Why BJP old guard in Punjab, national leadership aren't buying the SAD reunion talk

India Today

26-07-2025

When Sunil Jakhar stood before the media and declared it was time for the BJP to rejoin hands with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), many in the party's Punjab unit heard not a call to action but an echo from a past they have been trying to leave behind.The former Congressman-turned-BJP state chief framed the idea as essential for preserving communal harmony in Punjab, but those who've spent decades in the trenches of the state's politics—BJP old-timers, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) swayamsevaks and ideological foot soldiers—felt a creeping dj vu they had hoped was long buried.advertisementOn July 7, BJP national president J.P. Nadda appointed Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma as the state unit's working president. Punjab was the only state, along with Manipur, that couldn't complete the organisational elections to elect unit chiefs for mandals and districts, which forced the appointment of Sharma as working president, not a full-fledged one. However, days later, the party high command conveyed to Sharma to complete the process and get the regular elections done. These weren't ordinary developments but the party returning to its trusted cadre.Two years ago, the party high command had experimented by appointing Jakhar to lead the state unit, but the decision backfired. Jakhar could neither read party old-timers' pain points not was aligned to the BJP and Sangh's core ideology.
For the generation that built the BJP in Punjab through the eighties and nineties, mostly as a junior partner of the dominant SAD, there is little romance in that alliance. Sharma was party chief twice during the alliance and among the leaders who felt suffocated during those days. The biggest signal from the party high command of admission of a past goof-up came with the return of Sharma, who had been removed mid-term to accommodate Jakhar.Several BJP leaders in the state argue that the experiment with Jakhar had failed because he couldn't understand the DNA of the party and the Sangh's value system. 'Whatever Jakhar has conveyed are his personal views. The decision of alliance or no alliance [with SAD] will be taken by the party leadership,' said a top BJP leader from Punjab.BJP old-timers in Punjab argued that the central leadership, while handing back the state unit reins to Sharma, had conveyed that there was no scope for any re-alliance with SAD. 'The party will grow organically as well as inorganically on its own merit,' said a BJP leader in Delhi with a grip on Punjab affairs.Sikh voters in Delhi voted for a BJP contesting without any alliance with SAD. In Punjab, the challenge is to build the structure and communication lines in the countryside—the boroughs dominated by Jat Sikhs. In the past, SAD would come in handy. The BJP tried to do the same with Jakhar, a Hindu Jat from the rural pockets.A BJP leader in Punjab said the erstwhile alliance with SAD was an arrangement that suited the Badals more than the BJP. 'The Akalis dictated terms, took the lion's share of seats and kept the BJP confined to urban pockets,' the leader said. Even then, the BJP had to tiptoe around the Akali line on everything, from religious issues to rural politics. Over time, it became clear to the BJP that this wasn't a coalition of equals but one tilted steeply in favour of SAD.advertisementWhen the BJP-SAD alliance finally broke in 2020, triggered by the contentious central farm laws, it wasn't just a political divorce—it was a moment of liberation for many within the BJP in Punjab. For the first time, the party could test its real strength in the state. They argue that SAD has no ground presence left, and the Sukhbir Badal faction is no comparison to the erstwhile panthic party, enjoying neither credibility nor the core voter base. 'We don't see all factions of the Akali Dal realigning under the Badal family anytime soon,' said a BJP leader.The modest results in the assembly elections in 2022 hinted at long-term potential. More significantly, the 2024 Lok Sabha polls delivered some validation. The BJP may not have won any Lok Sabha seat, but it led in 23 assembly segments and came a close second in around 10 more—without SAD help. The BJP got around 19 per cent of the votes while SAD's share slipped below 12 per cent. In 65 assembly segments, the BJP got more votes than SAD. And this when radicalisation was at its peak and residual anger of the farmer unions was against the BJP.advertisementFor leaders who had once campaigned under the suffocating weight of Akali dominance, this was a breakthrough. There was finally space to articulate a nationalist, development-focused Hindutva pitch that didn't have to pass through SAD's panthic filter. Many in the party's older generation now believe that rekindling the SAD alliance would be akin to trading away their hard-earned autonomy for a partner in terminal decline.SAD, under Sukhbir Badal's stewardship, is a pale shadow of its former self. Credibility has eroded across constituencies—from rural Malwa to the urban fringes. The party's handling of the sacrilege incidents, its back and forth on farm law politics, and reputation as a dynastic, insular outfit have all contributed to the steep fall. SAD won just three assembly seats in 2022, its worst performance ever. In the 2024 general election, its vote share stagnated and its appeal among younger Sikhs seemed even more brittle.advertisementDespite all this, Jakhar's push to renew the alliance has come with a sense of urgency. He argued that communal amity in Punjab was best served by a SAD-BJP partnership. But in the backrooms of BJP offices in Patiala, Amritsar and Ludhiana, that logic is being questioned—not just on ideological grounds but political arithmetic.A senior BJP leader from the Doaba region, who's been part of the organisation since the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era, put it bluntly: 'We've finally started talking to Sikh voters without SAD as the interpreter. Why would we give that up now?' Indeed, for this generation of BJP leaders, the goal isn't just to win elections—it's to build a political identity that resonates with Sikhs independently of the Akali Dal.This evolution aligns with the RSS's long-term view. Over the past decade, the Sangh has deepened its outreach to Sikh scholars, institutions and cultural bodies not only in the state but nationally and internationally. The aim has been to engage in ideological dialogue, not transactional politics.Quietly but certainly, Sangh leaders—in Punjab and nationally—have fostered spaces for Sikh voices that are both devout and nationalist, without leaning on SAD as the intermediary. These include scholars working on Sikh history with a national lens, Dera leaders with social service platforms and even local granthis open to engaging with Sangh-linked fora.advertisementIn the past, SAD and its leaders took credit for work done by the central government. A top BJP leader in Delhi argued that the Modi government, in its first two terms, had erased the list of 'blacklisted Sikhs' who were denied entry into India, worked with the Pakistan government to open the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, besides adhering to Sikh sensibilities, such as allowing Amritdhari Sikhs to carry kirpans on domestic flights. To take the messaging down to the grassroots was ally SAD's job. 'But because of their credibility crisis, the party (SAD) still finds it challenging to convince Sikhs in the state,' said a BJP insider.Sukhbir, reacting to Jakhar's statement, said that elections in Punjab were far away and his party would align only with those who stand for the cause of Punjab. Akali Dal insiders list their demands as including the release of convicted Sikh militants, but BJP leaders point out that the Modi government, in its first term, had released some Sikh militants, yet their party got no credit.The BJP and Sangh leaderships, over the past five years, have intensified engagement with the Sikh leadership in social, political as well as religious spheres. The engagement is bearing fruit. The rise and decline of figures such as Amritpal Singh, the weak showing of Khalistan-aligned candidates in Canada's 2024 elections, and the broader disinterest among Punjab's youth towards separatist narratives suggest that de-radicalisation is underway. It's slow and uneven, but unmistakable. The vacuum left by this decline offers space—not to SAD but to a BJP that can speak clearly, confidently and respectfully to Sikhs without hiding behind old alliances.The changes are visible, such as the state BJP taking a stance in favour of actor-singer Diljit Dosanjh over the controversy erupting from his movie Sardaar Ji 3 featuring a Pakistani actress opposite him. Radical Sikh groups were using the issue to rile against the central government as well as Hindutva elements. The BJP effectively curtailed it by backing Dosanjh instead of indulging in confrontation.That's precisely why many in the BJP view Jakhar's suggestion as a step backward. 'This is old medicine for a new disease,' said a party leader from Bathinda. 'Jakhar wants to treat Punjab 2025 with the formulas of Punjab 1995. It doesn't work anymore.' Even those who respect Jakhar's political instincts see his idea as a reaction to short-term electoral anxiety, not a strategy rooted in ground reality.There's also growing belief that SAD no longer brings votes to the table. If anything, an alliance with them might drag the BJP down with the baggage of past controversies and declining credibility. 'We've spent years distancing ourselves from their misgovernance,' said another senior BJP hand from Amritsar. 'Why would we want to share a stage with them again now?'Instead, there's a growing push within the BJP to design its own political matrix for Punjab—from scratch. This means looking at caste equations anew, building alliances with backward classes, reaching out to ex-servicemen and traders and expanding in regions where neither the Congress nor the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is rooted.In Majha, for instance, the BJP sees potential among the border villages and Hindu-Sikh mixed constituencies. In Doaba, NRIs and Dalit voters are increasingly open to hearing a non-Akali nationalist pitch. In urban Malwa, BJP leaders are betting on middle-class fatigue with both AAP and SAD.As a BJP leader explained, Jakhar's nostalgia for the old alliance may come from his days in the Congress, where broad-based coalitions were the default. But the BJP's DNA in Punjab is different. It has been forged through ideological struggle, often against the grain, and with long-term vision rather than short-term deals.For now, senior BJP leaders are choosing not to confront Jakhar publicly. But their message is clear: the BJP must not outsource its Sikh outreach to SAD again. The future lies not in reviving tired partnerships but in forging fresh connections—one village, one dera, one scholar at a time.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- EndsMust Watch