This is not a new development. Ties between the families of INLD founder Devi Lal and SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal stretch back decades and benefit both clans and their parties.
Accompanied INLD secretary general @AbhaySChautala when the latter filed his nomination papers for the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat besides addressing a massive @OfficialINLD gathering in Kurukshetra. Also congratulated Abhay Bhaisahab at the huge turnout in his favour besides… pic.twitter.com/MjWdQ5v2ro
— Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) May 1, 2024
Sikhs make up nearly 5 percent of Haryana’s population, according to various estimates, with significant numbers in Sirsa, Ambala, Fatehabad, Karnal, and Kaithal districts. The present Haryana assembly has only one Sikh MLA, Sandeep Singh from Pehowa, compared to four in the 2014 assembly—Jaswinder Singh Sandhu (Pehowa), Bakshish Singh Virk (Assandh), Ravinder Baliala (Ratia), and Balkaur Singh (Kalanwali).
Similarly, Ferozepur and Fazilka districts in Punjab have a considerable Hindu Jat population. The current Punjab assembly includes Jat MLA Sandeep Jakhar from Abohar. His uncle, Sunil Jakhar, is the BJP’s state president in Punjab.
But the relations between the Devi Lal and Parkash Singh Badal families extend beyond politics.
“Chaudhary Devi Lal and Sardar Parkash Singh Badal always used to tell people that they were Pagri Watt Bhais (brothers by exchanging turbans),” said Jasbir Singh Jassa, a national executive member of the INLD from Sirsa’s Sahuwala village, whose father and elder brother contested Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections on the Akali Dal’s ticket. “Helping each other during their respective elections by providing workers was one aspect. But their relationship went beyond politics to family ties.”
So strong is this bond that it has remained more steadfast than some familial relations.
Also Read: Bloodline, bahus & ‘green brigade’ ally—clash for Devi Lal’s legacy in Hisar
Cemented in stone
The relationship between the Badals and Chautalas has been immortalised in stone.
After Devi Lal died in 2001, Parkash Singh Badal installed a life-size statue of him in Killianwali, near his own village of Badal in Punjab. And when Parkash Singh Badal died last year, his statue was placed next to Devi Lal’s on 8 December, the former’s birth anniversary.
This affection has trickled down to sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons. When Badal’s statue came up, both Sukhbir and his cousin Manpreet thanked Devi Lal’s great-grandson Dushyant Chautala, then Haryana deputy CM, for making it happen.
On the birth anniversary of Sardar Parkash Singh Badal Ji, we celebrate his life and service to our nation, with a life-size statue, along side his friend, Lok Nayak Ch Devi Lal Ji at a memorial in Killianwali village. These statues signify the strong bond the two shared and that… pic.twitter.com/qfOX98PA27
— Manpreet Singh Badal (Modi Ka Parivar) (@MSBADAL) December 8, 2023
Balwinder Singh Bhunder, a former minister and Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab who has long managed SAD (B) activities in Haryana, said that while Parkash Singh Badal had worked to establish Devi Lal’s statue in 2001, it was Dushyant Chautala who made Parkash Singh Badal’s statue possible last year.
But even if the inter-familial ties have stood the test of time, the Chautala family has splintered from within.
Relations between Devi Lal’s grandsons, Ajay and Abhay Chautala, have soured to the point of no return by most accounts. While Ajay, Dushyant’s father, is president of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), Abhay remains with the INLD.
“For us, the families of both Ajay Singh Chautala and Abhay Singh Chautala are acceptable socially. But when it comes to political relations, we are with the INLD, because Chaudhary Devi Lal’s son, Om Prakash Chautala, heads that party,” Bhunder told ThePrint.
He noted that relations between Ajay and Abhay had become so tense that the Badal family couldn’t mediate between them.
“If one brother comes to an event, the other avoids it,” he said. “On 8 December, we had a bhog of Akhand Path at village Badal to mark the birth anniversary of Parkash Singh Badal. Om Prakash Chautala and Abhay Singh Chautala were there but Dushyant Chautala didn’t attend. After the bhog, when the statue was to be unveiled at Killianwali, Dushyant Chautala was there, but his grandfather and uncle gave the event a miss.”
How it all started
Ever since he was a child, 56-year-old Jassa has observed the warmth between the Chautalas and Badals. He also heard tales about it from his father, Sardar Ganga Singh, who contested the SGPC election from Hisar in 1962.
“My father remained president of the Dasham Patshahi Gurdwara at Sirsa till his death in 2001. Parkash Singh Badal accompanied by Devi Lal would often come to our residence, particularly during the SGPC elections. Usually, their lunch would be at our place,” said Jassa.
Jassa’s older brother, Parkash Singh Sahuwala, has been president of the Dasham Patshahi Gurdwara in Sirsa for the past 14 years. “Sahuwala also contested the SGPC elections from the Sirsa seat in 2011 on a Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) ticket but narrowly lost to Sant Gurmeet Singh Tirlokewala,” Jassa added.
According to what he learned from elders, Jassa said the friendship between Chaudhary Devi Lal and Parkash Singh Badal dates back to their youth, despite Devi Lal being 13 years older than Badal. Devi Lal, born in 1914, took wrestling lessons at an akhara in Badal village, where Parkash Singh Badal had become the village sarpanch in 1947 at the age of 20.
The friendship endured ever since. Bhunder recalled that Devi Lal and Badal were great friends when he was just making his political name and won his first election in 1972 from Punjab’s Sardulgarh assembly seat.
“Devi Lal was elected to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 1952 and 1957—before Haryana was carved out as a separate state in 1966. Badal too was elected to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 1957. After Haryana became a separate state, Devi Lal was frustrated by the politics of Aya Ram and Gaya Ram (turncoating). He had almost decided to quit politics after his defeat at the hands of Bhajan Lal at Adampur and Bansi Lal at Tosham in 1972,” he said.
According to five-time MLA Bhunder, Badal had a hand in convincing Devi Lal to stay on in politics.
“Badal saab and I went to Devi Lal and persuaded him to contest the 1974 byelection from Rori assembly seat in Sirsa against then CM Bansi Lal’s candidate. Since Rori shares its boundaries with my assembly seat Sardulgarh in Punjab, we sent an entire army or workers from Punjab,” he said. “Eventually, Devi Lal won that byelection despite heavy deployment of government machinery by the state government,” said Bhunder.
This victory, said Bhunder, signalled a revival of Devi Lal’s political fortunes.
“Devi Lal won the election again in 1977 and became Haryana’s CM for the first time. Parkash Singh Badal also became Punjab CM for the second time, the first being in 1970. Incidentally, I also won that election and became a minister in Badal saab’s cabinet,” Bhunder recalled.
Bhunder won the Sardulgarh seat five times between 1972 and 2004, and was elected to the Rajya Sabha three times (1998, 2010, and 2016). Devi Lal became the Deputy Prime Minister of India in 1989.
Election allies
The two families’ tradition of lending electoral support to each other has persisted through the decades.
Jassa said that since 1997, he has been actively working for the SAD in every Punjab assembly election. The SAD (B) won the assembly elections in 1997, 2007, and 2012 but lost in 2002, 2017, and 2022.
“My duty has always been at the Lambi assembly seat where Parkash Singh Badal contested. When the dates of the parliamentary elections in the two states didn’t clash, we were also assigned duties for the Lok Sabha polls. In return, the SAD (B) sends its workers to campaign in Sirsa and Ambala,” said Jassa.
Until the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) was formed in 2014, the SAD (B) contested SGPC elections for seats in Haryana, and Devi Lal’s family and party workers consistently supported the Badals.
After 2009, the SAD (B) began contesting Haryana assembly elections in alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). In 2009, the Punjab-based party fielded candidates in Kalanwali (Sirsa) and Ambala City, winning the former with Charanjit Singh Rori as its candidate. In 2014, Balkaur Singh became the SAD (B) MLA from Kalanwali, but in 2019, their candidate, Rajinder Singh Desujodha, lost to Congress’s Shishpal Keharwala.
The next assembly elections in Haryana are scheduled to take place in October this year.
Also Read: 1 deputy PM, 2 CMs, 5 MPs & 14 MLAs later, Chautala village still lags — ‘They don’t visit much’
(Edited by Asavari Singh)