Phoolka, who spent four decades fighting for justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, is the latest addition to the party’s growing list of Sikh faces
03 April, 2026 – Chandigarh : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has inducted former AAP leader Harvinder Singh Phoolka as part of its strategy to win over Sikh voters ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly election. Phoolka, who spent four decades fighting for justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, is the latest addition to the party’s growing list of Sikh faces.
BJP’s traditional vote bank in Punjab has been Hindu and urban voters. The party’s alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delivered rural and Sikh votes for over two decades, but this partnership collapsed in 2020 over the farm laws.
With both parties now contesting separately, BJP must find its own way into the Sikh heartland. Former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, a moderate Sikh leader, has already joined the party. Other notable Sikh leaders who have joined include former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Ravneet Singh Bittu, and former US Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
At his maiden rally in Moga, Home Minister Amit Shah paid tribute to Sikh sacrifices for the country and invoked Hindu-Sikh unity. However, whether these inductions can make a real electoral difference is far from certain.
Punjab’s voters have historically been sceptical of Sikh leaders rooted in Delhi rather than in the state. Political analysts caution against reading too much into individual inductions, saying that being a Sikh leader doesn’t automatically translate into representing the Sikh community.
“BJP is focusing on Sikhs, and this may leave Hindu voters confused and turn them towards other parties, especially the Congress,” said an analyst.
Dr Pramod Kumar, Director of Institute for Development and Communication, was sceptical of leaders changing parties. “Punjab’s political parties have become dharamshalas,” he said. “Leaders represent themselves, not ideologies. BJP, like other parties in Punjab, doesn’t stand for any united ideology.”
BJP’s most visible gap remains in Majha, covering Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, and Pathankot – the heartland of Panthic Sikh sentiment and SGPC influence. The party doesn’t yet have a credible, rooted Sikh face from this belt.
Sikh voters dominate roughly 70 to 75 of Punjab’s 117 Assembly constituencies.
The Tribune