5 - The Indian Union and the Sikhs, 1947–1984

Summary

In this chapter, we examine how, less than forty years after accession to the Indian Union, the Sikhs’ uneasy accommodation erupted into armed conflict. The chapter begins by reviewing the post-independence constitutional framework by focusing on religion and the rights of religious minorities. It then assesses how Nehru and his daughter, Mrs Indira Gandhi, managed ethnic tensions in the Punjab. We examine how opposition to the Centre’s policies was sustained by the SAD by the campaign for a Punjabi Suba (a Punjabi-speaking state), that was conceded in 1966 without the state capital of Chandigarh and some Punjabi-speaking areas. The chapter then evaluates the Centre’s policies in the Punjab and the SAD’s response in adopting the Anandpur Sahib Resolution (ASR), which called for autonomy and sovereignty with radically reduced powers of the Centre. It concludes by reflecting on the autonomy movement in 1982–4 that ultimately led to Operation Blue Star.