Jalandhar: At a recently held ‘Punjab Bachao’ rally in Ghanaur, Patiala, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal lashed out at Amritpal Singh’s Akali Dal Waris Punjab De, saying “‘Virus’ Punjab De” had one agenda: to split the Sikh vote and “finish” SAD.“Waris nahi, eh virus hai (They are not inheritors but a virus of Punjab),” said Badal, playing on the Punjabi-English alliteration.Badal has been making direct attacks against Amritpal and his party in many rallies. With the Punjab Assembly elections just months away and the fear of a division in the Sikh votes in rural areas, he is back to “panthic politics”.Panthic refers to religious, political and social interests related to the Sikh community.At a rally in the historic Baba Bakala town of Amritsar district, Badal said, “Just like the Covid virus threatened the destruction of the world, Waris Punjab De virus is programmed to create infighting in the Sikh community and weaken the SAD.”He appealed to Punjabis to shun the “anti-Punjab”, “anti-Panth”, “stooges of agencies” who he said were working with the sole purpose to weaken the SAD, bringing the dark 1980s’ era back.Badal has also alleged that central agencies and parties have “sent” Amritpal to weaken the Sikh community and foster friction within it so as to “take control of the Sikh quam”.The SAD president is not just targeting Amritpal but, in a bid to consolidate moderate Sikh voters, raising questions over Waris Punjab De’s pro-Khalistan leanings. While SAD has always used “panthic politics” as a tool to woo Sikh moderate and radical voters, this time, it is not competing against a traditional rival like the Congress but Waris Punjab De, a newcomer to politics, but one that is gaining traction.Waris Punjab De was launched on January 14, 2025. It is difficult to say if it will win seats in the coming assembly elections, but it has become a headache for traditional Akali politics.Apart from the drug crisis, justice in sacrilege cases and gangsterism, panthic politics is in focus in the run-up to these polls, and it is pitting SAD, Waris Punjab De and the newly-formed SAD (Punar Surjit), a breakaway from SAD (Badal), against each other.Panthic politics and SAD’s bid to reclaim lost groundUntil a decade ago, SAD had sway over the traditional panthic seats in the Majha belt of Punjab, particularly Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur.However, it’s sway over the politics of the state has been declining. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, SAD’s vote share fell to 13.5%, far below the BJP’s 18.6%. Its image was also dented by the post-2015 instances of sacrilege, the pardon issued to Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh by the Akal Takht, the initial support for the farm laws and drugs crisis in Punjab.Also read: Amritpal, Sarabjeet Victories Reflect Reassertion of ‘Panthic Politics’ in PunjabFormer professor of sociology Surinder Singh Jodhka wrote some time back, “Though SAD functioned largely like any other regional party, it was also regarded as a political front and face of the Sikh panth. Its defeat in the 2017 state assembly election was not merely electoral. It was a loss of legitimacy as a representative of the Sikh panth.”After the farm laws debacle, SAD left the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in 2020, ending a long-standing alliance. Further, when Badal was found guilty of religious misconduct by the Akal Takht in December 2024 and punished for it, it weakened the standing of the top Sikh bodies, Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), as a period of forced resignations and political unrest followed.Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and others during a rally to observe Rakhar Punia, the day Guru Teg Bahadur was declared a Sikh Guru, also Raksha Bandhan in the Hindu lunar calendar, at Baba Bakala Sahib, in Amritsar, August 28, 2026. Photo: PTIMeanwhile, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), eyeing a second term in power, had been endorsing the issue of Bandi Singhs – Sikh prisoners who were convicted by courts for their involvement in Punjab militancy in 1980s and 1990s. AAP’s leadership supported convict Jagtar Singh Hawara’s parole in a bid to build a narrative around panthic issues and indirectly keep Waris Punjab De party in check. Hawara is convicted in the assassination of ex-Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.The Congress and the BJP have been raising the issue of ‘Bandi Singhs’ too, but for the Congress, the immediate challenge under the newly appointed general secretary in charge of the state unit, Sachin Pilot, has been to stop infighting within its ranks. Meanwhile, the BJP has kept its assembly election cards close to chest.AICC general secretary, Punjab, Sachin Pilot, MP Charanjit Singh Channi, PPCC president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and other leaders protest for the removal of the state finance minister in Chandigarh, September 15, 2026. Photo: @INCIndia/X via PTIThe key panthic assembly constituencies of the Majha belt are Tarn Taran, Khadoor Sahib, Patti, Attari, Ajnala, Baba Bakala, Dera Baba Nanak, Khemkaran, Jandiala, Sri Hargobindpur, Amritsar South, Fatehgarh Churian, Qadian, Raja Sansi and Majitha.In the 2022 assembly elections, AAP won 10 of the 15 panthic seats, routing SAD’s traditional vote bank. The silver lining for the Akalis was the Majitha constituency won by Ganieve Kaur, who is married to SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, Badal’s brother-in-law.The Congress won four seats: Dera Baba Nanak, Fatehgarh Churian, Qadian and Raja Sansi.Waris Punjab De and its politicsWaris Punjab De, led by Amritpal Singh Sandhu, a sitting MP from Khadoor Sahib currently in Dibrugarh Jail in Assam, has already announced most of its candidates and started preparing for the polls. The party is not yet officially registered with the Election Commission of India. His father Tarsem Singh and independent candidate Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa from Faridkot are leading the party into the 2027 state assembly elections.Earlier, it was rumoured that Amritpal might contest the assembly elections from two seats – one to take on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in a direct fight. However, party leaders deny this. Waris Punjab De will field 61-year-old Satwant Singh, the son of Kehar Singh, who was convicted and hanged to death in the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi from the Bassi Pathana constituency in Fatehgarh Sahib district.The party has also fielded Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala and Daljit Singh Kalsi from Moga and Ajnala constituencies. Both are currently lodged in jail. It has also announced the candidature of Rachpal Singh Sosan from Kotakpura, and some others.Division of ‘panthic votes’Talking to The Wire, Chandigarh-based political expert Khalid Mohammad said panthic politics has lost its sheen due to voters splitting among different political parties. There are four claimants of panthic votes – SAD (Badal), SAD (Punar Surjit), Waris Punjab De and SAD (Mann).“Earlier, the division of panthic votes was largely between the traditional parties, the SAD and the Congress. Now that there are more claimants, it is SAD which is likely to lose ground, hence we see the direct attacks on Amritpal,” Mohammad said.Also read: After Another Political Rout, Daggers Drawn Against Badals in Akali DalHe pointed out that SAD has been in isolation and is losing ground. “To fill this gap, it is eyeing an alliance with the BJP. But while the Akalis are desperate for the alliance, the BJP wants to keep them guessing until the last moment. By doing so, BJP will have an upper hand in seat sharing and would bargain for more seats,” he said.It is a double whammy for SAD, Mohammad said. If its leadership agrees to a high share of seats for the BJP, it would prove suicidal for them. After all, the SAD needs more than just the panthic seats in Punjab.“It should not come as a surprise if Amritpal’s party plays spoiler in other non-panthic seats. In such a scenario, again it will be SAD which will be at a loss,” he said.Waris Punjab De wants to dominate Punjab’s political spaceAuthor, journalist and commentator Jagtar Singh considers Waris Punjab De the primary political threat to SAD. “Amritpal Singh is the main threat to Sukhbir Badal in the Sikh domain. He is an adversary of Sukhbir Badal. This is why he is attacking Amritpal directly these days. And this issue has the potential to boomerang.”Supporters of Akali Dal Waris Punjab De protest outside the DC office against the Punjab government for the imposition of National Security Act (NSA) for the third time on Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam, in Amritsar, May 6 2025. Photo:PTI /Shiva SharmaJagtar Singh said Waris Punjab De was aiming to dominate the Sikh political space, which drives the political discourse in Punjab and would certainly influence the upcoming elections. “For that, the first step would be winning the Punjab Assembly election in 2027 and the SGPC general house elections, pending since 2011. SAD stands marginalised in the assembly; countering them in the SGPC polls would be next on the agenda of Amritpal’s party,” he said.‘Panthic wave is courtesy Amritpal Singh’Talking to The Wire, Waris Punjab De spokesperson Shamsher Singh Padhri said that ever since SAD’s marginalisation and his own party’s rise, Punjab was experiencing a ‘panthic wave’.“Amritpal’s influence could be gauged from thousands of youths, including from Hindu families, getting baptized in the past few years,” he said.He said that following in the footsteps of Amritpal, many youngsters stopped taking drugs and their families have become committed supporters of Waris Punjab De.“We strongly believe that the 2027 Punjab assembly elections will largely revolve around panthic politics. Whether it is the sacrilege law passed by the AAP government, youths waiting to join Waris Punjab De or adopting Sikhism, it is all because of Amritpal Singh. It is because of our politics that other parties were forced to talk about panthic politics,” he claimed.On Sukhbir Badal’s allegation that Waris Punjab De was acting on behalf of the Union government and central agencies, Padhri said, “This shows the narrow-mindedness of Sukhbir Badal.”‘Panthic politics and politics are not the same’SAD (Punar Surjit), the breakaway faction of SAD (Badal) led by ex-Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh too has been drawing comparison between panthic politics and the politics of SAD (Badal).Without naming ex-CM Parkash Singh Badal, Harpreet Singh wrote on social media: “Post 1997, SAD (Badal’s) politics became so much centralised around one person that one by one all tall leaders who had their own identity and ground were either politically over or marginalised.”However, amidst all this, Giani Harpreet’s recent statement that that SAD (Punar Surjit) was open to an alliance with the BJP for the upcoming elections has raised questions.“SAD (Punar Surjit) might be interested in an alliance with the BJP but we cannot join hands with a party which claimed the lives of 750 farmers in Delhi protests 2020,” said Shamsher Singh Padhri.