Anandpur Sahib Resolution

The Anandpur Sahib Resolution was a statement made by a Sikh political party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, in 1973.

The document was largely forgotten, for some time after its adoption, but came into the limelight in the 1980s. The Akali Dal and the religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale joined hands to launch the Dharam Yudh Morcha in 1982 in order to implement the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. Thousands of people joined the movement, feeling that it represented a real solution to demands such as a larger share of water for irrigation and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab.

Indira Gandhi, the leader of the Akali Dal's rival Congress, viewed the Anandpur Resolution as a secessionist document.

The Akali Dal officially stated that the Anandpur Sahib Resolution did not envisage an autonomous Sikh State of Khalistan. Its president Harchand Singh Longowal declared:

Let us make it clear once and for all that the Sikhs have no designs to get away from India in any manner. What they simply want is that they should be allowed to live within India as Sikhs, free from all direct and indirect interference and tampering with their religious way of life. Undoubtedly, the Sikhs have the same nationality as other Indians.

Harcharan Singh Longowal was later assassinated by pro-Khalistan militants, who accused him of undermining the sovereignty of the Sikhs by compromising on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.

The Shiromani Akali Dal shall ever strive to achieve the following aims:

1. Propagation of Sikhism, its ethical values and code of conduct to combat atheism.

2. Preservation and keeping alive the concept of distinct and sovereign identity of the Panth and building up of appropriate condition in which the national sentiments and aspirations of the Sikh Panth will find full expression, satisfaction and facilities for growth.

3. Eradication of poverty and starvation through increased production and more equitable distribution of wealth and also the establishment of a just social order sans exploitation of any kind.

4. Vacation of discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or any other ground in keeping with basic principles of Sikhism.

5. Removal of disease and ill health, checking the use of intoxicants and provision of full facilities for the growth of physical well-being so as to prepare and enthuse the Sikh Nation for the national defence. For the achievement of the aforesaid purposes, the Shiromani Akali Dal owed society as its primary duty to inculcate among the Sikh; religious fervour and a sense of pride in their great socio-spiritual heritage through the following measures:

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