Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) is a hard-line Sikh nationalist political party led by Simranjit Singh Mann,[6][7] it is a splinter group of the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, India. They use 'Balti', the Punjabi term for bucket as their official election symbol. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) was formed on 1 May 1994. The party has seen a resurgence in support after the deaths of Deep Sidhu and Sidhu Moose Wala who were supporters and seen as sympathetic to the cause of Simranjit Singh Mann. [8][9] Their 2022 Lok Sabha victory after more than two decades has been viewed as a resurgence in a political vacuum due to collapse of other traditional political parties in Punjab.[10][11] The last major victory for Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) was in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, where the party and their allies won 10 out of 13 seats from Punjab.[12]
Electoral success
The party's most significant success was in the 1989 Indian general elections when they won six out of the 13 seats in Punjab.[13] The party espouses the ideology of Punjabiyat and Sikh nationalism. Moreover, the party won the parliamentary seat of Sangrur in 1999 and 2022 (by-elections). Also, Mann emphasized his priority will be to "work with the Punjab government" to "raise the poor economic condition of Sangrur including the condition of farmers under debt".[14] The party contested the SGPC elections on the same plank and won three seats.[15]
The only time an MLA belonging to SAD (A) was ever elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly was in the election of 1997 when Sardar Ajit Inder Singh won from the constituency of Sardulgarh by defeating the Shiromani Akali Dal candidate by 3,117 votes.
History and ideology
Akali politics in post-colonial India have organized around advancing and protecting Sikh political and cultural interests and Punjabi language.[16] By 1973, the Akali's adopted the Anandpur Sahib Resolution a document which advanced a desire for increasing regional autonomy within India's centralized structure of governance, as well as various socio political conerens.[16]
From 1975 to 1977, the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi would institute a state of emergency suspending elections and civil liberties. During the early phases of the emergency, Akali and Sikh parties would meet in Amritsar to resist the "fascist tendency of the Congress".[17] The Akali Dal would launch the "Campaign to Save Democracy".[17] However, the period would see widespread human rights abuses including the mass detention of dissidents and opposition; forced sterilizations; constitutional modifications; demolition of homes and displacement of people and suspension of the press.
Following the end of the emergency from 1977 to 1984, the Akali Dal would be re-elected in Punjab and constitute the main opposition to the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government. The period would see an increase in Punjabi nationalism.[16] The party would continue to organize around the adoption of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.[16] The central government would treat the Anandpur Sahib Resolution as a secessionist document, eventually culminating in Operation Blue Star, an invasion of Golden Temple on 1 June 1984. The operation would result in mass civilian casualties and precipitate an insurgency in Punjab for the formation of Khalistan. The Khalistan movement would be brutally suppressed by the central Indian state leading to mass human rights violations including extrajudicial executions, torture, and mass detention.[16]
On 1 May 1994, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) would split from the traditional Shiromani Akali Dal.[16] While there are overlaps in ideology between the two parties, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) remains more radical than its predecessor. The party continues to advocate for increasing the autonomy of the state of Punjab.[18] Moreover, the party continues to advocate for the Anandpur Sahib Resolution which proposed several religious, economic and political aims for the state of Punjab.[19] The party opposes the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal noting the canal violates the state's riparian water rights and will accelerate ongoing desertification.[20] The party has also been critical of extrajudicial killings, torture and genocide of Sikhs by governmental authorities in the 1980-90s. Upon winning the seat in 2022, Simranjit Singh Mann gave credit to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.[21]
In short, the Anandpur Sahib Resolution aimed to: reiterate the separateness of the Sikh tradition from Hinduism; increase the devolution of power from the central government to the states, to provide states with more autonomy; eradicate poverty and starvation through increased production and a more equitable distribution of wealth and also the establishment of a just social order sans exploitation of any kind; remove discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or any other ground; and combat disease and ill health by reducing the use of intoxicants and provision of full facilities for the growth of physical well-being.[19]
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