After the re-election of Sukhbir Singh Badal as the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the awarding of the Siropa to him by the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, a debate has erupted in political and Panthic circles as to whether the future of the committee formed for the recruitment of the Akali Dal from the walls of the Akal Takht on December 2 has been put in doubt?
But now after being honored with the acting Jathedar, Sukhbir Singh Badal is considering himself to be religiously and politically secure to a large extent. The Shiromani Akali Dal has also started preparations for the by-election to the Ludhiana West assembly constituency, for which the claimants to contest the election from this constituency on the Akali Dal ticket were continuously pressuring the party high command to announce the candidate, in view of which, former Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal reached Ludhiana. During this, after holding a secret meeting with senior leaders of the Akali Dal, he also took detailed information from the claimants of the ticket about the work they are doing for the party. Apart from this, to know the situation in the constituency, Badal also asked the leaders who had contested from the wards under the party’s constituency in the last municipal elections about the ground situation. Meanwhile, former Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal asked all the leaders about their opinion regarding the candidate in the by-election of the West Assembly constituency. If sources are to be believed, there is a lot of enthusiasm among the leaders contesting on the Akali Dal ticket from the West Assembly constituency, who have welcomed the party’s decision to contest this election. It is worth mentioning that Sukhbir Badal, who reached Ludhiana, urged the party leaders to take the work done by the party for the development of Punjab to every door in order to contest the by-election. He said that if we take the party’s policies to every single door of all the areas under the constituency in a proper manner, then only the results will come in favor of the Shiromani Akali Dal. According to sources, former Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal has assured the party’s Ludhiana leaders to announce the candidate soon, but in the meantime, all those workers have been given the duty of campaigning for the party’s policies in these elections.
On the other hand, the recruitment committee has decided to continue the recruitment of the Shiromani Akali Dal. The committee formed from the Akal Takht for the recruitment of the Shiromani Akali Dal currently has five members namely Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Manpreet Singh Ayali, Santa Singh Umaidpuri, Iqbal Singh Jhunda and Satwant Kaur. The committee had started the recruitment drive for the membership of the Shiromani Akali Dal from the Akal Takht on March 18. Regarding this, Jathedar Wadala said that the election of the Shiromani Akali Dal president has been conducted in violation of the instructions of the Akal Takht. He said that the recruitment drive is being continued continuously by the recruitment committee, which was formed from the Akal Takht. He claimed that more than 15 lakh members have been registered till April 10 and about 7 lakh more membership applications have been received. The recruitment committee expressed the hope that this campaign will be completed by June and after this, action will be taken in this matter as per the further orders from the Akal Takht.
Another member of the recruitment committee, Manpreet Singh Ayali, said that after the recruitment of the Shiromani Akali Dal in a transparent manner, the Panth-approved leadership will be handed over to the community and the Panth after praying at Sri Akal Takht Sahib. Along with this, Ayali clarified that a faction is repeatedly misleading the recruitment committee by calling it a monitoring committee, while the word monitoring is not even mentioned anywhere in the Hukamnama Sahib issued on December 2. Ayali again appealed to the pro-Panth and pro-Punjab Sangat to come together and become a part of the revival campaign of the mother party of Punjab and the representative party of the Panth, the Shiromani Akali Dal. Along with this, Ayali reiterated that the five-member recruitment committee will provide the state with pro-Panth and pro-Punjab leadership by making regular recruitment. Ayali expressed satisfaction that by the evening of April 10, 15 lakh 64 thousand members have been registered and there is a demand for about 7 lakh. Meanwhile, some leaders said that to compete with the Badal Akali Dal, such a big organization approved by the Panth is needed, on which the entire Sikh world can gather. The Shiromani Akali Dal has claimed to have recruited about 27 lakh 68 thousand members.
It is worth mentioning that the then Panj Singh Sahiban had issued an order to work for the strength of the Akali Dal by breaking up the separated faction and also issued an order for both the parties to work together, but there is no consensus between the two parties to fully follow this order. On the other hand, if the Shromani Akali Dal (Recruitment Committee) also chooses a separate Akali Dal in the near future, what will be the reaction of the acting Jathedar towards that new party? Speculations about this are also being made by the Panthic circles. According to the current Panthic situation, instead of Panthic unity, there are chances of a clash between the two Akali factions.
