Shame-Sham: He was acting as president, is now acting president
S P Singh
Nine years earlier, poor old Gurcharan Singh Tohra was so naive as to suggest that the then Chief Minister and Akali Dal president Parkash Singh Badal should appoint an acting president of the party. The Akali Dal had just lost the Adampur bye-election and Sukhbir Singh Badal was only 36 years old. On top of that, Tohra suggested the name of Gurdev Singh Badal. The SGPC president was thrown out of the party, deposed from his SGPC presidentship and his men were purged with a vengeance.
In 2007, things have changed. Sukhbir Singh Badal is touching 45. Tohra is long dead, and poor Gurdev Singh Badal can’t even let the sacrilegious thought enter his wildest dreams. On March 11, top brains of Akali Dal huddled together in a group called the Political Affairs Committee, and found they are all having a love affair with the same man: Sukhbir Singh Badal. Gurdev Singh Badal seconded the young man's name for acting president (he has been acting as president for so long but the reality sometimes lies in the sham). The hall echoed with Bole So Nihal. A mission had been accomplished. A mission for which at one time even the Akal Takht's jathedars were decimated, sometimes two in a week.
In days of yore, emperors used to pass on the power to their progeny, cutting through a maze of palace intrigues and demolishing anyone with an aspiration for the throne. Clearly, nothing much has changed in Punjab politics where the hankering for power is still pursued in ways feudal. The electoral politics has come in handy as a cloak to hide shame and indulge in sham.
Badal has been expected for years to hand over the power to no one else but his son. The brat-turned-politician-turned-parallel power centre in the Akali polity, the only son of CM Badal, was already being referred to as "Junior Badal Sahib" by the second rung leaders and as “Kaka ji” by those with a closer rapport. Now, he is finally ‘Pardhan Sahib’. For the record, Sukhbir was recommended “because of his great work in campaigning and inducing a new life into the party.” It may possibly be an allusion to the abusive ads in newspapers, but these are acting times for everyone. So no one mentioned the abuses, and everyone put on an act.
Badal took extra care to stress that it was not him but rather the PAC which has taken the decision. However, he did not say whether he had tried to prevail upon the PAC for a different choice. The media corps seemed to have believed him, going at least by the level of grilling he had to suffer (Or have they too started ‘acting’?) With the 80-year-old Badal appointing 44-year-old Sukhbir as Akali Dal acting president, many had a private chuckle at the fact that MP Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, president of Youth Akali Dal was 55, and will have to ‘act’ younger.
Badal has reasoned that after becoming chief minister he was not able to devote enough time to the party affairs. He didn't mention that Tohra Sahib had given this idea; old age may have lead to memory lapse. Squirming comes in many forms: In the PAC meeting, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura proposed Sukhbir's name and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was among those seconding it. One of the maximum recall images from the day was Jagdev Singh Talwandi presenting Sukhbir with a sword, thus announcing the end of an era and the beginning of a new secular Dal with a modern face. Incidentally, Sukhbir is the first president, acting or otherwise, to sport a tied beard. Dhindsa was rewarded later with chairmanship of party' Parliamentary Board. He looked smug and satisfied.
Seen at 44 as young, brash and effervescent, he is famous for his sharp tongue – he used to refer to then CM Amarinder Singh as ‘hankaari raja’ – drives around in a Mitsubishi Pajero in a cavalcade of siren blazing cars, holds dinners for journalists at upscale hotels and is frequently referred to as the 'super CM'. Recently, a number of stories appeared in the media projecting the notion that Sukhbir has changed a lot over the last five years –becoming milder, mature and politically correct. There are no prizes for guessing the source for such perceptive analysis of Sukhbir.
He certainly has shunned the traditional image of Akali Dal being a party of ‘jathedars’ (Sikh clergymen) with flowing white beards, though he had to make some concession in 1999 by sporting a flowing beard himself. It has been tied back since. It is anyone’s guess how much his sculptor's skills – his profile mentions having won a north-zone clay modelling competition once – have helped him shape the new profile of the Akali Dal.
From asserting his authority on the state police and bureaucracy – some of whose members were responsible for the corruption cases and the prison days that Sukhbir and his father faced under the previous Congress government led by Amarinder Singh – Sukhbir's stamp is being felt in most decisions that his chief minister father is taking.
It was visible in the choice of Sukhbir's brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia, a first-time legislator, who became a cabinet minister due to Kaka ji's pressure. The 18-member council of ministers has five ministers, including the CM, from the Badal family. Now, his wife, Harsimrat is also all over in the ‘dhanvaad’ advertisements appearing in newspapers, a trend begun by the Akalis. The family is blooming. Things are looking up. Panth is happier. Finally, Badal Sahib has fulfilled the one last wish of Tohra Sahib. After all, presidents know a lot of acting. Even acting presidents!
March 13, 2007