Central Sikh League

The Central Sikh League was the main Sikh political body of the 1920s and early 1930s. Its first session met at Amritsar on 29 December 1919, alongside the annual sessions of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says educated middle-class Sikhs dominated that session, among them Sardul Singh Caveeshar, Harchand Singh Lyallpuri and Master Sundar Singh Lyallpuri.

Presidents, in order

• Sardar Bahadur Gajjan Singh, the first president, who represented moderate opinion.
• Baba Kharak Singh, a committed nationalist, elected for the second session at Lahore in October 1920. He also spoke against the Nehru Report at the Gujranwala session of 22 October 1928.
• Master Tara Singh, president at the annual meeting of October 1929.

The Encyclopaedia names no other presidents.

What it did

• October 1920, Lahore: the League backed the non-cooperation movement, asked for 10,000 Sikh volunteers and wanted yellow, the Sikh colour, in the national flag.
• 22 July 1921: a new constitution set its aim as swaraj by legitimate, peaceful and constitutional means, together with Panthic unity. It had a 101-member executive and, by August 1921, units in nine towns including Amritsar, Lahore, Gujranwala and Jalandhar.
• It pressed for gurdwara reform, backed an inquiry into Nankana Sahib and protested the government's takeover of the Golden Temple keys.
• 10 October 1927: it asked for communal representation to be abolished but, if it stayed, for Sikhs to hold 30 per cent of the seats in the Punjab legislature. In 1928 it opposed the Nehru Report for accepting Dominion Status and separate electorates.
• October 1929: Baba Kharak Singh proposed boycotting the Lahore Congress session and Master Tara Singh opposed this. Congress gave assurances to Sikhs and Muslims and the League stayed engaged.
• From 6 March 1930 it joined the civil disobedience movement. After the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 5 March 1931 it joined the second Round Table Conference and presented 17 demands.

The end: the Communal Award of 16 August 1932 gave Sikhs 18.85 per cent of the seats in the Punjab legislature and Muslims 50.42 per cent. A Sikh conclave at Maharaja Ranjit Singh's samadh in Lahore on 24 July 1932 had already formed a 16-member council of action, which set up the Khalsa Darbar to lead the agitation. A joint session of the League and the Khalsa Darbar on 16 October 1933 ended the League as a separate organisation. It no longer exists.