Young guns in saddle, old Panthic issues still relevant for survival

Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 25

From a party of jathedars to a party of “kakajis”, the demographic transformation of Shiromani Akali Dal is complete, as it readies to take a plunge into the May 19 electoral battle.

Having hit its lowest ebb last year, following a rebellion by senior leaders, the party’s reins now lie in the hands of young guns. After senior Taksali leaders, including Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, owing allegiance to patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, left the party and challenged the leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal, it seemed the party would go into political oblivion. But by carefully strategising the old and new order in the months that followed, SAD seems back on track.

With the old leadership gone, it is now the GenNext Akali Dal that is steering the party. However, the top leaders have clung on to some of the “old bearings”. It is both a good political strategy as well as an attempt to disprove of the charges levelled by rebel Taksali leaders about Sukhbir’s acumen as a leader, that the party has fielded its old guard on six of the 10 seats it is contesting for the Lok Sabha. Even as GenNext is in the driver’s seat, they are again banking on old Panthic issues of regionalism and federalism to woo voters.

As of now, it seems, the party is back in the race. With AAP being politically decimated post its split and SAD (Taksali) having failed to take off across the state, Akali Dal sees a chance in this election of once again becoming the principal Opposition party.

That said, the ghost of sacrilege cases of 2015 appears to be hounding the party even now in at least two constituencies of Malwa (Faridkot and Bathinda) and one of Majha (Khadoor Sahib).

It is to offset this damage that the party has fielded its top guns in the electoral field.

If the party’s first couple — Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal — win, besides claiming a few other seats, they will be well placed for the next Assembly poll in three years. It’s a do-or-die battle for both the party and its leaders.