Akali Save Democracy Morcha

Who: The Shiromani Akali Dal. In a 2000 letter to The Tribune, Tarlochan Singh, then vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, named the first five leaders to court arrest: Parkash Singh Badal, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Jagdev Singh Talwandi, Mohan Singh Tur and Atma Singh. Sant Harchand Singh Longowal later took over command of the protests, which continued until January 1977.

What: Indira Gandhi's Emergency began on June 25, 1975. On June 30 the Akali executive met at Sri Harmandir Sahib and Sri Akal Takht Sahib and resolved to oppose "the fascist tendency of the Congress". The Sikh Research Institute dates the launch of the Save Democracy Morcha to July 7, 1975, from Sri Akal Takht Sahib, with daily voluntary arrests. AllAboutSikhs lists the agitation under July 9, the date this timeline uses.

The Morcha was organised from the precincts of Sri Akal Takht Sahib for as long as the Emergency lasted. The Akalis put it plainly: "The point is whether democracy in this country is to survive or not." The historian J. S. Grewal says nearly 40,000 Akalis courted arrest. AllAboutSikhs gives 43,472 and says the agitation ended on January 17, 1977.

Where: Amritsar, at Sri Akal Takht Sahib and Sri Harmandir Sahib, with arrests made across Punjab.

Why it mattered: The Sikh Research Institute calls it the most effective mass mobilisation of the period. At a Chandigarh rally in 1977 Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit said, "It was in Punjab and Punjab alone that a large scale resistance was organised against it." Tarlochan Singh's letter says Giani Zail Singh, then Punjab's Chief Minister, met Badal in Amritsar on June 29, 1975, and that the Akali Dal turned down what was put to it.

The Emergency ended on March 21, 1977. In the 1977 Punjab election the Akali Dal, allied with the Janata Party, won 58 of 117 seats (Janata 25, Congress 17). Badal became Chief Minister, and his term lasted almost three years.