In the politics of Punjab, the news of alliance between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their old ally Shiromani Akali Dal is once again in the headlines. A news report claimed that the doors of BJP-Akali alliance are not closed yet. The report quoted a party leader as saying that there is still a possibility of an alliance. After this report came out, political turmoil has intensified in Punjab. Aam Aadmi Party has intensified its attack on BJP and Akali Dal.
It was reported in the report that the BJP President will be on the tour of Punjab from June 20 to 22. During this time he will participate in many programs. During this time he can discuss the strategy for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. Quoting party sources, it has been told that even before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, alliance was discussed but there was a problem regarding seats. BJP was being given only 3 seats out of 13. Therefore an alliance could not be formed.
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The alliance was broken in 2020
BJP and Akali Dal have been together in Punjab for decades. It was also seen as a Hindu-Sikh alliance. The party also remained in power continuously from 2007 to 2017. However, after the defeat in 2017, the party suffered a setback in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Despite this, Harsimrat Kaur Badal got a place in the Union Cabinet. After this, in 2020, Akali Dal broke ties with BJP over farmer laws and separated from both the alliance and the government. After this, both the parties did not come together in the 2022 assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Why alliance compulsion?
Veteran Punjab BJP leader and former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has said that without Akali Dal, BJP cannot form the government even in 2032, leave alone 2027. Sunil Jakhar also has a similar belief that BJP will have to form an alliance to form the government. These two big leaders saying this shows many political equations and truths. Both BJP and Akali Dal need each other in Punjab. Why?
- The tag of Hindu party on BJP, Sikh on Akali, both together create two big vote banks.
- Akali Dal strong on ground but leadership crisis.
- BJP is weak on the ground but has a long line of leaders. Support of central leadership including PM Modi.
- Both suffer loss due to division of Hindu-Sikh voters.
- Due to weak alternatives, the party’s voters went towards AAP.
- They seem far away from forming the government. In such a situation, there is no enthusiasm among the workers.
- Both parties became weak due to the breakdown of the alliance.
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The path to power without alliance is difficult
Akali Dal has been a big player in the politics of Punjab. However, in 2017, the graph of Akali Dal started falling. In the 2017 elections, Akali Dal was reduced to only 15 seats. After this, the alliance of Akali Dal and BJP broke and many big leaders also left the party. The party had to face opposition due to the old decisions of Sukhbir Singh Badal. BJP also could not do anything special in Punjab politics after the alliance. Despite breaking away big leaders from Congress, the party did not get success in the assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections.
In the 2022 assembly elections, BJP was reduced to 2 seats and Akali Dal was reduced to 3 seats. Big leaders of BJP worked hard in Punjab but the fort of Punjab remained impenetrable for BJP. This was the most shameful defeat ever for the Akali Dal. Big party leader and 11-time MLA Prakash Singh Badal, party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal were also not able to save their seats. Badal family members and all their close relatives could not even save their seats in the elections. Akali Dal got 18.38 percent votes, which was about 7 percent less than the 2017 elections. BJP had contested the assembly elections with full vigor but the party got only 6.6 percent votes, which was slightly more than the 5.4 percent votes it got in the 2017 elections. In such a situation, both the parties suffered the loss of contesting the elections without an alliance.
understand the difficulties
Amit Shah has made it clear during his Punjab tour that BJP will contest the elections alone. BJP has also started working on the strategy for this. By fielding Haryana CM, BJP has tried to tap the OBC vote bank. Along with this, by making a Jatt Sikh the party president, he has indicated that he no longer needs Akali Dal for Sikh votes. Along with this, BJP will never be ready for alliance on the terms of Akali Dal, because Akali Dal already wants an alliance before 2017 but BJP believes that their strength has increased. That means BJP no longer wants to be a junior partner.
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lived together for almost five decades
Shiromani Akali Dal was the oldest ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP and Akali Dal came together in 1969. At that time Jan Sangh had supported the Akali Dal government from outside. Till 1992, BJP and Akali Dal used to contest elections separately but after the elections they came together. Till 1994, Akali Dal was only a party of Sikhs but after this, doors were opened for people of other religions also. After this, in 1997, BJP and Akali Dal contested elections together. The Akali-BJP alliance was successful in Punjab for many years and the party came to power several times.
The alliance lost power in Punjab in the 2017 assembly elections and in 2020, the 25-year-old alliance broke due to farmer laws. Akali Dal opposed the farmer laws. On 17 December 2020, Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the post of Union Minister in protest against the farmer laws. After this, both the parties fought the assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections separately. Akali Dal tried a new experiment by forming an alliance with Bahujan Samajwadi Party, which failed miserably. Now the demand for an internal alliance is rising in both the parties, but BJP leaders say that only the high command will decide on the alliance.
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