Our Company is the Prime News Network. Welfare schemes like ‘Atta Daal’ and ‘Shagun’, investments in rural infrastructure, and tight control over SGPC institutions gave the party unmatched rural reach. The rupture with the BJP, often seen as a clean ideological break, is more complex. For decades, the Badals had a close and mutually beneficial relationship with the BJP— sharing governance, coordinating seat sharing, and even aligning on many national issues. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement with the urban Hindu BJP vote complementing the rural Akali votebank, which ensured that the Akalis formed stable governments and the BJP got a share of the pie. It was only under pressure from the farmers’ protest and the realisation that their own vote base was slipping away that the Badals walked out of the NDA in 2020. At the same time, the more ruthless and pragmatic duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah decided to undermine the Akalis in the same way they did the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. They poached Akali leaders, controlled Sikh institutions outside Punjab, made overtures to jathedars, and expanded the BJP in the state. Sukhbir’s rupture with BJP is less about principle and more about political survival. Today, that survival hangs by a thread. Sukhbir may have reclaimed the president’s chair, but his party’s future is far from secure. It remains locked out of urban areas, where the BJP has aggressively poached its base. In the countryside, it must contend with not just AAP and Congress, but also a resurgent Panthic sentiment. The SGPC, a long-time Akali stronghold, has also become a battlefield for legitimacy after the party’s clashes with the Akal Takht. Sukhbir’s strategy now appears to be to restore ideological clarity and re-establish the Akali Dal as Punjab’s sole regional voice.
Reference : https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/politics/the-secret-of-sukhbir-singh-badals-speedy-rehabilitation
