Jalandhar: Having languished in oblivion for the past eight years, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is now staring at its worst crisis ever – a split within the party and the appointment of ex-Akal Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh, who once served with the Badals closely, as president of the breakaway faction.Advocating the need to revive the Akali Dal of 1920 – the year it came into existence – a five-member Akal Takht committee unanimously elected Harpreet Singh as SAD president on August 11.The committee, which includes rebel group leaders and that was tasked with conducting a membership drive for the party and holding elections to its presidency, was formed following a hukamnama or edict of the Akal Takht – the highest authority in Sikhism – on December 2, 2024, when Sukhbir Singh Badal and his ministers were awarded punishment for being declared ‘tankhaiya’ or guilty of religious misconduct.Badal had stepped down as SAD president in November after being declared tankhaiya. His resignation was accepted on January 10.Harpreet Singh’s appointment marks a major shift in Punjab’s politics for two reasons – one, he is the first Dalit to become SAD president, and two, he was appointed by an Akal Takht panel.The formation of the breakaway faction has led to claims and a debate over the ‘real’ Akali Dal, much to the discomfort of Badal, who was re-elected as SAD president on April 12, 2025 by SAD delegates separate from the Akal Takht-appointed one which declared Harpreet Singh head of the breakaway faction earlier this month.The split within the SAD has also taken place at a time when the next assembly election in Punjab is just a year and a half away.While Badal has targeted the Harpreet Singh-led faction for acting at the behest of Union government agencies as well as the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Harpreet Singh has targeted the Badals as a ‘bhagoda dal’ or ‘group of deserters’ who did not abide by the edict of the Akal Takht.He has also claimed that his faction’s name is the Shiromani Akali Dal and that it is the ‘real’ SAD.Harpreet Singh (centre) offers his prayers after being unanimously elected president of the SAD’s breakaway faction on August 11, 2025. Photo: PTI/Shiva Sharma.Harpreet Singh versus Sukhbir BadalIn his maiden speech after assuming charge as SAD president on August 12, Harpreet Singh said his faction would ‘snatch the three pillars’ upon which the SAD (Badal) stands, namely the “Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC), the SAD’s election symbol of takdi (scales) and the party’s office”. The SGPC is responsible for managing and administering gurdwaras.He said that had the Badal-led group followed the December 2, 2024 hukamnama of the Akal Takht, he would have never joined politics. The Akal Takht in its edict had also ordered the SAD leadership to take all factions on board.“The SAD under the Badals has lost its political and moral relevance. It has failed the youth of Punjab. The SAD was always a party of the common person. We will revive the SAD to its original spirit of service, sacrifice and Sikh values,” he said.Badal reacted by accusing the Harpeet Singh faction in turn of ‘defying’ the Akal Takht’s edict, which he said “had specifically ordered against the setting up of breakaway factions to weaken the SAD”.“The whole world knows that Harpreet Singh has entered into a conspiracy with anti-Sikh and anti-Punjab [Union government] agencies to divide and weaken the Khalsa panth [the Sikh community], Punjab and the Akali Dal in league with disgruntled elements,” he wrote on X.He continued: “A tailor-made complaint was also procured as part of this plot to throw me out of the panth. It is also a known fact that Giani Harpreet unleashed the conspiracy against me … even after I had bowed my head before Sri Akal Takht Sahib and owned full responsibility for any wrong done by anyone during the Akali government.”In a show of strength and battle for legitimacy, both factions held parallel rallies to mark the 40th death anniversary of ex-SAD president Harchand Singh Longowal on August 20 in Sangrur district.Meanwhile, the SAD has also planned a prayer meeting for the party’s success in forcing the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to withdraw the Land Pooling Policy at the Akal Takht on August 28 and a ‘Fateh Rally’ on August 31 in Moga district.The Akali Dal and its various factionsThis month’s split aside, the SAD is India’s second-oldest party, younger only than the Congress. Its inception coincides with the formation of the SGPC. The party’s headquarters are based in Chandigarh.Over its 100-year-long political journey, the SAD has split into many factions, including the SAD led by Badal, the SAD (Amritsar) led by Simranjit Singh Mann, the SAD (Talwandi) headed by ex-SGPC president Jagdev Singh Talwandi, the SAD (Democratic) founded by Kuldip Singh Wadala and headed by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, the SAD (Taksali) formed by Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, the SAD (1920) led by ex-assembly speaker Ravi Inder Singh and the newly formed SAD led by Harpreet Singh.Among these, the SAD (Democratic) and the SAD (Taksali) were dissolved and merged into the SAD (Sanyukt). The latter went on to form an alliance with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and contested the Punjab assembly elections 2022.While all these factions exist, the one recognised by the Election Commission is the Akali Dal led by Sukhbir Badal.Badal (wearing orange scarf) after his re-election as SAD president in April. Photo: PTI/Shiva Sharma.Who is Harpreet Singh?A vocal face of Sikh religion and politics, 53-year-old Harpreet Singh has remained in the news over the past decade for his stand for the panth and Sikh identity and for cornering the BJP-RSS for their ‘anti-minority’ ideology.Hailing from the Muktsar Sahib district, Harpeet Singh joined the SGPC as a preacher in 1997 and assumed charge as head granthi (reader of Sikh scripture) of the Gurdwara Sri Darbar Sahib in Muktsar Sahib in 1999. The SGPC appointed him as jathedar (chief) of the Takht Damdama Sahib in 2017, and he became jathedar of the Akal Takht in 2018.Harpreet Singh began work on a PhD comparatively studying the Guru Granth Sahib and the Quran at the Punjabi University in Patiala but could not complete it. He has also translated the Quran into Punjabi.Once a close confidant of the Badals, Harpreet Singh’s meetings with Union home minister Amit Shah in 2022 and culture and tourism minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in 2023 had set the alarm bells ringing in the Badal camp.Harpreet Singh was removed as Akal Takht jathedar in February on the back of allegations of misconduct two months after Badal served his punishment.In another significant move, Harpreet Singh has appointed Satwant Kaur, the daughter of ex-All India Sikh Student Federation president Amrik Singh as panthic council chairperson. Amrik Singh, who was killed in Operation Blue Star inside the Golden Temple in 1984, was son of Kartar Singh, who headed the Damdami Taksal Sikh seminary that came into prominence under separatist militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.Justifying Harpreet Singh’s appointment as SAD president, faction spokesperson Charanjit Singh Brar shared a list of some ex-jathedars who had earlier headed the SAD, including Longowal, who was jathedar of the Takht Sri Damdama Sahib; Mohan Singh Tur, who was head of the Akal Takht; and Giani Bhupinder Singh, who was also Akal Takht jathedar.Badal-led SAD guilty disobeyed Akal Takht’s edict: Harpreet Singh to The WireSpeaking to The Wire, Harpreet Singh said that he was never a part of the SAD rebel group ‘Akali Sudhar Lehar’ and that it was disbanded on December 2, 2024 at 5 pm, when Badal and his party leaders were awarded punishment for their sins.“The rebel group adhered to the Akal Takht edict and were ready to go along with the Badal camp, but no one from the Badal camp approached them. It was the responsibility of the Badal group to accept the seven-member committee, hold a membership drive … and elect a new party president,” he said.“Instead of taking the rebel group leaders along, Badal went ahead with his election as SAD president. It is our faction that has followed the Akal Takht edict, while the Badal-led SAD was guilty of going against it,” he added.Dissident Akali politicians rebelled against Badal’s leadership last year and raked up a number of ‘mistakes’ the SAD-led Punjab government presided over between 2007 and 2017, including its mishandling of the 2015 sacrilege cases and Badal’s purported attempt to have Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim pardoned by the Akal Takht in an old case involving his alleged blasphemous bid to imitate the tenth Sikh Guru.Asked which faction is the ‘real’ Akali Dal, Harpreet Singh said: “This decision would be made by the people of Punjab and the panth in the time to come.”The ex-jathedar also said that the SAD was the party of the common person, farmers and small shopkeepers, but that capitalist forces made it their personal fiefdom.On being termed the ‘B-team’ of BJP-RSS, Harpreet Singh said that even Akali veterans Surjit Singh Barnala, Jagdev Talwandi, Master Tara Singh and Fateh Singh too had faced such allegations.“When jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra got separated from the Akali Dal, he formed the Sarb Hind Akali Dal. He was against the Congress but was still labelled as the B-team of the Congress. This has been happening for a long time,” he said.Harpreet Singh also maintained that as of now he is focusing on the organisational structure of his party and the 2027 assembly polls are not on his agenda.When asked if his faction would consider an alliance with BJP, he said it will decide on alliances when someone listens to its demands and holds talks with it.“For 20 years, villages in Punjab [during militancy] did not see a baraat [marriage procession] as over a lakh youth were killed and families were destroyed. If someone will talk about these issues, we will consider an alliance with them,” he said.However, on the possibility of the SAD and the BJP coming together, Harpreet Singh said that the Badal-led SAD was already with the BJP.“Let them come together. Otherwise too, there is no difference between the SAD and the BJP. The way the BJP was not conducting the SGPC elections and was giving a chance to the Badal-led SAD to control its affairs, it appears they are together. But we are here to fight for Punjab and the panth, and we are getting a good response from the public.”After splitting from the SAD (Badal), Harpreet Singh’s breakaway faction passed multiple resolutions aimed at strengthening its organisational structure. The party has also said it will release a vision document in a month.Among the faction’s key decisions is that its president will not contest any election and the party’s membership will always remain open. It also advocated the need to implement the Jhunda Committee’s recommendations constituted under Iqbal Singh Jhunda’s leadership for the SAD’s revival after its 2022 assembly election debacle.On Punjab’s long-pending demands, the Harpreet Singh-led SAD extended its support to farmers, farm labourers and workers’ unions, and demanded the release of Bandi Singhs, justice in sacrilege cases, the conduct of elections in the SGPC, making Chandigarh Punjab’s exclusive capital, sharing Punjab’s river water as per international law, and a ban on ‘outsiders’ casting votes, receiving government jobs and buying property in Punjab.Rebel group never responded to our call for unity: SAD spoxCountering Harpreet Singh’s allegations, Badal-led SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema told The Wire that after the Akal Takht’s December 2, 2024 hukamnama to take all factions along, the SAD’s working committee had passed a resolution in this regard in Chandigarh.“The then-SAD working president Balwinder Singh Bhundar had requested rebel group leaders to go along with them [the Badal camp], but they did not respond,” he said.“Under the leadership of Sukhbir Badal, we held the party’s membership drive, for which there is a recruitment system in place. We have records to prove our membership drive and the fact that the rebel group did not participate,” he said.Cheema questioned Harpreet Singh’s move to split the SAD and said that he ought to look at his own ‘unethical’ behaviour instead of pointing fingers at Badal.“If he was so interested in contesting the election to the post of SAD president, he should have declared so and avoided the damage to the Akal Takht’s stature. Harpreet Singh not only misled the Akalis, but also duped the jathedars with whom he had been serving till date,” he added.Without naming the BJP-RSS, Cheema claimed that regardless of the split being the handiwork of the Union government, the Congress or the AAP, the fact is that the opposition does not want the SAD to gain ground.He also said that the SAD has submitted documents pertaining to the party’s constitution, symbol and membership to legal experts. “We are mulling a criminal complaint and a case under Section 420 of the IPC [which pertained to cheating and has been replaced by Section 318 of the BNS] against Harpreet Singh,” he said.Politics at play: ex-Akal Takht jathedarTerming the split within the SAD as pure politics, former Akal Takht jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh said that people have lost faith in the entire SAD leadership. Whatever either faction is doing is hollow and lacking in moral principles, he added.“What they are doing is causing harm to the Sikh community. Whether it was the sewa performed by the SAD (Badal) at the Akal Takht or the punishment awarded to Sukhbir Badal by the Akal Takht, everything is politics. We cannot have any hopes from these people,” he said.Interestingly, the SAD rebel group had approached Bhai Ranjit Singh to lead their faction last year, but he had turned down their offer citing his interest in the SGPC elections that have been pending for the last 14 years.Experts speakPolitical experts are of the view that as the SAD led by Harpreet Singh has been formed under the Akal Takht’s directive, it is likely to win legitimacy within the Sikh community. However, they raised questions over the ten-year-long delay by rebel SAD leaders in speaking against the Badals in sacrilege cases.Chandigarh-based Sikh observer Manjit Singh termed the split in the SAD as a fight for power at the behest of Union government agencies and the BJP-RSS. Even the fight within Sikh institutions was also for power, he claimed.“The way Harpreet Singh appeared on the political map of Punjab is not a sudden development. The ground for his political innings was already prepared. His maiden speech about snatching the SGPC, the SAD’s party symbol and the SAD’s party office, the tripod on which the SAD led by the Badals has stood, reflects what lies behind the split within the SAD,” he said.He also said that Harpreet Singh has taken the reins of the SAD’s split group just to counter Badal.“But the fact is that the Badal-led SAD still has its cadre, whereas Harpreet is yet to gain that ground. This is why the BJP too would like to wait for some time, and an SAD-BJP alliance might not happen any time soon,” he added.Talking about Badal’s politics, Manjit Singh said that with assembly elections a year and a half away, things could still change if Badal manages to hold ground and change the public perception against him.Senior journalist Jaspal Singh Sidhu told The Wire that instead of eyeing the SAD’s presidency, Badal should have struck some kind of compromise with all factions.“Sukhbir kept on committing blunders. He could have partially implemented the Jhunda Committee recommendations for the revival of the SAD and taken the disgruntled leaders along. But he stuck to the old way of politics and focused on his personal interests,” he said.Sidhu added that Badal is deeply insecure of the possibility that he will lose everything if he loses the SAD presidency. “Badal is following his father [and former five-time chief minister] Parkash Singh Badal’s rulebook, which is not just damaging the party but more importantly the Sikh panth,” he added.Asked about the future of both factions, the senior journalist said that the SAD has witnessed splits earlier too. “The difference this time is that Harpreet Singh was on the offensive while Badal was on the defensive. The 2027 Punjab assembly elections will decide the future of the SAD. Till then, it will be status quo.”Further talking about the BJP’s politics and a potential alliance with the SAD, Sidhu said that it appears the saffron party will wait for some time.“The SAD was replete with examples that whenever a split had taken place, one group came to an end while the other gained prominence. Even now, either of the two factions will come to an end. Time will tell which leader outplays whom,” he said.