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The title of the first chapter is ‘An Overview’.
The first impression which I felt like giving after reading the chapter at one go that it was a hurried overview. It was an overview with a preconceived notion about the role of Akalis. It is an overview of the author himself and for himself.
Further, the content of the chapter is such that one feels that it could have been better a part of the preface itself. It is observed now a day, that the prefaces are written in two or three pages. They are not elaborate dissertations of the goal of the book. The earlier writers used to write long prefaces. They discussed the motives, the plans, the lay of the contents and role of different people and factors which played the role in writing the book. They also discussed the hypothesis within the preface and the first chapter always started with discussing the dominating concept. It was never a panegyric.
Before making any further observation, there is need to gather the important contents of the chapter which follows.
The Akali history is dominated by the Sikh traditions. This was the main thesis in the preface. The author has asserted that the Akalis had inherited and born out of a tradition. They had lived through the period by orienting their responses to the changing time. They are an historic growth and they continue to grow like that. This is how the author aims to present the history of Akalis as per the contents of this chapter.
There are three important and concrete things in the history and traditions of the Sikhs. The first is the Guru Granth Sahib. The Second is the Sikh Sangat or the Panth. The third is the Gurudwara.
Guru Granth Sahib is not a book as any common man would like to conclude after learning that it is a book that the Sikhs called the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Granth Sahib is for Sikhs a divine existence and the real Guru. It is for them not a book but a divine existence. For Akalis, Guru Granth Sahib is the Guru. The author writes, "It was the source of their beliefs, values, attitudes and inspiration."
Guru Sangat is also given the status of a divine existence. When the Sikhs gather before Guru Granth Sahib, they are the listeners to the contents of Guru Granth Sahib. At that time, they are also the part of divine existence. Guru Granth Sahib is divine and the Sangat which is listening to the contents of the Guru Granth Sahib is also divine. Therefore, whatsoever the Sangat decides at that time, it is considered to be the divine order or saying or Gurumatta.
Gurudwara is the place where the Guru Granth Sahib resides. It is the place where the Sangat assembles. It is the place where the Sangat listens to the contents of the Guru Granth Sahib. It is the place where the divine speaks and the divine listens. It is the place where the langar is distributed. In the words of the author, it is the place where the Sikhs are ‘in the presence of the Guru, both as Guru Granth Sahib and as the Sangat. The Gurudwara was inseparable from Sikh ideology also because of the way in which worship was performed and the community kitchen was maintained.’
The next important tradition that author has identified is the social commitment of the Guru Panth. In the words of the author, "An essential part of the Sikh tradition was a strong sense of social commitment," (pp 2.) He continues and enunciates that this aspect had grown into the feature of ‘self-reliance and a spirit of independence’.
The social commitment laid the foundation of their political struggle. The author asserts that the belief of the Guru Panth that the Khalsa was meant to rule is a legacy of the eighteenth century. It is a big assertion but the author has not given historic evidences to back his thesis. He further writes, "The Sikhs were conscious of their distinct identity in religious and social terms much before the eighteenth century when they came to look upon themselves as a political community as well." It is something which Teja Singh had been trying to say while countering the views of Fauja Singh, who was a liberal historian.
A typical shift in use of words leaves a reader with a feeling dissatisfaction. This shift is evident in the line, "Much before the British became the rulers of the Punjab, the Singhs were dominant in the Sikh Panth not only politically but also numerically and socially." It is difficult to understand the idea of writing that the Singhs dominates the Sikh Panth. The institution of Khalsa Panth as established by Guru Gobind Singh established the traditions of using term Singh with the name of the member of the Khalsa Panth. But, the line suddenly gives a jolt to the fabric of understanding which develops up to that point. Secondly, the use of the term Singh was not exclusive to this region. Hence, whatsoever follows those lines, becomes an assortment of different statements which are concerning the role of Singh Sabhas and the rise of the Akalis as a political parties later.
From that point onwards, the author has given an overview of the Akalis’ history. In the rest of the book he had elaborated on those points only.
He identifies the rise of Akalis as a response to the Sikhs community to the reforms of the Gurdwaras. This activity started from 1920. A new factor had entered by then in the field. It was the factor of British government. The British government had a role in control of the Gurdwaras. Therefore, the activities of Akalis which were directed towards the reforms of the Gurdwara had to deal to with the British government. This explanation became the foundation of elaboration of the role of Akalis activities during the whole period under review of this book within this chapter. The author has declared, to quote, "That was why the liberation of Gurdwaras was seen by the Akalis as a prelude to the liberation of the country." The first halt of this activity was the founding of the Shiromani Akali Dal in December 1920. It had followed the formation of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC). The author had related the succeeding history with this development. He has traced the history in brief up to legislation of The Sikh Gurdwaras act of 1925. In it, he delved more on Jaito Morcha which is quite justified. However, he identifies the election of the Akalis to the newly formed SGPC as historic event and declared that it established ‘symbiotic relationship between the two Panthic organizations’ and thereby recognizes for the SGPC a status of a Panthic organization. Hence, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the SGPC, the two new bodies formed because of historic development, are two new Panthic organization. This is how the meaning of explanation can be understood. This he has emphasized in succeeding paragraph.
The author writes that the SAD grew into a political organization from 1926 onwards. The other important political group of the Sikhs of that time was Central Sikh League which was working in close cooperation with Indian National Congress since 1919.
The SAD participated in the All Party Conference at Calcutta which was drafting the Nehru report. They participated there and opposed to the terms which was earlier accepted by The Central Sikh League identified with Mangal Singh Gill. The party succeeded in getting recognition for special interest of the Sikh community within the country. From there onwards, they started playing a pure political party role in the history of the country and the Sikh community.
While giving a survey of the political activities of Akalis up to the partition, the author has given a version which is highly debated in the history of freedom struggle of India. It is about the role of the Congress to the Lahore resolution of Muslim League and their policy towards its since then. It is a debate which has yet not concluded. The version which the author has given had been claimed by Akalis as their gift to the history of the country at many junctures in the following period. For a student of history, this is a version which could not be rejected only because it is not supported by the Congress party which had remained in power after the partition of the country. The most crucial statement of the author is quoted below:
"This was the context in which they put forth the scheme of Azad Punjab in 1943 and the conditional demand for a Sikh state in 1945 and 1946. The underlying purpose of all their political activity was the same: to obviate the creation of Pakistan."
There is no need to emphasize here that this book was written in 1996 when Punjab had lived out of a phase which would continue to remain a subject of study in the coming future. The above statement is crucial because the meaning which it imparts acquired different meaning with the changed circumstances at one stage in the history of country and the Punjab. No doubt, all the succeeding narration may be taken differently by different set of historians but an unbiased analysis can not overlook the historic happenings of that period. The Sikh community and the Punjabis were the most effected people of that phase. However, the author has overstated a fact on sufferings of the Punjabis by identifying Sikhs separately. Here, it leaves a feeling of dissatisfaction. No doubt, the author continues and reaches a conclusion about the nature of the demands of the Akalis. However, this analysis fails to accept that if you adopt wrong assumption and a particular premises for a logical derivation, then conclusions will always be one directional. This is where the Akalis suffer till this day. The author has just provided a justification for the stands of the Akalis but remains away from identifying the fact as a fact. It is here that this book becomes a work of historian who is also a Sikh by faith and has developed a nearness to one political personality of the time. The book is result of this factor.
The chapter continues to trace the history of political activity of Akalis after 1947. It reaches the Anadpur Sahib resolution. The concluding paragraph again becomes a pleading for the Akali role and achievements as a political party. However, as explained in the preceding paragraph, the explanations and generalization do not find many supporters among the students of the history. The Anandpur Sahib is political statement. The demands therein are not such that can not be taken up in India and discussed. I will not like to elaborate much on it because I intend to remain a student of history and do not intend to digress into the field of political analysis by a student of Politics. However, as said in the preceding paragraph and the first impression given in the starting, the reading of this chapter confirms my faith in my first view given above. This chapter should have been the part of the preface itself.
In the closing paragraphs, the author has given a short review of the history of Akali Party. He had gone into details in the forthcoming chapters. However, the narration suffers from the shortcomings which has been emphasized in preceding paragraphs.
As a concluding remark it can be said here that in this chapter, there is a tinge of the personal bias of the author. He has given a survey of the Akali politics throughout its period of existence for seventy five years. He intends to make the deeper study of the issues and the periods which he has identified in the history of Akalis throughout of the book. It is rather a summary given in the beginning before the actual talk can begin. Thus ends the analysis undertaken in this review up to chapter 1.
A Personal Remark: The Sikhism is a Hindu seed, nurtured by Hindu and Muslim fertilizer in the land of Punjab. It was a Hindu seed provided by Bedis, Trehans, Bhallas and Sodhis. The honour killings are there among the Sikhs till this day. Many castes like Sidhus, Sandhus, Brars, Garewals, Dhariwals etc were Rajputs. There are Dhillons, Tiwana Muslims as well as Sikhs. How all such things can be explained? It could only be explained if we accept the history of Punjab as it was and do not identify the history of Punjab as the history of Sikhs only. The history of Sikhs and Sikhism is historic growth of the history of Punjab but not the other way round.
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