VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
The victory of the Shiromani
Akali Dal in the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) polls sends
several political messages loud and clear. The hegemony of the SAD amongst the
Sikhs beyond Punjab is no longer a matter of conjecture.
It is a reality which the Congress cannot brush aside, however hard it tries
and whatever logic it invents.
The process of the dominance of
the SAD in elections which are largely religious in nature started with the
landslide it got in the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC)
elections in September 2011. In that election, the SAD wiped out the faction of
Haryana SGPC led by Jagdish Singh Jhinda which wanted a separate body to manage
the elections in Haryana. Obviously, this group too was aligned to the
Congress. By winning most of the SGPC seats in Haryana, the SAD and the Sikhs
sent a clear message that there was no need for a separate management committee
for the Gurudwaras based in Haryana and the present arrangement was good
enough.
With the victory in the DSGMC
polls, SAD has emerged as the sole spokesperson of the Sikh community in
matters related to religion as well as politics. Remember, miri (politics and
political power) and piri (religion or spiritual power) are a part of the Sikh
idiom from time immemorial. Also, in between the two elections for the
religious bodies, SAD-BJP won Punjab Assembly polls for the second time in a
row in March 2012.
Obviously it was the Congress
which was at the receiving end more than the SAD (Delhi )
of the Sarna brothers – Paramjit Singh and Harvinder Singh – in the DSGMC
polls. Though the Congress officially does not participate in the elections of
the DSGMC or any religious body, it is an open secret that it was backing the
Sarnas with whatever possible way it could. Delhi Minister Arvinder Singh
Lovely was the key political strategist of the Sarnas like he was in the last
elections in 2007. At that time, Lovely took credit for the victory of the
Sarnas, this time he must take the blame too for the defeat. Punjab Congress
President Capt Amarinder Singh too campaigned for the SAD (Delhi )
and obviously the party cannot claim that it was “neutral” or does not dabble
in elections which are religious in nature. If the SAD (Delhi )
had won, both Lovely and the Captain would have been the first to claim credit.
So the verdict is as clear as
daylight and there is hardly any confusion. It was a Congress backed SAD (Delhi )
which lost the polls to the BJP backed SAD (Badal).
The timing of the victory is
significant for the father-son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh
Badal as it comes 10 months before the Delhi Assembly polls and 15 months
before the Lok Sabha elections. The Badals could well get their first MLA in
Delhi Assembly later this year and may also bargain for the West Delhi or South
Delhi Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 Parliamentary
polls from the BJP. A positive outcome in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls for
the BJP-SAD combine could also encourage the senior Badal to move to central
politics in a big way, leaving the state to his son Sukhbir. As SAD President,
Sukhbir has not lost the habit of winning and his political hegemony within the
party remains unchallenged.
Moga bye-poll, scheduled for
February 23 is next on the agenda of the Akali Dal. It is indeed a tough
election as the entire Congress has united for the first time in recent months,
forgetting the turf war of their leaders. A turncoat, Joginder Pal Jain has
been fielded as Akali nominee and even the mood amongst the voters, forced for
a second election within a year, is not encouraging. If SAD wins it, there is
nothing which could stop its juggernaut and the winning habit could continue
till the Lok Sabha elections and beyond.
The loss in the DSGMC polls is
also a setback and an ominous sign for Sheila Dikshit’s Congress government in Delhi
which has been in power for over 14 years and faces Assembly polls later this
year in November-December. This is the second successive loss for the Congress
in a year in the national Capital after it lost elections to all the three
municipal corporations in Delhi in
April 2012. The two elections reflected the public mood of the national Capital
and definitely it is not pro-Congress at this point of time.
Dikshit is the longest serving
woman chief minister, having won three consecutive elections. However, over a
period, she has lost her appeal amongst the middle class voters of Delhi .
Voter fatigue is evident and the DSGMC result is a harsh wake-up call for the
Delhi Chief Minister.
Anti incumbency of three terms,
mega corruption, price rise, scam in the Commonwealth Games—all have now
combined and come to haunt the Dikshit government along with repeated onslaught
of BJP, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Arvind
Kejriwal against the government. If the AAP contests all the seats and walks
away with even a small per cent of votes, the beneficiary would obviously be
the BJP. Dikshit now has nothing new to offer to the people of Delhi
and the administration and government has been rather lackluster in her third term.
DSGMC result could well be the
pointer to the larger political battle in Punjab as well
as Delhi . It has given enough
indications and the direction in which political wind is blowing.
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