Akali leaders burn Article 25 of the Constitution

Who: The Shiromani Akali Dal under Sant Harchand Singh Longowal; Parkash Singh Badal, who burned a copy of Article 25 outside Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi; and the Government of India.

What: Explanation II to Article 25(2)(b) says that the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion. Sikhs read this as treating them as part of Hinduism. Khushwant Singh adds that in January 1984 the Akali Dal asked for Article 25 to be amended and for a separate Sikh personal law, so that Hindu marriage and succession law would not apply to Sikhs. The White Paper says the Akali Dal announced on 26 January 1984 a programme of burning Article 25.

The tripartite talks failed after the Haryana violence of mid-February. On 22 February Longowal called the district jathedars to Amritsar, and they decided on an ultimatum and a threat to burn the Article if their demands were refused. Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh, Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora and the former ambassador Gurbachan Singh flew to Amritsar to dissuade him and offered to seek a Supreme Court interpretation; Gurmit Singh says he refused. On 27 February Badal burned a copy of Article 25 outside Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi and other Akali leaders burned it at Chandigarh. Gurmit Singh says nine Akali leaders were arrested. In 2002 The Tribune reported Badal as saying that he burned it under pressure from Longowal, after a five-member committee's decision.

The Home Minister told Parliament on 28 February that the burning had shocked the nation. On 17 March an Akali convention at Anandpur Sahib called a "Panth Azad Week" for 2 to 7 April, with Article 25 to be burned again; the White Paper says the programme was later withdrawn. On 31 March the Home Minister offered to consult the SGPC and legal experts and to amend Article 25(2)(b) to remove doubts, and Indira Gandhi repeated the offer on 2 June.

Where: Outside Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi, at Chandigarh, and at Amritsar and Anandpur Sahib, where the decisions were taken.

Why it mattered: Gurmit Singh writes that the Government and Hindu opinion were alarmed because the Akali members of the Constituent Assembly, Hukam Singh and Bhopinder Singh Mann, had refused to sign the Constitution. The White Paper argues that Article 25(2)(b) recognises Sikh identity rather than weakening it, and that the Akali Dal raised a new demand while talks were on. Whether the Article's wording treats Sikhs as Hindus is the subject of a separate debate page.