Akali's change tack, opt for political astroturf

Seeped in a politico-religious idiom, and with its political grammar decided by its glorious pre-independence history and post-independence struggle for provincial autonomy, the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today is a lot like the Indian hockey team post the last Olympic gold medal won in Moscow. Post-Moscow was Astroturf times. It was unknown, slippery, and the boys slipped down the ranks for decades.

Five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal is a master of the turf on which the SAD has been not only playing the game for decades, but even forcing the opponents all too often to adopt the same turf. Faced with a formidable challenge from an upstart, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Akali Dal initially tried the winning formula yet again. A surfeit of anniversaries connected with Sikh heroes and historical dates, mammoth multi-million memorials, free pilgrimage trains for the devout to Sikh shrines across the country and the continuing vice-like grip over the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). It all dovetailed effortlessly into the SAD’s plan to play the 2017 balloting game on the ‘panthic’ home pitch. Panths are the various denominations of the Sikh community.

As the AAP challenge seemed like gathering storm and when senior Akali Dal leaders began conceding defeat in private conversations, the Badals stuck to their turf, gaming the politics in such a way that the fight becomes panthic. As two back-to-back fast-unto-deaths by Sikh activists, demanding the release of Sikh detainees languishing behind bars for years, roused the Sikhs, top leaders of AAP rushed for photo-ops in a show of solidarity. Despite being in a tough position, the Akali Dal sensed a chance to capitalise on the sentiment, cleverly turning around the situation. By releasing several  detainees, working to ensure some are shifted from other states to Punjab jails, bringing back death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar to Punjab and ensuring parole for him 21 years after arrest, Badal underlined his panthic credentials yet again.

 When the Akali Dal made an apparently decisive move in 1996 to shift gears and anchor its politics in the matrix of Punjab-Punjabi-Punjabiat, political pundits had rushed to underline it as the natural evolution of one of India’s oldest political parties into modernity. The panth-in-danger line was to be discarded for a more inclusive domain of Punjabi pride. At that time, it seemed like a well thought-out choice to try out the new political turf.

 However, the romance for this new astroturf of secular politics did not last long. True, it did open the party’s gates wider to other communities, and made the SAD brand acceptable to trade and business, but the party was not too late in rediscovering the immense benefits it stood to reap from the panthic turf. Five years of Congress regime under Capt Amarinder Singh proved that Badals could force a change of turf. Capt Amarinder Singh presided over umpteen Sikh shatabdis (centenaries), visited Nankana Sahib, led a huge march to install a palanquin at the historical shrine and even tried to best the Badals for control of SGPC, with some help from veteran Akali leader Gurcharan Singh Tohra, then estranged from the SAD. Many political pundits said Congress, too, turned panthic under Capt Singh during his 2002-2007 reign.

 Incidents of sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib, the resultant wave of anger, the flip-flop on the Akal Takht, forgiving Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmit Ram Rahim and sundry other issues may have seemingly left the Akali Dal marooned on a political island, but at least this politics was couched in the idiom of religiosity. Many deduced that the politics has returned to the panthic turf.

Lined with booby traps

But Akali Dal president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal knew that the devout street was strewn with booby traps all the way. Harking back to the Akal Takht will bring questions of Badal’s poor record of deferring to it. The “panth-is-in-danger” tune will bring radicals swarming to the trenches, questioning his own past. The “Centre-is-our-enemy” card was a dud, and there are too many picture postcards of Badals cosying up to Narendra Modi. Caught in a quagmire, and with crowds baying for Akali leaders in the aftermath of incidents of sacrilege of Sikh scriptures, Sukhbir hit back with “Sadbhawna” rallies, peppering his speeches with calls to Punjabi pride.

From describing those painting Punjab as the land of druggies as insulting Punjabis, it was a short hop to painting AAP as outsiders who wanted to capture Punjab. Soon, Sukhbir was hurling allegations opponents used to squelch Akalis with – Khalistanis are helping AAP. The turnaround seems complete.

Has AAP’s relentless focus on drugs and corruption forced the Akali Dal to sing Punjab-Punjabi-Punjabiat tune, or is it because the new generation of Akalis, led by Sukhbir, has decided that showcasing development will help counter AAP more effectively than panthic grammar. While this will remain a question up for some contentious debates, one thing is for sure – the turf has changed.

For almost a month now, the Akali Dal government’s ads in newspapers have started carrying prominently the line – Punjab Punjabiyan Da. Punjab is for Punjabis. Amid talk of Kejriwal sending too many outsiders to the state, the Akali Dal is gearing up to play on Turf Punjabi. Will it do better than Indian hockey lads did at Rio? The panth is watching from the sidelines.

(The writer is a Chandigarh-based senior journalist)