Badals stave off challenge to their supremacy over SGPC
Though the result may have gone in Badals’ favour, Bibi managed to put up a spirited fight and secured 42 votes out of 146
CHANDIGARH: With the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Harjinder Singh Dhami emerging victorious in the SGPC presidential polls on Wednesday, the Badals have managed to stave off a major challenge to their supremacy over the apex gurdwara body.
The high-stakes battle had become a prestige issue for SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal whose leadership has come under sharp criticism after the party’s worst-ever poll drubbing in the assembly elections.
Though the results may have gone in Badals’ favour, Bibi managed to put up a spirited fight and secured 42 votes out of 146, the highest so far by an opposition candidate in the present SGPC house. Last time, the highest votes polled in favour of an opposition candidate was in 2020 when Mithu Singh Kahneke garnered 22 votes. That time Bibi, a SAD nominee, had won the polls. She was also the head of the gurdwara body in 1999 and 2004 as a SAD candidate.
Bibi was expelled by the party after she refused to back down from contesting the SGPC presidential election. Bibi, once considered a loyalist of the Badal family, was demanding she be made the party’s nominee for the SGPC presidential poll. Before the poll, the SAD had initially suspended Kaur for “anti-party activities”, but she stood behind her decision to contest the poll, and was expelled.
Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) chief Sukhev Singh Dhindsa had also met several SGPC members and had urged them to vote for Jagir Kaur. The SAD chief had earlier accused National Commission for Minorities Chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura of trying to break the SGPC by seeking support for Bibi’s candidature for the election.
The SAD had announced Dhami as its candidate and its decision to name its candidate was a marked departure from the practice of declaring its nominee on the day of poll. The importance of this election for Badals could be gauged from this fact that they had to rally support of all SGPC members to ensure Dhami’s victory.
The scenario of Dhami’s defeat would have been a nightmare for the Badals as it would have triggered a bigger loss for them – the erosion of core support. With the expulsion of Bibi, there is no prominent woman face left in the party apart from Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Other prominent women leaders who have been ousted from SAD are former MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan and former MLA Mohinder Kaur Josh. Two other women leaders, Dr Upinderjit Kaur and Harpreet Kaur Mukmailpur, are also upset as they were denied the ticket to contest assembly polls in 2017 and 2022, respectively.
Voice against the ‘lifafa’ culture
Bibi had raised a strong opposition to the system of “lifafa” (envelope) culture (the party president naming the party nominee a few hours ahead of the polls).
Amanpreet Gill, an assistant professor of political science at Khalsa College, New Delhi, said, “Bibi (Jagir Kaur) has lost the contest but has restored the Sikh democracy,” adding that after two decades, ballot box is back in SGPC office-bearers’ election.
The SGPC, also called the mini-parliament of Sikhs, has an annual budget of around Rs 1,000 crore. It controls 80 large historical gurdwaras, besides many other shrines. The SGPC also runs two medical colleges, three hospitals, and a large number of schools and colleges. Also, the SGPC possesses the power to appoint the clergy. It gives the majority party immense authority to wield their influence in the religio-political set-up.
The SGPC poll results show that Sukhbir has been able to quell the rebellion and stay afloat as party head, for now. “I thank ‘akal purakh’, ‘khalsa panth’ and SGPC members for giving a resounding rebuff to anti-Sikh conspirators by reposing faith in Akali_Dal_in the SGPC polls today,” Sukhbir tweeted after Dhami’s victory.
What next for Bibi?
Bibi, who enjoyed a key position as a member of the party’s top decision-making body, the core committee, and remained head of the Istri Akali Dal (now both dismantled), has to look for new avenues for herself as the party she was in since 1995 has shut its doors. Jagir Kaur joins the ranks of rebel Akali leaders such as Dhindsa and others who have been expelled from the party. It would be interesting to watch whether she will float a new faction or join a rebel outfit.
“I will meet my supporters and then decide the future course of action. My fight for ‘panth’, ‘granth’, ‘rehat maryada’ and independence of the SGPC will continue,” Bibi said.