The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was born out of the popular movement that arose in 1920 and is considered one of the oldest political parties in the subcontinent. Over the past 104 years, it has faced many challenges and witnessed many changes. From the partition of 1947 to the re-formation of Punjab in the 1960s and the militant Khalistan movement of the 1980s, the Shiromani Akali Dal has survived many difficult times and has maintained its identity.
Despite being a regional party representing the Sikh community, its leadership has played a leading role in giving voice to national-level concerns, especially those related to federal politics. The Shiromani Akali Dal is considered one of the few political parties in India due to its cadre base of Jathedars and local institutions. This unique identity also lies in the fact that it represented the entire gamut of interrelated interests and identities, the regional aspirations of Punjab, the representative face of the Sikh community and the economic interests of the landowning agricultural class. As a regional party, it has been the sole voice of Punjab.
Although not all Sikhs voted for the Shiromani Akali Dal, they looked to the Shiromani Akali Dal as a pantheistic organisation that represented their unique identity and sense of interests. Sikhs living outside Punjab have maintained an ethnic affinity with the Shiromani Akali Dal. After the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, the party also emerged as a guardian of the agricultural interests of the state, due to which people from the agricultural, wealthy, landowning caste of Jats occupied its leading positions.
The success of the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership lies in its ability to navigate the thorny paths of regional, communal and class/caste politics in Punjab, which has enabled it to emerge as a regionally strong player. Even when its leadership chose to raise Panthic issues with vigor, it was difficult to label it as a communal or narrow-minded party. Its allies at various times have included everything from the Communist parties to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The early generation of its leadership worked within and alongside the Congress. Similarly, despite its small social base in terms of caste and class, it has been connected to all sections of the Sikh community. Even some non-Sikhs in Punjab have voted for Shiromani Akali Dal candidates.
In another way too, the Shiromani Akali Dal has been part of the mainstream political culture. Like many other regional parties, it has been dominated by a family, the Badals, for some time now and has been plagued by internal strife and factionalism. Over the past 50 years, many of its senior leaders have left the party and formed their own separate Shiromani Akali Dal; all of them have generally presented themselves as radical Panthic alternatives, but their political appeal has not lasted long. For the past three decades, the Akali Dal, led mainly by the Badal faction, has been dominant.
However, now it seems to be back to its old ways. The challenges facing the Shiromani Akali Dal at present are unparalleled. As the Badal family has grown in power, the party’s cadre base and organisational structure have started to crumble. Although it retains control over the Shiromani Akali Dal, its appeal among the Sikh masses is steadily waning.
There is a widespread perception that the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership has deliberately put electoral calculations ahead of panthic sentiments and issues. The victory of two ‘hardline’ Sikh candidates in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was a clear signal to the Akali Dal that ordinary Sikhs no longer trust it for their religious and communal concerns.
To broaden its electoral horizons, the Badal-led Akali Dal has moved away from being a purely Sikh party and opened its membership to all Punjabis. However, there is little evidence that such a ‘secular regionalist’ approach has had any impact on the state’s non-Sikhs. On the contrary, the Akali Dal’s long-standing feud with the Hindu nationalist BJP has only tarnished its federalist identity.
Perhaps the biggest blow to the Akali Dal’s social and political base has come from its strongest social base, the rural/agricultural constituency. It seems that the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership has lost touch with the emerging crisis of the agrarian economy due to the weakening cadre.
This was also seen in the year-long farmers’ struggle on the outskirts of the national capital against the three farm laws brought by the Narendra Modi government. It was only after feeling the heat of the growing anger among Punjabi farmers that the Akali leaders objected to these central laws. These were part of the entire process of ‘reforms’ that the Modi government was working on earlier. Even the party’s decision to leave the NDA government could not restore the lost trust. This was also reflected in the party’s declining vote share, which was less than half of what it was before.
Punjab has always been absent from the political landscape of India. Its political structure has emerged from the local context and history, no ‘national mood’ could shape it. Punjab is not the only state in the Indian Union that has a strong regional identity and its own regional party. The regional politics of the state have a different colour.
The Shiromani Akali Dal has been the most important figure representing the regional sentiments of the state. Today it stands at a crossroads.
is a region that is facing an unprecedented crisis. This crisis stems largely from its inability to understand the changing concerns of the Sikh community, Punjabi society and, perhaps most importantly, the region’s agrarian economy.
What impact will the fading of its base within traditional circles have on the region’s true identity and aspirations? This phase will be one to watch.
