The Shiromani Akali Dal is battling internal crisis as the party's (Taksali) old guard has come out in the open against the top leadership. With senior leaders virtually revolting against its president, Sukhbir Singh Badal is now facing a leadership challenge.
Facing criticism over issues, including pardon granted to Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a blasphemy case and the Kotkapura-Behbal Kalan police firing incidents of 2015, which followed the Bargari sacrilege, the Akali Dal is once again attempting to return to its core “panthic” agenda, political analysts have told The Hindu .
Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Member of Parliament from Khadoor Sahib who was expelled from the party last week, had hit out at Mr. Sukhbir and former Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, accusing them of deviating from the “panthic” agenda and causing an “irreparable damage to the party”. Mr. Brahmpura along with two other expelled leaders, Sewa Singh Sekhwan and Rattan Singh Ajnala, have announced that they would launch a new party keeping intact the original values and ideology of the “Akali Dal”.
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“The Akali Dal has come under the sway of the ‘Badal family’ in the past few years. Mr. Sukhbir's (son of former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal) attempt to change the basic character of the party, making it catch-all party seeking vote in the name of the region (Punjab) instead of Sikh panth, has not gone down well with the senior (Taksali) leaders, who believe that the party has deviated from it's core ideology of giving voice to Sikh issues,” said Ashutosh Kumar, professor of Political Science at Panjab University.
Mr. Ashutosh points out that the old guard, who have been feeling ‘sidelined and ignored’, believe that the handling of the issues by the top party leadership in an ''autocratic'' manner had damaged the party.
“So far, Mr. Badal has managed to cruise the party quite well, but to say that his son Sukhbir would be able to retain the panthic support seems difficult. Mr. Sukhbir's acceptance among the senior party leaders as their chief has been time and again questioned,” said Mr. Ashutosh. As the senior leadership of the party, including Mr. Badal, Mr. Sukhbir and daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal sought atonement for “mistakes that might have been committed inadvertently during their rule” at the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal body of Sikhs, the move is being seen as a ''damage control'' effort.
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