Bhag Singh, Akali Dal member

Bhag Singh was one of the twelve members of the sub-committee that the Shiromani Akali Dal's working committee appointed on 11 December 1972 to frame the party's programme and policies. Its work became the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism and Devinder Singh Duggal's booklet Anatomy of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, published by the SGPC, both name him; Duggal writes "S. Bhag Singh". Neither says anything else about him, and we found no other source that does.

The sub-committee: The Encyclopaedia says the Dal appointed it to reflect on its position after the Punjab Assembly elections of March 1972, in which the Dal won only 24 of 117 seats. It met first at Amritsar and then at Chandigarh, where it finished its work in ten successive meetings, with Sardar Kapur Singh as its adviser. Duggal names Surjit Singh Barnala as chairman and counts eleven sittings, the first at Amritsar on 23 December 1972. Both sources say the working committee adopted the report unanimously at Anandpur Sahib on 16 and 17 October 1973.

The twelve members, as the Encyclopaedia lists them, were Surjit Singh Barnala, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Jiwan Singh Umranangal, Gurmeet Singh, Dr Bhagat Singh, Balwant Singh, Gian Singh Rarewala, Amar Singh Ambalavi, Prem Singh Lalpura, Jaswinder Singh Brar, Bhag Singh and Major General Gurbakhsh Singh of Badhani.

Key moments

• 11 December 1972: the Akali Dal's working committee appoints the sub-committee.
• 23 December 1972: its first sitting, at Amritsar, according to Duggal.
• 16 and 17 October 1973: the working committee adopts its report at Anandpur Sahib.

He is a different man from Bhai Bhag Singh of Vancouver, who was killed in 1914.