Punishment on trial

Sukhbir Singh Badal will receive 'punishment' from religious authorities for his acts as chief minister of Punjab. The question is whether a reinvention of Badal and the Akali Dal will follow

- ADITI PHADNIS

On Monday, December 2, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhbir Singh Badal will present himself before five Sikh leaders (Panj Pyare) at the Sri Akal Takht Sahib on orders from Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh to "accept" punishment from the highest body in the Sikh religion.

The Akal Takht will decide how he must atone for the charge that decisions and actions taken by him as chief minister of Punjab (2007-17) had harmed the Sikh Panth. He was asked to appear before the Akal Takht on August 30, was declared tankhaiya but was not awarded the punishment (tankhah). He resigned as party president on November 16, appointing senior leader Balwinder Singh Bhundar working president of the party.

"Let us be clear," said Naresh Gujral, a senior SAD member and former Rajya Sabha member. "What the Akal Takht orders is religious punishment. It cannot say, for instance, that it is banishing you from politics. The atonement is designed to remind you of humility. So, the Akal Takht could order 'seva' of some sort - Badal is more than willing to do that. But after the seva, the SAD will hit the ground running. Watch us then."

"In our part of the world," he added, "people like tyaag (renunciation). By giving up his position Sukhbir has demonstrated the highest level of tyaag."

On the face of it, the SAD's fortunes have been plummeting in recent years. Much of it is being attributed to the leadership of Badal. The party walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September 2020 in protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) agri-reform moves, breaking an alliance that was put in place in 1996.