Pre 1966 Phase

• Akalis asserted that religion and politics couldn’t be separated as two were essentially related in Sikhism. According to them , Sikhs were always subjected to discrimination, oppression and persecution etc and Hindus were accused of imposing Brahmanical tyranny. As a result, the demand for separate Punjabi speaking state was created during 1953 All India Akali Politics
• Another significant feature of Akali politics was use and manipulation of institution and symbols of Sikh religion to harness religious sentiments .

There were two major issues

However, Akali Dal’s demand for separate state after several opposition was finally accepted in 1966 when Sant Fateh Singh assured the central leadership that

• Demand is solely on linguistic lines and not religious
• Even the major political and social organisation in the Hindi speaking region also demanded a separate state

Post 1966 Phase

Secondly , acquiring power through democratic means was a problem. Hence, Anandpur Sahib Resolution was put forward.

In 1980s election, when Akali politics and ideology was rejected by majority of Sikhs, they began to intensify the communal content of their politics. This was followed by Jarnail Singh Bhindrawala who gave a call for separation and armed struggle against the Indian state . He was fighting for political & ideological hegemony over people of Punjab. As a result, Operation Bluestar was launched followed by Assasination of Indira Gandhi and signing of Accord between Rajiv Gandhi and Sant Longowal.

Features of Accord

• Transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab
• Sharing of water through Tribunal between Punjab , Haryana and Rajasthan
• Compensation to those who suffered from militancy
• Revocation of AFSPA

Khalistan Issue

Causes

• Partitioning of India on Religious lines => some Sikh factions raised voice for Khalistan
• After formation of Punjabi speaking state PUNJAB,  Akali Dal was left with no issue
• Socio-economic inequality aggravated by the Green revolution led to grievances, which were utilized by communal forces like Akalis and Khalistanis.
• Rise of Niarankari sect
• Role of Pakistani agencies post Bangladesh formation
• Emergence of Khalistani ideology under Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala who took the path of terrorism, thus resulting in the peak of Punjab crisis.

Handling of the crisis

• In the initial years, Indira Gandhi’s policy hovered between that of appeasement and tactical maneuvering instead of boldly confronting the communal and separatist challenges. Important in this respect was the failure of the government to act at the time of AS Atwal’s murder in 1983, which left the people of Punjab outraged and militancy grew by leaps and bounds.
• After meeting with a dead end with respect to political approach, the government took to military action, code-named Operation Blue Star which turned into a full scale battle. It can be said that the operation was hastily conceived and poorly executed without any proper planning.
• However, despite its negative repercussions, Operation Blue Star had established that Indian state was strong enough to deal with secession and terrorism.
• In later years, government also resorted to negotiations and appeasements, but a hard policy towards terrorism was followed from mid 1991 onwards and by 1993, Punjab was virtually freed from terrorism. The Punjab experience is quite relevant to the country as a whole as it could efface similar in futures in other parts of it.