Akali movement for gurdwara reform

Who: Sikh reformers organised in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and its volunteer corps, the Akali Dal. They faced the hereditary priests (mahants) who held most historic gurdwaras, and a Punjab government that backed them. Sundar Singh Majithia was elected president at the SGPC's first session, on 12 December 1920. He gave up the post early in 1921, after he entered the Punjab Legislative Council and became a revenue minister in the Punjab government, and Baba Kharak Singh succeeded him as president later that year. Baba Kharak Singh and Master Tara Singh were among the leaders of the morchas.

What: Before 1920 the Golden Temple was controlled by the Deputy Commissioner through an appointed manager. Idols had been placed in its precincts, Sikhs from backward classes were barred from entering before 9 a.m., and hereditary priests elsewhere had diverted shrine income. The steps:

• 12 October 1920: backward-caste Sikhs met at Jallianwala Bagh after priests at the Harimandar refused their karah prasad. A reading from the Guru Granth Sahib backed the reformers, and they marched to Sri Akal Takht Sahib, where a committee of 25 was set up to manage it.
• 15 November 1920: a committee of 175, including 36 government nominees, was formed as the SGPC.
• 20 February 1921: the Nankana Sahib massacre, where a jatha of about 150 was fired on by the men of Mahant Narain Das.
• 7 November 1921 to 19 January 1922: the Keys Morcha over the Golden Temple treasury keys.
• August 1922 to April 1923: Guru ka Bagh, where 5,605 Sikhs were arrested and 936 hospitalised.
• 1923 to 1925: the Jaito Morcha. The government declared the SGPC and the Akali Dal illegal and put their leaders on trial at Lahore Fort.
• July 1925: the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, passed on 7 July and in force from 1 November 1925. Its Schedule I listed 241 historic gurdwaras, to be placed under a Central Board that took the name SGPC; 65 of them later remained in Pakistan.

The underground Babbar Akalis arose after Nankana Sahib and Guru ka Bagh. Ninety-one were tried in Lahore from 15 August 1923, and six were sentenced to death.

Where: Punjab, from Amritsar to Nankana Sahib, Guru ka Bagh near Ajnala, and Jaito in the princely state of Nabha.

Why it mattered: According to the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, nearly 40,000 Sikhs went to jail, about 400 died and 2,000 were injured. About 700 Sikh village officials lost their posts. Demands for reform sharpened after the priests of Sri Darbar Sahib honoured General Dyer following Jallianwala Bagh. The result was a legal framework for managing the historic gurdwaras, with the SGPC in charge of those scheduled.