In News: The working committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal constituted a 12-member sub-committee on December 11, 1972 to formulate comprehensive policies and programmes.
About Anandpur Sahib Resolution 1973
- The working committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal constituted a 12-member sub-committee on December 11, 1972 to formulate comprehensive policies and programmes.
- The sub-committee comprised S. Surjit Singh Barnala, S. Gurcharan Singh Tohra, S. Jiwan Singh Umranangal, the late S. Gurmeet Singh Muktsar, Dr. Bhagat Singh, S. Balwant Singh, the late S. Gian Singh Rarewala, S. Prem Singh Lalpura. S. Jaswinder Singh Brar, S. Bhag Singh, Maj-General Gurbakhash Singh and S. Amar Singh Ambalavi.
- The committee after serious deliberations at several meetings submitted a comprehensive report which was adopted by the working committee through a unanimous resolution at Shri Anandpur Sahib on October 17, 1973.
- The general house of the Akali Dal endorsed the resolution at Amritsar on August 28, 1977 and it was then endorsed by the open session of the 18th All-India Akali Conference on October 28 and 29, 1978 at Ludhiana. The Akali Dal contested the 1977 elections to Parliament and the state Assembly on an election manifesto based on this resolution.
The resolution text follows
General Aims
- The Akali Dal shall be active and committed to the realisation of the following aims: Propagation of the Sikh way of life and removal of atheism and un-Sikh thinking.
- Maintaining the feeling of a separate independent entity of the Sikh Panth and creation of an environment in which the “National Expression” of the Sikhs can be full and satisfactory.
- Banishing illiteracy, untouchability, social inequities and caste-based discrimination which are contrary to the great teachings of the great Gurus.
Religious Aims
- The following are some of the religious aims of the Dal: Bringing about a new all-India gur-udwara law which will ensure a more efficient and meaningful management of places of worship and community centres than at present and helping in the achievement of re-integration of ancient Sikh preaching orders (such as Udasis and Nirmalas) into a dynamic Sikh society without encroaching upon their financial resources and property.
- Bringing all the gurudwaras of the world under the banner of one organisation to make the Sikh religious procedures and proceedings uniform throughout the world and pooling and making effective the aggregate resources of religious propagation.
- Obtain free and self-regulated access to and control of Sri Nankana Sahib and other Sikh sacred places from which Sikhs have been torn asunder in the recent past.
Political Aims
- The political aims of the Panth are definitely ingrained in the orders of the 10th Guru in the pages of Sikh history and in the perspective of the Khalsa Panth, the purpose of which is the preeminence of the Khalsa. To give this “birthright” of the Khalsa a practical shape, creation of the necessary environment and achievement of a political constitution are necessary steps. To achieve this end the Dal will use all possible means.
- The resolution says: The areas which have deliberately and intentionally been kept out of Punjab-Dalhousie in Gurdaspur district, Chandigarh, Pinjore, Kalka and Ambala, Una tehsil (Hoshiarpur district), the Nalagarh region. Shahbad and Guhla blocks of Karnal district, Sirsa tehsil, Tohana sub-tehsil and Ratia block of Hissar district, six tehsils of Ganganagar district in Rajasthan and other contiguous Punjabi-speaking and Sikh areas should be immediately included in Punjab and made into a single administrative unit wherein Sikhism and the interests of the Sikhs “can be especially protected”.
- In this new Punjab the authority of the Centre should be confined only to the defence of the country, foreign relations, communications, railways and currency. All the residuary subjects (departments) should be under the jurisdiction of Punjab which should have the right to frame its own constitution for these subjects. Punjab would contribute its share of the necessary finances for Central subjects in the ratio of its members in the Lok Sabha-13/541 of the budget.
- The Akali Dal will strive to make the Constitution of India federal in the real sense and ensure that the authority and representation of all the states are equal at the Centre.
Source: India Today
