Harsimrat’s resignation is being seen as – too little, too late.

SHIROMANI AKALI DAL (SAD) minister in the Union Cabinet, Bibi Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned late last night from the Union Cabinet. With this the SAD’s presence in the Union Cabinet is now zero.

With the Shiv Sena’s relationship with Bhartiya Janata Party turbulent for a while in Maharashtra, now no longer in alliance, SAD was BJP’s oldest major regional party alliance – about a quarter century old.

That alliance started after the 1996 Moga convention where SAD declared that it represents not only the Sikh community but the whole of Punjab. In spite of that declaration, more or less SAD is seen as a Sikh panthic party.

For the last few years, there have been rumblings between the alliance partners but they never brought it out publicly. That is why Harsimrat’s resignation now is significant. Though there is no talk yet about SAD-BJP alliance breaking down before the 2022 Punjab state elections. Yet, with SAD now not benefitting at all in terms of reputation – a Union Minister post – this is clearly a huge dent in the alliance.

The stated reason for Harsimrat’s resignation is the Farm Ordinances being introduced in the Lok Sabha. This is a familiar trope in Sikh religion, in Punjab’s sensibility – sacrifice. Even more so because it intends to portray one is steadfast in a cause. The cause here being the interests of farmers.

Yet, what is confusing is being a part of Union Cabinet, did Harsimrat not know about these Ordinances passed by the Cabinet in June? As discussed in these very pages, even a cursory look at the Ordinances tells you how they are opposed to farmer interests and serve the crony capitalists.

If Harsimrat was unaware, what was she doing last two and a half months? Actually, in the past few weeks, the SAD has been trying to convince farmers and farmer organisations that these Ordinances were in their interest. It is when that did not cut any ice that SAD had to do a re-think.

Two days back, Sukhbir Badal, President SAD, did make a passionate speech in the Lok Sabha when the first Ordinance was tabled and chose to vote against it but it was too little too late. Now Harsimrat’s resignation is also being seen as that – too little, too late. It is a sad reflection of how things have come to pass, but on the face of it, no one in Punjab is convinced of SAD’s sincerity even though the minister has resigned.

This trust deficit in the SAD – once known as the party that represented the Sikhs and the farmers of Punjab – is SAD’s own doing. Not only its mal-governance in its last two terms in Punjab but also the issue of sacrilege that rocked Punjab before the 2017 state elections.

The SAD’s behind the door parleys with now behind bars Ram Rahim and his pardon from the Akal Takht. SAD’s control of SGPC in whose watch now 328 recensions, birs of the Guru Granth Sahib have gone missing.

The trust deficit has also been building for a while because SAD is being increasingly seen as an abettor to BJP’s agenda to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra. It was clear when last August SAD voted in favour of abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir – the reduction of the state into Union Territories. The question was how can a party that represents the interests of a minuscule minority religion vote against another minority religion state?

Even though the incumbent Congress government in Punjab has not kept up its promises and performance, the fact is that SAD in the state has also been on a downward spiral. Over some time now, longstanding Akalis broke away from the party – Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, the SAD (Taksali) leaders Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Rattan Singh Ajnala and Sewa Singh Sekhwan. SAD is on precarious ground in Punjab – first time ever since its inception a century back.

In the last state elections, SAD’s many decades-long Sikh supporters from rural Punjab chose to – for the first time in their lives, in the dusk of their own lives – not vote SAD. That is why it is not clear if the price they now paid, the sacrifice of a Cabinet seat, will bring back supporters into its fold.

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This is the real concern this resignation raises for the SAD-BJP alliance in Punjab. SAD is losing support but BJP too is not sure of braving it out alone in Punjab. In the last few elections, the alliance has banked on the urban Hindu voter to vote BJP. However, in the last election, even that constituency shifted to Congress.

In Punjab, an unsteady SAD and an unsteady BJP do not make for a good combination any longer. Yet, what are the options? Only time will tell. Watch these pages. At a larger level, this is the plight of the minority Sikh religion which does not have an effective leadership any longer.