Shiromani Akali Dal (1920–2020): Ideology, strategy, and support base

ABSTRACT Shiromani Akali Dal, the oldest state party in India, emanated from an ethnic movement launched by the Sikh community in Punjab to take control of their gurdwaras. As an ‘ethnic’ party, it has claimed to be the sole political custodian of the minority Sikh community in India since colonial times. The party has often found itself trapped at the crossroads of region and religion. This explains why it transitioned from pursuing the politics of ‘representation’ in colonial Punjab to the pursuit of ‘a territorial homeland’ for the Sikhs after partition. The Congress’ attempt to deny the reorganisation of the state and subsequently its efforts to weaken the faction ridden Akali Dal, and also the party’s own inability to draw the bulk Sikh votes, compelled the party to pursue cultural and the region-specific autonomist politics which led to the rise of militancy. In the post-militancy era, the party made a comeback as an ‘electoral’ populist party in alliance with the BJP by undergoing a paradigmatic shift from contentious ethnic and anti-centre agenda to peace and development in the state politics based on the concept of Punjabiat. The same period, however, has also witnessed the rise of previously unseen dynastic party leadership .