By Harjeshwar Pal Singh | Opinion |

Parkash Singh Badal, the former Chief Minister of Punjab, passed away on April 25, 2023, at the age of 95, leaving behind a legacy that is both admired and criticised. Badal was a titan who dominated Punjab Politics for more than half a century starting his political career as a Sarpanch and becoming a five time CM of the state.

Parkash Singh Badal hailed from the semi-feudal, arid, south west Mukatsar belt of Punjab. Son of a wealthy landowner, Badal a graduate from Lahore was mentored by his uncle Teja Singh and ushered into politics with the help of close relative Baldev Singh (former Defence Minister of India) and Giani Kartar Singh. Making his debut in the Punjab Assembly in 1957, Badal became CM in 1970 for the first time and a union minister in 1977. After a long period of oblivion in the 80s and early 90s, he stormed back in the late 90s and enjoyed a further 15 years at the top in power.

Badal slugged, survived, prospered and eventually triumphed in the fierce and competitive world of Sikh and Punjab Politics due to his flexible, moderate and pragmatic style of politics. A lifelong Akali, Badal knew how to swim with the tide and times. He began as a loyal “Panthic” Akali volunteer in the 1950s and 60s, became a crusader for farmers and state rights in the 1970s, a “Sikh nationalist” in the 80s a champion of “Hindu-Sikh” unity in the 90s and a “Bijli free, Atta Dal” Populist in the 21st century. It was this flexibility and many “Avtaars” which allowed him to take a centre space and shift left or right according to situation or even take the backseat like in the 80s when prudence demanded that enabled him to pose as the most reasonable choice for Akali leadership. Lack of any core convictions and ideology ,readiness to compromise and political flexibility remained outstanding traits of Badal. This allied with his soft spoken nature made him the classical “centrist” and moderate politician
and helped Badal to present himself as a reasonable face acceptable to allies like BJP in an Akali world dominated by more “Panthic” faces like Master Tara Singh, Gurcharan Singh Tohra and Jagdev Singh Talwandi.

If there was one trait of Badal which was admired by both friends and foes it was his hard work, humility and direct accessibility to people. Badal was undoubtedly the greatest mass politician of Punjab. In the pre social media and TV age of politics, especially among regional parties like Akali Dal, personal interaction and providing access to supporters was of paramount importance. No one could beat Parkash Singh Badal to it. Badal always kept a punishing schedule. He rose up early, was disciplined in his diet and exercise and worked non stop till deep into the night. Everyday at his residence in Chandigarh or Badal or wherever he was whether in secretariat or on tour, one could see hundreds of petitioners seeking favours like transfers, jobs, pensions etc whom the wily Akali obliged by telephoning to relevant authorities or writing recommendations.

He also pioneered the concept of ‘Sangat Darshan‘ which saw him visiting different parts of the state with administration in tow, directly listening to peoples grievances and disbursing grants. This practice lambasted by detractors as sheer wastage, arbitrary and feudal was used by Badal in strengthening his bonds with his core supporters and base. At the same time direct interaction enabled Badal to have his ears close to the ground. It was very rare for a petitioner who came to Badal to leave disappointed or unheard .

Out of power, Badal made it a point to attend a number of programmes daily including marriages, funerals, Bhogs, Jagratas, etc. Badal was considered as one of the pioneers of this MBA (marriage, bhog, ardas) in politics. Badal ensured that by attending numerous such programmes daily in different parts of the state led to consolidation of his power base through interacting, empowering and helping his support base. These personal visits, Sangat Darshans etc also enables Badal to develop personal relations, listen to grievances of party men, soothe ruffled feathers, conciliate divergent interests and win over detractors and opponents. He was courteous to both friends and foes and had the rare ability to make everyone who met him feel special. Acc to legend rare is a man who will defy Badal ones he visits you personally.”

Long before Arvind Kejriwal’s slippers, oversized shirts and colloquial Hindi, Parkash Singh Badal with his crumbled kurta pyjama, ruffled peasant turban and common touch was the original Aam Aadmi of Punjab Politics. Till 1997 Badal’s image was that of a common, accessible and honest mass polititician which further helped to burnish his legend.

One of the greatest reasons for the success of Parkash Singh Badal was that he was a team player who had the wisdom to share power with his supporters and cadre. His ascent to power was facilitated by the likes of Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Captain Kanwaljit Singh etc who helped him to edge out rivals like Tohra and Barnala. His citadel at Lambi was protected by the ruthless Dyal Singh Kolianwali while the likes of Harcharan Bains and Daljeet Singh Cheema were the erudite and reasonable faces of his regime. It was this understanding of Badal that politics is more soccer than tennis which ensured his long years of reign. Failure to understand this difference has hurt many Punjab politicians like Bir Davinder, Jagmeet Brar and Sukhpal Khaira .

Badal was also one of the earliest politicians to realise the importance of money power and resources for survival and durable success in politics considering the fact that fighting elections, procuring tickets, winning allies, holding rallies, silencing detectors involve crores these days. Parkash Singh Badals family is considered to be one the richest family of Punjab having accumulated large tracts of agricultural and urban property in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Rajasthan. The Orbit and Dabwali transport companies have the largest bus fleet in the state. Till recently the PTC network monopolised the news network in Punjab. They also own luxury hotels in Gurgaon and Chandigarh. Apart from these the Badal family were strongly suspected to have stakes in cable, liquor and sand mining during their stint in power .

Among his substantial legacies are his role in championing “Hindu-Sikh” unity and his alliance with BJP which helped to defuse communal tensions in the post militancy phase and helped Akali Dal back to power in 1997. The transformation of Akali Dal from a “Panthic” to a “Punjabi” party after the Moga declaration of 1996 helped the party to broaden its mass base .Later through “Atta Dal” and “Samaraks” Badal tried to appeal to Dalit voters. These tactics helped Akali Dal to 15 years of power between 1997-2017. Among his other notable achievements during his various regimes were rural development including roads and focal points, infrastructure development (highways, electricity surplus), Bathinda Refinery, social welfare (atta dal, pensions) and heritage sites like Virasat e Khalsa and Chappar Chirri.

Parkash Singh Badal’s political life can be seen as a two-act play. One from the 1950s to 1994 and the second from 1994 till 2017. In the first act Parkash Singh Badal is a mass leader, struggling and suffering for the people, spending time in jail and a champion of Farmers, Sikhs and Punjab. In this phase he has to wage a titanic fight against fellow Satraps and survive the radical onslaught. This phase saw him ascending power briefly and and then spend a time in wilderness. He is largely untainted during this phase.

The second act sees him rise to dizzying heights in politics. He was finally able to defeat and decimate all his opponents – moderate and radical, enjoy a long 15 year in power and enshrine his family in power. All his political capital carefully earned is spent during this phase as he is becomes a prisoner to power, family and politics. Punjab descends from glorious heights to become one of the borrowing bowls of India. Akali Dal is reduced to a mafia organisation and Badal family becomes an epitome of corruption, nepotism and arrogance.

Despite his long duration in power, the greatest failing of Badal was that he lacked a broad vision for the state. His politics remained largely self centred, narrow and parochial.

Badal made his political debut as the village Sarpanch and despite a 5-time stint as the states chief minister, his essential political style remains that of a Sarpanch. A Sarpanch or a village headman in rural Punjab presides over a highly competitive, internally divided and factionalised village. He has to utilise all the arrows from the famed ‘sama, dama, danda bhed‘ quiver for survival. Maintaining his personalised power at all costs remains the sine non qua of a Sarpanch’s politics. Dependence upon close kins and toadies and giving more weightage to loyalty than competence ensures his control. Dividing and destroying his opponents remains his prime concern. Giving direct accessibility to voters and keeping them dependent upon freebies ensures their support. Control and usurpation of village resources for his personal benefit augments his power. Constant backroom manoeuvre and reliance on henchmen to do the dirty work keeps the rivals down. Maintaining a façade of reasonableness, humility, moderation and affability keeps both supporters and opponents beguiled. Shirking from hard decisions and ever willing to compromise keeps dissent and acrimony from boiling over.

A narrow, short time, opportunist and constrictive worldview instead of firm convictions or long term vision remains classical traits of a Sarpanch. Badal showed these traits while in power heading the state.

His brand of economics included a mixture of populist schemes like free power, institutionalised bribery like Sangat Darshan and blatant loot of state resources creating a variety of mafias in bus, cable, sand, etc impoverished the state in the long run. Large scale bribery of voters during elections and showering of money to family fiefdom Lambi and Bathinda kept the family citadels strong but caused resentment in other areas.

As an administrator, Parkash Singh Badal was never known to take tough decision. His dilly dallying tactics and proclivity to advance favourites, sifarshis, dubious characters and moneybags at the behest of “Jathedars” was notorious.

In his quest for personalised power he presided over the destruction of most Sikh institutions like SGPC, Akali Dal and Akal Takht and filled them with his own loyal henchmen. SGPC ceded space to assorted Babas and Deradars in Dharam Parchar, Akal Takht became a parking space for pliant nobodies like Gurbachan Singh.

Once firmly settled into power, Badal privileged family and close kins over old stalwarts and loyalty above capability which saw Akali Dal becoming a family fiefdom of Badals, Majithias and Kairons. Sukhbir and Majithia further transformed it into a “corporate mafia“ comprising moneybags, and reta/cable/liquor/bus operators.

Badal’s quest for power and narrow familial interest ensured that he repeatedly compromised with the core principles of Akali Dal and transformed the once proud agrarian and regional outfit into a handmaiden of hindutva forces. The remarkable capitulation of Akali Dal on the dera issue, farmer’s agitation and Kashmir highlighted the hollowing out of this once proud outfit.

That Badal lived up to see the collapse of that vast political and personalised empire he had worked so assiduously to create must have been very painful for him in the end.

Parkash Singh Badal, along with Partap Singh Kairon and Captain Amarinder Singh, had the longest reign at the top in Punjab politics. Where Kairon will be remembered for his vision, development and institution building, Captain for his firmness and administrative acumen, Badal provides a useful template for how to connect with masses and govern a diverse state with moderation.

Harjeshwar Pal Singh is an assistant professor at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Chandigarh, where he teaches history. He is an avid political commentator.

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Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal dies at 95 (Asia Samachar, 26 April 2023)

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