AUTHOR VINAY KOCHHAR.CHANDIGARH.
The turmoil going on in Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for some time is not calming down. The voices of protest rising in SAD have also increased the party’s worry. Sukhbir Badal has even had to leave the chair of the head, but still there is no improvement in the condition of the party. The situation is such that today the party has come to the same place where it was a year ago. The biggest challenge for the party is to take along its own people.
The entire controversy in SAD arose due to the opposition of the rebel group. The leaders of the rebel group appeared before Akal Takht Sahib and confessed their crimes during the Akali government. After which Sukhbir Badal was declared a tankahiya and along with him other Akali leaders were given religious punishment. Now, of course, SAD’s working president Balwinder Singh Bhundar has announced to hold elections for the post of president on March 1, but the problems in the way of reviving SAD remain the same as before. Even the rebel group has intensified its attack and is still adamant on properly implementing the orders of Akal Takht Sahib and is constantly attacking the ruling group regarding this. It is clear from this that SAD has a thorny road ahead.
SAD MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali is also not satisfied with the performance of the party. After the defeat in the last Lok Sabha elections, Ayali had expressed his displeasure and announced to stay away from the party’s activities. Ayali had said that due to the decisions taken by the party leaders, there has been an ideological decline in the Akali Dal. The party has failed to recognize the farmers earlier and the sectarian thinking currently going on in Punjab. Now Ayali has been assigned duty in Rajasthan for the membership campaign. The rebel faction has also alleged that the party is keeping away from Punjab the leaders who demand change in SAD.
The graph of SAD has been continuously falling since it was removed from power in Punjab in 2017. Most of the senior leaders of SAD have left the party. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who calls himself a patron in the party, also came out openly in support of the rebel faction, due to which SAD had to issue orders for his dismissal. Similarly, leaders like Gurpratap Singh Wadala, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Prof. Prem Singh Chandumajra, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Sikander Singh Maluka, Surjit Singh Rakhra, Surinder Singh Thekedar and Charanjit Singh Brar stood up against the SAD leadership regarding the change in the party leadership. These leaders certainly broke the reform wave on the orders of Akal Takht Sahib, but even after the latest developments, the distance between SAD and the rebel faction has become even more.
The departure of senior leaders from the party has also had a bad effect on the organization. Senior leader Virsa Singh Valtoha has also left the party. Former minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon was expelled by the SAD itself for being involved in anti-party activities. Similarly, two-time MLA Sukhwinder Sukhi and Sukhbir Badal’s close aide Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon also left the party.