As Maharashtra votes Wednesday, some ripples are still being felt in distant Punjab. The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), whose problems have been mounting proportional to its election losses, has been left wringing its hands over the fact that the influential religious group Damdami Taksal backed its former ally BJP in the Maharashtra elections.

While top SAD leaders did not foray into the row, its general secretary and spokesperson Parambans Singh Romana commented: “Damdami Taksal Mukhi Baba Harnam Singh Dhuma extends support to BJP in Maharashtra. Just look at the level to which BJP has penetrated Sikh institutions. What a fall!”

Damdami Taksal head Harnam Singh Dhuma announced the organisation’s support for the ‘Sikh Samaj Maharashtra’ body, which appealed to Sikhs to vote for the BJP in the state.

It is not the first time that the Damdami Taksal, once headed by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, has backed the BJP. However, this particular endorsement hurts as it comes at a time when both the SAD and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) have accused the incumbent Mahayuti government in Maharashtra of interfering in the functioning of the Shri Hazur Sahib Gurdwara Management Board in the state.

The SAD accuses the BJP and RSS of also interfering in the management of other gurdwaras and Sikh institutions, including the Akal Takht.

Incidentally, the Damdami Taksal has a considerable following among Sikhs abroad, which is crucial for the BJP given the ongoing diplomatic crisis between India and Canada over the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Narendra Modi government is fighting accusations that it had a hand in orchestrating the killing of Nijjar, a Khalistani activist. The Taksal itself has kept away from pro-Khalistan activities.

During the Lok Sabha elections, former Indian Ambassador to the US and BJP candidate from Amritsar Taranjit Singh Sandhu had met Taksal chief Dhuma. Sandhu was in office in the US when an alleged attempt was made on the life of Sikhs for Justice chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannu. The episode is being investigated by the US government now.

The Sangh Parivar and Damdami Taksal relations go even further back, with the Sikh group hosting the RSS chief at its headquarters in Amritsar in 2000, and asking him for his help with the then BJP government at the Centre to have jailed Sikh political prisoners released.

Its basic role as a training centre to produce preachers has allowed the Taksal to have an extensive network within the community. Many of its students hold key positions in SGPC-controlled gurdwaras, including the Golden Temple, as well as in big gurdwaras in the US, Canada and England.

The Taksal’s support for the long-lasting SAD-BJP alliance also helped it extend that influence, plus gave it access to the Centre under the BJP. In fact, soon after Modi came to power for the first time in 2014, Damdami Taksal head Dhuma had led a delegation for a meeting with then home minister Rajnath Singh over the issue of Sikh prisoners.

Dhuma had also welcomed PM Modi’s announcement of ‘Baal Veer Diwas’ in January 2022, though the SGPC had objected to the nomenclature for the martyrdom day of Sahibzada Jarawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh. The SGPC had said that Sikhs didn’t look at the two sons of Guru Gobind Singh as ‘Baal (children)’.

The Damdami Taksal’s comfort with the BJP has, in fact, often run contrary to the Akal Takht’s unease with the Sangh’s narrative of Sikhs being part of the larger Hindu family. In 2004, RSS-affiliate Rashtriya Sikh Sangat’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of the installation of the first Guru Granth Sahib had provoked a decree by the Akal Takht asking Sikhs to remain “cautious” about the RSS.

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