“Cast your vote for Modi. He has raised the stature of India in the world, he has returned ‘maan’ (respect) to the Sikhs, given justice to the victims of the 1984 riots.” In speech after speech in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal would invoke Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek votes for Akali Dal-BJP candidates
There was no denying his fondness for the PM, and the latter returned it in good measure, making it a point to touch Badal’s feet at public rallies. In 2016, when Badal was admitted to PGIMER, Chandigarh, with chest congestion, Modi took everyone by surprise when he landed at the hospital to spend half-an-hour with the ailing patriarch. Doctors said Badal perked up after seeing the PM.
Earlier in 2015, Modi referred to Badal as “the Nelson Mandela of India”, while alluding to the years he had spent in prison during his long stint in poltics. Badal returned the compliment by calling Modi a leader who would “fulfl aspirations of national heroes, like Jayaprakash Narayan”. The two leaders were at a programme commemorating the 113th birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan.
The warm relations between the two also helped paper over the differences between Akali and BJP leaders in the state. Many BJP leaders would openly grumble about the unequal division of power between the partners, and even threaten to walk out of the coalition, but no one gave them any credence, given that Badal had a direct line to the PM.
When the three contentious farm Bills were first introduced in May 2020, raising protests from farmers, Badal gave his party dissenters a patient hearing. He also sought to allay the fears of farmers in the state, saying that the Centre would never stop giving the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat and paddy.
One such video message would eventually cost him dear, with then Congress CM Amarinder Singh referring to it time and again to drum home the point that Badal was “anti-farmer”.
Finally, when the farm agitation spiralled out of control, and the Akalis broke off their longstanding alliance with the BJ, Badal returned his Padma Vibhushan in protest. But PM Modi continued to greet Badal on his birthdays.
Last year, when the two parties fought the elections independently, many were of the belief that in the eventuality of a hung Assembly, the erstwhile partners would again get together. The buzz was that “Wadde Badal Saab”, as he came to be known after his son Sukhbir entered politics, would make it happen, along with Modi.