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The premier political party of the modern period of Sikhism seeking
to protect the political rights of the Sikhs, to represent them
in the public bodies and legislative councils being set up by the
British in India and to preserve and advance their religious heritage,
came into existence during the Gurdwara reform movement, also known
as the Akali movement, of the early 1920's. Need for reform in the
conditions prevalent in their places of worship had been brought
home to Sikhs by the Singh Sabha upsurge in the last quarter of
the nineteenth century. It had been increasingly felt that the purity
of Sikh precept and practice could not be recovered unless there
was a change in the structure of gurdwara management which had been
in the hands of clergy who had
come into control of the Sikh holy places since the times Sikhs
had been driven by Mughal repression to seek safety in remote hills
and deserts. A kind of professional coenobitism, contrary to the
character of Sikhism, had since developed. Most of the clergy had
reverted to Brahmanical ritualism rejected by the Gurus, and had
become neglectful of their religious office. They had converted
ecclesiastical assets into private properties, and their lives were
not free from the taint of licentiousness and luxury. Even before
the beginning of the Gurdwara reform movement, sporadic voices had
been raised against this retrogression and maladministration of
these places of worship. Organized platforms to pursue reform had
developed in the form of regional Khalsa diwans. For example, a
Khalsa Diwan had been set up in the Majha area in 1904, though it
was soon afterwards merged with the Chief Khalsa Diwan; successor
to the Lahore and Amritsar diwans of the earlier phase of the Singh
Sabha movement. But the Gurdwara reform meant a confrontation with
the mahants or the installed clergy who had the support of the government,
and the Chief Khalsa Diwan avoided, as a matter of policy, to antagonize
the government. The Majha Diwan was therefore revived in 1918 as
Central Majha Khalsa Diwan.
It was becoming clear that the reformers would settle for nothing
less than a complete restructuring, of the management of the gurdwaras
and ousting of the mahants through negotiations, legal action, or
failing both, forcible eviction. All the different strategies were
pressed into service at Gurdwari Babe di Ber at Sialkot with dramatic
success. Sri Akal Takht or Takht Akal Bunga was vacated by the clergy
under fear of force and or losing caste by association with the
"low-caste."
With the establishment in November 1920 of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee (q.v.), the need arose for developing a system to co-ordinate
the work of regional jathas, structured groups or bands of men and
women. There were at least ten such jathas espousing gurdwara reform
in different regions of the Punjab. According to a contemporary
press report, Master Mota Singh was the first to suggest the formation
of a Gurdwara Sevak Dal of 500 Sikh volunteers, including 100 paid
full-timers, all ready for action at the call of the Shiromani Gurdwara
Parbandhak Committee. At about the same time, Jathedir Kartir Singh
Jhabbar, who had liberated Gurdwara Panji Sahib, Hasan Abdal, on
18 November 1920, had suggested in a report from there that a jatha
of 200 Singhs be got up to be despatched wherever action was. These
proposals were discussed at a meeting of leading activists in front
of the Akal Takht on 14 December 1920. It was decided to form a
central dal, corps or contingent, of which Sarmukh Singh Jhabal
was designated the first jathedar (president). This date (14 December
1920) is generally accepted to be the date of the formation of the
Shiromani Akali Dal, although the title shiromani was added only
through a resolution passed by the Dal on 29 March 1922. A confidential
memorandum (22 February 1922) of the Punjab police dealing with
the activities of the Akill Dal and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee during 1920-22 does not contain this appellation for the
Dal, but refers to it as the "Central Akali Dal" to stress
its linking role for the various confederated jathas. According
to this, report, "the present strength of the Akili Dal, including
the figures for the Native States, is at least 25,000 and may be
greatly in excess of that estimate." In some contemporary government
documents, the Dal is also referred to as Akali Fauj (army) which
"functioned on military lines, marched in fours, wore badges,
carried flags and organised camps."
The Shiromani Akali Dal was meant to function under the overall
control of the Shiromani Gurdwiri Parbandhak Committee making available
to it volunteers when required. But initially the jathas tended
to operate independently. Yet there was significant closeness between
the two and, at times, overlapping of leadership and action. Amar
Singh Jhabal, prominent in the Akali hierarchy, continued to be
the head of the Guru Ram Das Jatha, and Teja Singh Bhuchchar, the
first Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht, continued to head his Gargajj
Akali Dal and was at the same time one of the 5-member presidium
of the Shiromani Panth Milauni Jatha of the Central Majha Khalsa
Diwan. As the Akali movement gathered momentum; unleashing a political
storm in the Punjab with successive morchas or agitations such as
those erupting over the issue of the keys of the Golden Temple treasury,
and Guru ka Bagh, Jaito and at Bhai Pheru resulted in the complete
integration of the regional jathas into the Shiromani Akali Dal.
This also brought added power and prestige to the Shiromani Gurdwara
Parbandhak Committee, bequeathing to it fuller control over the
Dal, although the latter did maintain its separate identity, the
two working on more or less similar lines for the achievement of
a common goal. The apex leadership of both organizations was a common
homogeneous group. The membership base of the Shiromani Akali Dal
lay primarily in the rural Punjab. Akali leaders preached the need
and importance of gurdwara reform in the villages or at gatherings
held on religious festivals, and exhorted Sikhs to receive the rites
of Khalsa baptism and join the ranks of the Akali Dal to liberate
their religious shrines from the control of an effete and corrupt
clergy. Volunteers of a locality formed local Akali jathas which
were consolidated into district Akali jathas affiliated to the Shiromani
Akali Dal at the summit. The composition of the Shiromani Gurdwara
Parbandhak Committee before the passing of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act,
1925, was also `analogous, and headquarters of both orga
nizations were located in the Golden Temple complex at Amritsar.
Both the bodies were together declared unlawful by a government
order issued on 12 October 1923, and the ban on both was simultaneously
lifted on 13 September 1926.
The Akali movement ended with the enactment of the Sikh Gurdwaras
Act, 1925, and the lifting of the ban on the two Sikh organizations.
The right of the Sikhs to possess and manage their gurdwaras and
properties attached to them had been recognized. This right was
to be exercised through a central board, subsequently redesignated
the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, a statutory body formed
through an electoral process based do universal adultfranchise of
the Sikh Panth. The Shiromani Akali Dal thereafter became an independent
political party which instead of functioning under the Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee sought to control it through the electoral
process. Differences among the Akali leaders had already cropped
up on the question of implementing the Gurdwaras Act. The Government
had stipulated that only those detenues would be released from jail
who gave an undertaking in writing that they accepted and were ready
to implement the Act. While one group headed by Sardar Bahadur Mehtab
Singh obtained their release by giving the required undertaking,
the other group refused to accept the offer of a conditional release.
The first election to the Central Board (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee) held on 18 June 1926 was fought mainly between the Mehtab
Singh group and the faction led by those who had declined to accept
the condition laid down by government and were still behind the
bars. The result went clearly in favour of the latter, who rightfully
claimed to be the Shiromani Akali Dal. This faction won 85 seats
against 26 by the Sardar Bahadur group, 5 by the government sponsored
Sudhar Committee and 4 by independents. Since
then the Shiromani Akali Dal's control over the Shiromani Gurdwara
Parbandhak Committee has been complete and continuous.
Thus gaining supremacy in Sikh affairs, the Shiromani Akali Dal
extended the scope of its activity to the national arena. It fully
supported the Indian National Congress during the Bardoli satyagraha
(agitation) and the campaign for the boycott of the Simon Commission
in 1928. But the report of the Motilal Nehru Committee, a joint
body representing the Indian National Congress, the Muslim League
and the Sikhs to draft a constitution for free India, came as a
sore disappointment to the Sikhs because it had defaulted in proposing
any measures to protect their minority rights. Towards the end of
December 1929, the Shiromani Akali Dal and its sister organization,
the Central Sikh League, convened an Akali conference at Lahore
to coincide with the 44th annual session of the Congress Party.
Presiding over the conference, Baba Kharak Singh reiterated Sikhs'
determination. not to let any single community establish its political
hegemony in the Punjab. The Akali Conference, and even more dramatically
the huge Sikh procession which preceded it, made a tremendous impact.
The Congress not only rejected the Nehru Report but also assured
the Sikhs that no political arrangement which did not give them
full satisfaction would be accepted by the party.
The Shiromani Akali Dal, since its victory at the first Gurdwara
elections in 1926 had functioned as a well-knit party under the
leadership of Baba Kharak Singh and Master Tara Singh, but rifts
began to show up in the wake of the next elections which took place
in 1930. Baba Kharak Singh not only resigned the presidentship of
the Shiromani Akali Dal but also quit the party to form a rival
body, the Central Akali Dal. Master Tara Singh secured the presidentship
of the Dal and remained at the helm of Sikh politics for the next
three decades. The question of constitutional reforms under discussion
at the time prompted the two groups to sink their differences, and
act by mutual counsel. Their agreed standpoint in respect of the
Round Table Conferences and the Communal Award was based on a charter
of 17 demands adopted at the annual session of the Central Sikh
League held on 8 April 1931 under the presidentship of Master Tara
Singh. In this charter, the Sikhs expressed their opposition to
communal representation and favoured joint electorates, adding the
rider that if it was finally decided to resort to reservation of
seats on communal basis they would demand a 30 per cent share of
the assembly seats in the Punjab and five per cent in the Central
legislature. Other demands included a one-third share in provincial
services and the public service commission; maintenance of the then
existing Sikh percentage in the army; Sikh representation in the
Central cabinet and the central public service commission; recognition
of Punjabi as the official language in-Punjab; and protection of
Sikh minorities outside the Punjab on a par with, protection provided
for other minorities. At the national level, the Sikhs wanted the
government to be secular; and the Centre to have residuary powers
including powers needed for the protection of minorities.
The dissident group of Baba Kharak Singh,, the Central Akali Dal,
could never supplant the Shiromani Akali Dal as a representative
of the Sikh mainstream, and became extinct after Independence (1947).
Even. before 1947, it was the Shiromani Akali Dal which had campaigned
for Sikh rights and dignity at Daska (1931), Kot Bhai Than Singh
(1935-3'7) and Shahid Ganj, Lahore (1935-40).
The Shiromani Akali Dal fought the first elections, under the Government
of India Act, 1935, and on the basis of Communal Award, held in
Punjab on 4 January 1937, in collaboration with the Indian National
Congress. Out of the 29 Sikh seats, the Akali Dal carried 10 seats
(out of 14 contested) and the Congress won five. Opposing them was
the Khalsa National Party aligned with the Chief Khalsa Diwan and
the Unionist Party. While the Unionist Party with 96 out of a total
of 175 seats formed the ministry, the Akalis joined hands with the
Congress to form the Opposition. With the outbreak of the Second
World War in September 1939, a rift occurred between the Congress
and the Akalis. While the former boycotted the assemblies, the Akalis,
although they were at one with the Congress in their demand for
the declaration of war aims and the way these aims were to be applied
to India, pressed the Government for the protection of their minority
interests. Their representative, Baldev Singh, joined the Unionist
ministry in the Punjab as a result of a pact made with the premier,
Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan. Although known in history as the Sikandar-Baldev
Singh Pact signed on 15 June 1942, it essentially marked rapproachement
between the Unionist leader and the Shiromani Akali Dal which had
spearheaded a very active campaign againsthis government in the
Punjab.
The Pakistan Resolution passed by Indian Muslim League at Lahore
in 1940, demanding a separate country comprising Muslim majority
provinces, posed a serious threat to the Sikhs. In Pakistan as envisaged
by the Muslim League, Sikhs would be reduced to a permanent minority,
hence. to a subordinate position. The Shiromani Akali Dal opposed
tooth and nail any scheme for the partition of the country. It successively
rejected the Cripps' proposal (1942), RajaFormula (1944) and the
Cabinet Mission Plan (1946). But the existing demographic realities
were against the Sikhs. Nowhere in the Punjab did they have a sizeable
tract with a Sikh majority of population. To counter the League
demand for Pakistan, .the Shiromani Akali Dal put forward the Azad
Punjab
scheme proposing the carving out of the Punjab of a new province,
roughly between Delhi and the River Chenab, where none of the three
communities--Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs-would command an absolute
majority. But the proposal did not gather sufficient support. Even
the Central Akali Dal led by Baba Kharak Singh, set itself up against
it. The Shiromani Akali Dal, under the prevailing circumstances
cast its lot with the Indian National Congress trusting to it the
protection of Sikhs' minority rights. In a public statement made
on 4 April 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru said, "redistribution of
provincial boundaries was essential and inevitable. I stand for
semi-autonomous units as well.... I should like them [the Sikhs]
to have a semi-autonomous unit within the province so that they
may experience the glow of freedom." The working committee
of the Shiromani Akali Dal adopted on 17 March 1948 a resolution
advising its representatives in the provincial assemblies as well
as at the Centre formally to join the Congress party. Minority grievances,
however, kept accumulating. Sikh members of the East Punjab Assembly,
including a. minister in the Congress government, complained of
increasing communal tension and discrimination against their community
in recruitment to governement services. The major irritant was the
language question. After Independence, the Sikhs expected Punjabi,
mother tongue of all Punjabis, to replace Urdu as the official language
and medium of education in schools. Even a resolution of the Central
Government published in the Gazette of India dated 14 August 1948
declaring that "the principle that a child should be instructed
in the early stage of his education through the medium of his mother
tongue has been accepted by the government" did not induce
the Congress government of East Punjab to declare Punjabi as the
medium of instruction. On the contrary, the majority Hindu community
went so far as to disclaim Punjabi as their mother tongue. At the
Centre too the Constituent Assembly rescinded its own resolution
of August 1947 and declared on 26 May 1949 that "statutory
reservation of seats for religious minorities should be abolished."
The leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal finally veered round to the
view that, in the absence of constitutional guarantees to safeguard
rights of the minorities, the only way out for the Sikhs was to.
strive for an area where they would be numerous enough to protect
and develop their language and culture. They therefore decided to
press for the formation of a linguistic state coterminous with Punjabi
language. Master Tara Singh reactivated the Shiromani Akali Dal
and launched the campaign which came to be known as the Punjabi
Subs movement. In a signed article published in the Punjabi monthly
Sant Sipahi, December 1949, he said that "whatever the name
that might be given it, the Sikhs wanted an area where they were
free from the domination of the majority community-an area within
the Indian constitution but having internal autonomy as did Kashmir."
Two successive half--way measures, Sachar Formula and the Regional
Formula, devised by Congress and Sikh leaders by mutual counsel,
failed to resolve the linguistic and political issue. The Akali
leader, Master Tars Singh, once again gave the call for a Punjabi
Suba in October 1958. The Sikh masses responded enthusiastically.
The government once again initiated negotiations which culminated
in what is known as the Nehru-Tars Singh Pact of April 1959. The
truce did not last long. Call for a fresh morcha issued from the
Shiromani Akali Dal, on 22 May 1960. The campaign meandering through
many a vicissitude continued until the emergence on 1 November 1966
of a Punjabi-speaking state. But before this consummation was reached,
the Shiromani Akali Dal had been riven into two, one section led
by Master Tina Singh and the other by his lately arisen, but infinitely
stronger rival, Sant Fateh Singh, Shadow of this division and of
certain unresolved issues such as the non-transfer to it of the
state capital, Chandigarh, certain Punjabi-speaking areas still
remaining outside of it and maldistribution of water resources,
continued to bedevil electoral politics in the new Punjab. In the
first election to the state legislature in the new Punjab (1967),"the
Shiromani Akali Dal carried 26 seats in a house of 104, and its
leader, Gurnam Singh, a retired judge of the Punjab High Court,
formed on 28 March 1967 a ministry with the support of some other
small groups, including Jana Sangh, Communists and independents.
But the ministry fell soon afterwards owing to internal dissensions.
On 26 May 1967, two Akahs, Harcharan Singh Hudiara and Lachhman
Singh Gill sided with the Congress during voting on a no-confidence
motion against the ministry. The ministry survived the motion but
Hudiara on the same day announced the formation of a separate Akali
Dal. On 22 November, Lachhman Singh Gill with 19 other M.L.A.s openly
rebelled against the Shiromani Akah Dal legislative party, reducing
the joint front led by Gurnam Singh into a minority. Lachhman Singh
Gill then formed, with the support of Congress party, a new ministry
which fell on 21 August 1968 when the Congress group withdrew its
support. The crisis led to the dissolution of the state legislature
and the state was placed under President's, i.e. Central Government,
rule necessitating a mid
term poll. The two factions of the Shiromani Akali Dal became one
again and registered a resounding victory at the hustings, emerging
as the largest single party with 43 seats against Congress 38, Jana
Sangh 8, Communists 5, and others 11. Gurnam Singh again formed
a ministry in coalition with the Jana Sangh, the Communists supporting
from outside. This ministry was brought dawn on 25 March 1970 by
internal party dissent. A young Akali leader, Parkash Singh BAdal,
then formed the government (27 March 1970) supplanting Gurnam Singh
as Chief Minister. This Akali government too had a short tenure.
In the fresh Punjab Assembly elections which took place in March
1972, the Shiromani Akali Dal could muster a bare 24 seats out of
a total of 117, making way for the Congress party to form its government.
This led to self-retrospection on the part of the Shiromani Akali
Dal.
The Working Committee,of the Dal at its meeting held at Anandpur
Sahib, in the Sivalik hills on 16-17 October 1973 adopted a statement
of aims and objectives. This statement, known as the Anandpur Sahib
Resolution (q.v.),, has, since then, been the cornerstone of Akali
politics and strategy.
The Shiromani Akali Dal enjoyed another brief spell of power in
the Punjab when at the elections in the wake of Rajiv Laungoval
accord, settlement between Rajiv Gandhi, then Prime Minister of
India, and Sant Harchand Singh Laungoval, the Akali leader, signed
on 25 July 1985, it won an overwhelming majority of seats in the
state legislature and formed its government led by Surjit Singh
Barnala. Owing however to internal party pressures and the non-implementation
by the Government of India of the Rajiv-Laungoval accord, this ministry
also proved brittle. In the crisis which overtook the state after
its dismissal by the Government of India, the Shiromani Akali Dal
gradually became split into several factionsAkali Dal (Bidal) led
by a former chief minister of the Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, Akali
Dal (Laungoval) led by Surjit Singh Barnala, also a former chief
minister of the Punjab, and Akali Dal (Mann), led by a new entrant
into politics, Simranjit Singh Mann, formerly, a high-ranking member
of the Indian Police Service.
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