The Akali Dal was able to capture power in Punjab in 1966 when Punjab created specifically for Punjabi speakers. However in 1971, Akali Dal was able to capure only one out of 13 Lok Sabha seats, and in Punjab Assembly elections of March 1972, Akalis got a mere 24 seats of a total of 117. Thus Congress Party formed the government in Punjab

This electoral debacle caused Shiromani Akali to appoint on 11 December, 1972, a sub-committee to examine the situation and to revise the programme and polices of the Dal. The 12 member of the committee were Surjit Singh Barnala, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Jiwan Singh Umranangal, Gurmeet Singh, Dr. Bhagat Singh, Balwant Singh, Gian Singh Rarewala, Amar Singh Ambalavi, Prem Singh Lalpura, Jaswinder Singh Brar, Bhag Singh, and Major General Gurbakhsh Singh of Badhani.. They came up with the Anandpur Sahib Resolution in 1973.

It claimed that:

"... the Sikhs of India are a historically recognized political nation ever since the inauguration of the Khalsa, in AD 1699, and

.. this status of the Sikh nation had been internationally recognized and accepted by the major powers of Europe and Asia, ..., and the Company Bahadur, Fort William, Calcutta, till the middle of the 19th century, ...

... the brute majority in India, in 1950, imposed a constitutional arrangement in India which denied the Sikhs of their political identity and cultural popularity, thus liquidating the Sikhs politically and exposing them to spiritual death and cultural decay leading inevitable to their submergence and dissolution into the saltish sea waters of incoherent Hinduism.."

It effectively demands that the central Indian government should cede control to a Sikh government and some changes in the constitution for granting special rights to sikhs. It also states that it aims to reclaim some territory given over to other Indian states and territories, it is silent on the issue of Pakistan Punjab but deals with the concept of an Indian federal government.

The demands in the resolution became a central tenet of the Sikh separatist calls for an independent state, called Khalistan (proposed in 1971 by Jagjit Singh Chauhan) after the murders of Baba Gurbachan Singh Nirankari and Lala Jagat Narain in 1980 and 1981 respectively.

The resolution itself is split into several constituent parts including a political cause and an economic policy. A full translation can be found on Anandpur Sahib Resolution

References

• The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Vol. 1, 1995, ed., Harbans Singh, page 133-141

See also

• Chief Ministers of Punjab (India)

Further reading

• Gurmit Singh, History of Sikh Struggles, vol. I. Delhi, 1989
• Gopal Singh, A History of the Sikh People. Delhi, 1979