2 months ago
1
A caller sojourn of Shiromani Akali Dal’s delegation to the Iranian Embassy successful New Delhi to motion the condolence registry aft the sidesplitting of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is being seen arsenic an effort by the century-old enactment to consolidate its pro-Panth (Sikh) representation to found it arsenic a superior contender successful the 2027 Punjab Assembly election.
SAD, which often claims to beryllium the sole typical of the Sikh community, implicit the past decade, has seen an electoral downfall successful Punjab, wherever Sikh individuality and issues person agelong been cardinal to governmental discourse. In the party, which saw a rebellion last year, the rebels maintained that nether the sway of the “Badal family”, the enactment moved distant from issues surrounding the Sikh ‘Panth’, deviating from its halfway ideology of giving dependable to Sikh issues.
Since his re-election arsenic enactment president successful December 2025, however, Sukhbir Singh Badal has been making disposable efforts to reclaim the party’s Panthic credentials, with a renewed absorption connected Sikh assemblage issues.
Earlier this week, the SAD delegation led by its Delhi portion president Paramjit Singh Sarna visited the Iranian Embassy and extended heartfelt sympathies to the authorities and radical of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the play of mourning. They noted that “at moments specified arsenic this, humanity is reminded of the shared values of faith, dignity, and respect that hindrance antithetic traditions and nations.”
Separately, Mr. Sarna had urged the Indian authorities to bring backmost the Sikhs residing successful Tehran and different Indians astatine its ain expense, keeping successful presumption their safety. A tiny colonisation of Sikhs person been surviving successful Iran.
‘Gaining mislaid ground’
In the governmental circles, determination is simply a consciousness that expressing committedness to the Panth is, successful galore ways, a rhetorical necessity for the SAD. Kehar Singh, erstwhile caput of the Department of Political Science astatine Punjabi University, said: “The SAD’s look of condolence for Iran’s Supreme Leader and its interest for Sikhs and different minorities is justified. However, governmental messaging successful these actions can’t beryllium ignored. While the Sikh beingness successful Iran is constricted to a fistful of families, the governmental hint of this motion cannot beryllium overlooked.”
“If SAD doesn’t person this rhetoric, past the enactment risks alienating its halfway ‘Panthic’ support. The attempt, therefore, is to support that conception engaged and satisfied. Every specified motion is an accidental to turn acceptability and summation mislaid crushed successful the run-up to the upcoming election,” helium added.
Professor Paramvir Singh of the Department of Encyclopaedia of Sikhism astatine Punjabi University, Patiala, points retired that the Sikh transportation to Iran tin beryllium traced backmost to the days of Guru Nanak Dev. “Guru Nanak Dev, during his 4th spiritual journey, visited Mecca and returned via Iran to Kartarpur Sahib. Sikhs began settling successful Zahedan, a municipality successful Iran adjacent the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, arsenic good arsenic successful Tehran successful the 1900s. The colonisation has been dwindling implicit the years and the Sikh colonisation successful Iran present numbers lone a fewer hundred, the nonstop fig is hard to ascertain.”
