Punjab I: from Punjabi Suba to the Anandpur Sahib Resolution

Detail

1. Punjab's changing social make-up

• Partition (1947) changed who lived in Punjab. Most Muslims left for West Punjab (Pakistan), and Hindu and Sikh refugees arrived.
• The state changed again in 1966, when Haryana and the hill areas were separated from it. Each change shifted the balance between religious and language groups.
• Punjab's story is a story of regional aspirations. These are the demands of a region for recognition of its language, culture or religion and for more control over its own affairs, made inside the Indian Union.

2. The Shiromani Akali Dal

• Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD): formed in 1920 as the political wing of the Sikhs. It is a regional party that speaks for the Sikh community [6].
• Master Tara Singh (1885–1967): a major Sikh religious and political leader and an early leader of the Akali movement. After 1947 he became the main champion of a separate Punjabi-speaking state.
• Sant Fateh Singh: a later leader who took the Punjabi Suba movement to success in the 1960s.

3. The Punjabi Suba movement

• Punjabi Suba (Punjabi state): a state drawn around people whose first language is Punjabi.
• Why Punjab had to wait:
• In the 1950s, most of India was reorganised into states based on language.

• Punjab did not get its Punjabi-speaking state then. It came only in 1966.

• The SAD led this movement after independence (1947), and the goal was reached when Punjab was divided in 1966 [6].

4. The Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966

• Legal basis: Parliament can form new states and change the borders of existing states by ordinary law (Article 3).
• The bill needs the President's recommendation before it is introduced.
• The President sends it to the affected state legislature for its views. Parliament does not have to follow those views.
• It passes by a simple majority (more than half of the members present and voting).

• Under Article 4, such a law does not count as a constitutional amendment under Article 368.

• Enacted on 18 September 1966 [2]. Appointed day: 1 November 1966. On that day the State of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh came into existence [3].

What the Act did	Result
Created a new state	Haryana (mostly Hindi-speaking areas)
Moved the hill areas	Added to Himachal Pradesh (then a Union Territory)
Chandigarh	Became a Union Territory (UT) and the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana
Laws for Chandigarh	The Centre can extend laws to the UT of Chandigarh, with changes (Section 87) [2]
Bhakra Dam	Run by a Bhakra Management Board set up by the Centre, with representatives from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh [2]
Later change	Renamed the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) when the Beas Project works were handed to it [2]

• Result: the boundaries were redrawn around Punjabi speakers, so Sikhs became a majority in the smaller Punjab [7].
• Issues left open:
• Chandigarh: whose capital it should be.
• Border villages: which Punjabi- or Hindi-speaking villages belong to which state.
• River waters: how Punjab's rivers are shared with Haryana and Rajasthan.
• These later became centre-state disputes (see federalism and centre-state relations).

5. Why the Akalis still felt insecure

• They held power only in coalition:
• 1967: the Akalis came to power in a coalition.

• 1977: they came to power again in a coalition, this time with the Janata Party.

• Their hold on power was weak:

• Dismissed mid-term: the Centre dismissed their government before its term ended. The tool for this is President's rule (Article 356). If the President is satisfied that a state government cannot run according to the Constitution, the Centre takes over the state.
• Little Hindu support: Hindus in Punjab did not vote for the Akalis in large numbers.

• A divided Sikh community: Sikhs were split by caste and class. Dalits, whether Hindu or Sikh, leaned towards the Congress, not the Akalis.

• Effect: the Akalis could not count on winning a majority alone. This pushed them to argue for more powers for the states.

6. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution (1973)

• What it is: a resolution passed at an Akali Dal conference at Anandpur Sahib in 1973.
• Main demands:
• Regional autonomy: more power for the state to run its own affairs.
• A new balance between the Centre and the states: the Centre would keep only defence, foreign affairs, currency and communications. All other powers would go to the states.

• It was a set of 12 resolutions about the condition of Sikhs. They included making Chandigarh the capital of Punjab and merging Punjabi-speaking areas into Punjab [8].

• Why it was controversial (exercise Q4):

• It spoke of the aspirations of the Sikh qaum (a word that can mean "community" or "nation").
• It called for Sikh bolbala (dominance or supremacy).

• Critics read these words as separatism, meaning a wish to break away from India.

• NCERT's reading:

• At heart, it was a plea for stronger federalism. Federalism means a system where power is divided between the Centre and the states.

• It had limited mass appeal among ordinary people when it was passed.

• Later fate:

• The Punjab Accord, a Memorandum of Settlement signed on 24 July 1985 by the Prime Minister and Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, then President of the SAD [4], sent the Resolution to the Sarkaria Commission.
• The Sarkaria Commission (the Commission on Centre-State Relations) was set up on 9 June 1983 under Justice R.S. Sarkaria, a retired Supreme Court judge, to review the arrangements between the Centre and the states [5].

7. After 1980: from moderates to extremists

• 1980: the Akali government was dismissed.
• River-water agitation:
• The Akali Dal began a movement over sharing Punjab's river waters with its neighbouring states.

• Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal: a canal planned to carry water from Punjab to Haryana. Longowal, SAD President from 1980, was arrested in 1982 while protesting against it. He argued that it threatened Punjab's water supply [9].

• Dharam Yudh Morcha ("Religious War Front"), August 1982:

• It pressed for the demands of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution [8].

• Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale became its leading face. He urged Sikh youth to give up alcohol and drugs and to follow religious practices such as keeping uncut hair [8].

• How the leadership shifted:

• Religious leaders began to raise the idea of an autonomous Sikh identity.
• Moderate Akalis such as Longowal tried to negotiate with the Centre and failed [9].
• Control passed to extremists, who took a militant line (see Punjab II: militancy, Operation Blue Star and the Accord).

Prelims Hooks

• Shiromani Akali Dal was founded in 1920 as the political wing of the Sikhs.
• Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966: enacted on 18 September 1966. The appointed day was 1 November 1966, when Haryana and the UT of Chandigarh were created.
• Trap: the hill areas went to Himachal Pradesh, not to Haryana or Jammu & Kashmir. In 1966 Himachal Pradesh was still a Union Territory.
• Chandigarh became a UT and the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. It was not given to either state.
• New states are formed under Article 3 by simple majority. Article 4 says such laws are not amendments under Article 368.
• The Bhakra Management Board was created under the 1966 Act. It was later renamed the Bhakra Beas Management Board.
• Anandpur Sahib Resolution (1973): the Centre would keep only defence, foreign affairs, currency and communications. Its controversial words were qaum and bolbala.
• The Punjab Accord (Rajiv–Longowal) was signed on 24 July 1985. It sent the Anandpur Sahib Resolution to the Sarkaria Commission, which was set up on 9 June 1983.
• The Dharam Yudh Morcha began in August 1982 and is linked with Bhindranwale. The SYL canal carries water from Punjab to Haryana.

Mains Points

• Federalism or separatism? NCERT reads the Anandpur Sahib Resolution as a plea for stronger federalism, close to later demands for more state autonomy. Its religious language (qaum, bolbala) let critics call it separatist. Lesson: a fair autonomy demand can become dangerous when it mixes with religious identity and the Centre does not engage with it (GS-I/GS-II).
• Unfinished reorganisation creates long-running disputes. Chandigarh, the border villages and the river waters (SYL, BBMB) were all left open in 1966. They still strain Punjab–Haryana and centre-state relations. This argues for settling such issues at the time borders are redrawn, through bodies like tribunals or the Inter-State Council.
• Misuse of Article 356 breeds alienation. Akali governments were dismissed mid-term (for example in 1980) while the Akalis had only a narrow social base. Their insecurity grew, and leadership moved from moderates to extremists. This supports the Sarkaria Commission's case for using President's rule sparingly.
• Delay in recognising a language demand: Punjab got its linguistic state 10 years after most of India, and that delay fed distrust. Accepting regional aspirations early, as in the 1950s reorganisation, usually strengthens national unity rather than weakening it.