Shiromani Akali Dal chief and former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, in an exclusive interview with The Hindu, dismissed the possibility of any change in the seat-sharing arrangement with ally BJP in the 2022 Assembly polls amid a rising demand by the latter's State leaders for a bigger share of seats. In the 2017 polls, the Akalis contested 94 seats and the BJP 23. Excerpts:
Relations between the Akali Dal and BJP have been under strain,as witnessed during the Delhi and Haryana Assembly polls. Will this impact your alliance in Punjab ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls?
There were some issues but now everything has been sorted out. We will fight the next Assembly polls in alliance. We will fight the polls on the same [seat-sharing] formula that we have had since the beginning. There’s not going to be a single more seat or less seat. There’s no question.
The Akali Dal recently saw a few Taksali [senior] leaders revolting. Is the party facing an internal crises? How are you preparing for the 2022 Assembly elections?
There’s no crises in the party. The leaders who have left, it’s basically retirement [for them]. When people retire and go that doesn’t mean it’s a crisis. Their exit won’t impact the party.
We are fully prepared [for elections]. In 2017 Assembly polls also when we lost, we [SAD-BJP] were number two in the vote share. The Congress had 38% vote share, we had close to 31% votes. And now after the Congress has been in power for three years, the people have seen this government’s poor performance. In our rallies and mass programmes, people tell us about their sufferings due to the indifferent attitude of the government. People are now comparing Parkash Singh Badal government’s work with the State's overall development.
Your party has been accused of remaining silent on the communal violence in Delhi.
We have not been silent. From day one we are very clear that it is very unfortunate... It’s the government which is responsible for maintaining law and order. They have to ensure the guilty are put behind bars. We know how it feels. In 1984 [referring to the anti-Sikh riots] thousands of our brothers and sisters were killed. We have been fighting the cases for 30 years now. I don’t want such a situation to happen again. Irrespective of the position, whosoever is guilty should be put behind bars. Our MP Naresh Gujral had written to the Home Minister [Amit Shah] about inaction and apathy of Delhi police during the violence. If an MP talks to somebody and still there’s no response, what do you think would be the effect of a common man’s word? This clearly shows the attitude of the police at that time.
The Opposition parties have accused the Akali Dal of doublespeak on Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
We have stuck to the same stand on CAA since the beginning. We fought for CAA because we have thousands of Hindus, Sikhs and people from the Sindhi community who have come to India from Pakistan in the last 15-20 years. We support the Act as far as it grants protection to the Sikhs and several other communities, but the Act should not exclude Muslims because then it falls short of being inclusive and secular. I said in Parliament why are you excluding the name of Muslims. If there’s nobody from the community, it’s fine. But you can’t say exclude so and so... We are a small minority in the whole thing [government] but we have clearly put forward our views on what we stand for inside Parliament and outside as well.
The apprehension being raised by those opposing the CAA is that it is a step towards creating a ‘Hindu Rashtra’. Do you agree?
I can’t comment on this at the moment because a lot of politics has gone into it. What the intention was and what has come out afterwa-rds... everyone has jumped into it. Once the dust settles, we will get to know what the exact picture is.
How do you assess the Congress government’s performance in Punjab?
Even a child in Punjab can answer this question. People want to punish the ruling Congress as the government has set new records in neglect of the State’s development. He [Captain Amarinder Singh] is the most incompetent Chief Minister that Punjab has ever had.
Name one promise which they [Congress] have delivered... Capt. Amarinder has put forth the claim of ‘breaking the back of the drug mafia’. The truth is that he has broken the back of Punjabis. People are so fed up with him that they want to get rid of him as soon as possible. Today, the drug mafia is being patronised by Congress leaders. The Chief Minister promised that he would waive the complete debts of all farmers, but after assuming power he backed out on this promise. They promised something, have done something else and are now involved only in cover-up.
After the Aam Aadmi Party’s resounding victory in the Delhi Assembly polls, do you think it will pose you a greater challenge in the 2022 Punjab polls?
The situation in Delhi is very different from Punjab... In Delhi, the fight was between AAP and BJP... the Congress let all its vote go to AAP and due to this they [AAP] won. The Punjab Assembly polls will see a direct fight between the Akali Dal and the Congress. AAP will be third in the contest.
