Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa: SAD's longest-serving secretary general and No. 2 who rebelled near the end

Time of India

28-05-2025

Jalandhar: Known for his sobriety across the political spectrum of Punjab, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who passed away at the age of 89 on Wednesday, was the second senior-most leader of the
Shiromani Akali Dal
after
Parkash Singh Badal
for close to a decade and a half.
He was its longest-serving secretary general, a post created for him to make his place clear.
After Surjit Singh Barnala in 1998-99, Dhindsa was the only Akali Dal MP who could be a Union minister outside the Badal family when SAD shared power in the Union govt with
BJP
for around 12 years, until it left the NDA in 2020 in the wake of the farm movement. He remained the chemical and fertilisers minister in the Vajpayee Cabinet.
His seniority in the party, as well as his proximity to Badal senior, could be a qualitative measure to understand the crisis and level of restlessness within the Akali Dal when he parted ways with the Badals in 2019, which continues to brew.
Dhindsa took his own time to say publicly what he was saying in internal meetings after Akali Dal's drubbing in the 2017 assembly polls. After the parliamentary elections in 2019, when only Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal could win their seats, he first showed dissent subtly and then openly.
He said his biggest concern was to save the last forts of the community — Akal Takht and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee — and restore their prestige by freeing them from political control.
As he formed SAD (Democratic), several leaders from different districts started joining him, and he appeared to be becoming a serious challenge, as in the party ranks it was understood that he had proximity with senior BJP leaders on his own.
However, the farm movement changed everything. It forced the Badals to sever ties with BJP, walk out of the Union govt, and BJP started being seen as the primary adversary to Sikh/Akali voters.
Though the SAD faction headed by him failed to perform in the 2022 assembly polls, as it contested in alliance with BJP, the biggest story of routing was Parkash Singh Badal senior and Sukhbir Singh Badal losing their own seats and the SAD getting just three seats.
Ahead of the 2024 parliamentary polls, it was dawning on Akali leaders that remaining separate could lead to further shrinking of their space. At the time, Dhindsa was welcomed back by Sukhbir Singh Badal as patron of SAD. However, after 10 out of the 13 party candidates lost security deposits, a bigger rebellion took place and the matter reached Akal Takht. Though, for once, it appeared that the Dec 2 pronouncement would lead to reconciliation within Akali Dal, the Akali crisis rather pulled the Sikh high priests into a vortex.
Dhindsa could unburden himself at the fag end of his political career as well as life, as he appeared at Akal Takht along with other Akali leaders and underwent Tankhah (religious punishment). Meanwhile, his former leader, the late Parkash Singh Badal's legacy, suffered ignominy when the Akal Takht announced the withdrawal of the title of 'Panth Ratan – Fakhr E Qaum' bestowed upon him.