Fissures in Akali Dal

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) waded further into dissent and disarray with the expulsion of a sitting and a former MP.  Earlier another senior Taksali leader Sewa Singh Sekhwan had been shown the door. Their ostensible grouse is that the leadership provided by Sukhbir Badal has broken away the Akali Dal from its original moorings. To buttress their arguments, these leaders hold the Senior Badal and his son responsible for mismanaging the sacrilege incidents in 2015 and for the pardon granted to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. It is significant that all the three dissenters are from the Majha region where the Akali Dal has reaped a rich political harvest by positioning itself as the upholder of Sikhi.

But such has been the extremely competitive politics in this volatile, border region that none of the dissidents is without blemish or a hidden agenda. The incidents of sacrilege and pardon occurred well before the 2017 Assembly polls. Yet these leaders preferred to internalise their angst for many months. They went public after it was clear that the Congress had succeeded in turning public opinion against the Badals on both these issues. By then, the Badals were in no position to dispense loaves of office or to assure a political future for their sons, both former MLAs, who have also been expelled.

But SAD is not the only Punjab party in the throes of a meltdown. The Aam Aadmi Party, which had replaced the SAD as the main Opposition in the legislature, is disintegrating after the failure of the fending factions to reconcile their differences. Both SAD and AAP give the impression of being in the race for the third slot. This is where space has opened up that could be filled by a realignment taking place in both SAD and AAP. Many leaders who appear to be diehard Kejriwal or Badal loyalists are merely waiting for the right moment to jump ship. As Sukhbir and his brother-in-law Bikram Majithia try to hold the house together, it is obvious that the old rules of power politics in SAD have passed their shelf life.