bypolls, etc. And this presidium should work till December 14, 2024, when the party president’s term ends.”

Brar added that though the party had sought a public apology in December 2023 for not being able to take suitable action against the culprits responsible for the 2015 sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari village, it must also seek a written apology for this.

Earlier, SAD MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali also went public, saying that he would not attend any Akali Dal meeting till the suggestions of the Jhundan committee are implemented.

Senior Akali Dal leader Iqbal Singh Jhundan had led a committee in April 2022 that took feedback from 100 Assembly constituencies of Punjab, soon after the SAD’s poor performance in the 2022 Assembly polls. Its report was submitted before the party’s core committee, but no action has apparently been taken on it.

Meanwhile, another senior party leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who merged his faction with the Badal-led party in March this year, has also sought change in leadership after the latest poll debacle.

When contacted by The Indian Express, senior Akali Dal leader Balwinder Singh Bhunder said, “All those who are making noises against the party first need to study our party’s history. We stand on our principles. Our foundation is laid on sacrifice. This is our fight to save Punjab. Strengthening regional parties is a must. We contested independently over Punjab’s issues. There were a few critical voices, but our president stood by the party’s principles and took tough decisions. We fought for the federal system and strongly vouch for communal harmony.”

Some SAD leaders said there was some “confusion” on ground regarding the party’s alliance talks with the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. “While we contested independently, a message went out to the voters that perhaps some post-poll alliance would happen. This went against the SAD as the BJP was facing a boycott in the villages. While many regional parties in West Bengal, UP, Tamil Nadu, etc gained, they were part of the INDIA bloc. In Punjab, the situation was different. Regional parties will gain strength in the coming days,” a senior Akali leader said.