CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal saw another split on Monday, with former Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh being unanimously elected president of the breakaway faction of the 104-year-old party. Satwant Kaur was appointed chairperson of the Panthic council of the new party by a five-member committee constituted by the Akal Takht.
The Akal Takht-appointed committee held a meeting of the breakaway group of the SAD at Gurdwara Burj Akali Phoola Singh in Amritsar, which is being touted by the dissidents as the rebirth of the 'real' party. The move is an open challenge to the authority of Sukhir Singh Badal whose leadership, these rebels say, has plunged the once-dominant regional force into a crisis.
Issuing a clarion call to revive the original Akali Dal of 1920, the panel announced that Harpreet Singh would not contest elections. The breakaway faction claims to represent the original Akali Dal and intends to approach the Election Commission of India (ECI) for ratification.
Former SGPC presidents Bibi Jagir Kaur and Gobind Singh Longowal, along with Prem Singh Chandumajra, were present, sending a clear message that these prominent Akali leaders support the breakaway faction.
The election of the president was conducted under the supervision of Santa Singh Umaidpuri, a panel member appointed as election officer after duly notifying the ECI. Other panel members include Manpreet Singh Ayali, Gurpartap Singh Wadala and Iqbal Singh Jhunda.
This split is due to years of frustration with Sukhbir, who was declared ‘tankhaiya' (guilty of religious misconduct) last year for allegedly violating the religious code of conduct by mishandling the crisis sparked by incidents of sacrilege in October 2015. Under his leadership, the party lost the 2017 and then the 2022 assembly elections and now has just three MLAs in the assembly.
Harpreet Singh was part of the Sikh clergy that had pronounced Sukhbir and other party leaders 'tankhaiya' on December 2 last year. In February, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had dismissed Harpreet Singh from the post of jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib.
This five-member committee including rebel Akali leaders (MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali, Iqbal Singh Jhunda, Santa Singh Umaidpur, former MLA Gurpartap Singh Wadala and Satwant Kaur) was constituted by the highest temporal seat through a 'hukamnama' (edict) issued on December 2 last year. It was tasked with holding a membership drive for the party, besides holding organizational elections. Earlier, the committee had seven members but SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami and former SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar had resigned from the Akal Takht-appointed panel.
However, the SAD rejected the Takht-constituted committee and the party’s working committee, in January, formed its own panel and initiated a membership drive. This drew criticism from the rebel leaders for defying the Akal Takht directive, leaving the fate of the Takht panel in limbo. Later, on April 12, the SAD re-elected Sukhbir Singh Badal as the party president. The rebels had earlier launched their own membership drive on March 18, accusing Sukhbir of ignoring the December 2 edict from the Akal Takht, which called for fresh membership and unity across SAD factions.
The 53-year-old Harpreet Singh, who paused his PhD work at Punjabi University in Patiala, hails from Muktsar and is from the Scheduled Caste community. He was a priest in SGPC-run gurudwaras when he was appointed acting Akal Takht Jathedar in 2018, replacing Giani Gurbachan Singh who had become an unpopular figure.
Satwant Kaur, who hails from Bhoora Kohna village in Tarn Taran district, is considered a good orator and is currently serving in a senior position in the education wing of the SGPC. She has strong panthic roots, being the granddaughter of former Damdami Taksal chief Kartar Singh Bhindranwale and the daughter of Bhai Amrik Singh, president of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), who was killed during Operation Bluestar.