Senior journalist, Chandigarh.
Before and after independence, Punjab has always raised its voice against oppression. 50 years have passed since the emergency. The first voice against emergency was raised from the land of Punjab and 43 thousand Punjabis bowed down the then PM Indira Gandhi by getting arrested.
Emergency was imposed in the country on 25 June 1975. In those days, according to the Gurudwara Act-1971, the first general elections of Delhi Gurudwara Management Committee were held. This election was fought by Shiromani Akali Dal under the leadership of Delhi Sikh leader Santokh Singh, who was the senior vice president of Shiromani Akali Dal at that time. Shiromani Akali Dal did not face any challenge in these elections. It was successful in completely capturing the power of Delhi Gurudwara Management Committee.
Through Santokh Singh, Indira Gandhi sent a message to the Akali leaders that if they support her, she is ready to accept all their demands. Santokh Singh told Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra everything about this and talked to him in detail and there was a consensus on supporting Indira Gandhi but Shiromani Akali Dal decided to open a front against the Emergency under the pressure of Prakash Singh Badal.
Jathedar Santokh Singh was blamed for this and he was expelled from the Akali Dal. Santokh Singh told his colleagues about supporting Indira Gandhi on the issue of Emergency that whatever the Akali Dal was unable to achieve even after a long fight, can be achieved without any fight. At this time one of his colleagues asked whether Indira Gandhi could be trusted that she would be honest in fulfilling her promises? Then Santokh Singh replied that the Emergency is not ending, it has just started. If Indira Gandhi had gone back on her promise, then the Panth would have a strong basis to open a front against her. Shiromani Akali Dal opened the front by issuing a joint declaration.
The news of imposition of Emergency in the country was received by the then SGPC President Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra on the morning of 26 June 1975, when he was having breakfast at the house of Principal Bharpoor Singh, Registrar of Guru Nanak Dev University. His personal assistant Avinash Singh gave this news over the telephone and said that mass arrests of opposition party leaders are being made across the country, so he should come to Sri Darbar Sahib. Jathedar Tohra left for Sri Darbar Sahib immediately after having breakfast. When he was passing through Bhandari Bridge, a media person signaled his car to stop. When asked to react to the Emergency, Jathedar Tohra said that Indira Gandhi should have resigned immediately after the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Allahabad High Court, but instead of resigning, she has done a dictatorial act by imposing Emergency, the consequences of which will be very bad for both this country and Indira Gandhi.
The next day, only one statement was published in the newspapers against the Emergency, and that was of Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra.After reaching Sri Darbar Sahib, Jathedar Tohra, after consulting with his staff, decided to call a meeting of the Shiromani Akali Dal’s working committee immediately. When he went to the SAD office, it was locked. The names and addresses of the working committee members were torn.
Jathedar Tohra, on his part, called a meeting of the Akali Dal’s working committee on June 29 to discuss the situation created by the emergency. The meeting of June 29 was quite enthusiastic. Almost everyone present in the meeting said that the Akali Dal should not take out a rally.
Bhupinder Singh Mann even said that this is our co
ndition, we have to jump into the well. We have to kill first and kill in whichever well comes first. He said that when no Akali leader has been arrested, what is the need for the Akalis to take out a rally? Everyone said that there should be no talk of a rally, yes, if arrests are made, no excuse should be made. In this meeting, a letter written by Jan Sangh leader Yagya Dutt to Jathedar Tohra was also read out in which he had asked the Akalis in a very emotional tone to take out a front.
After giving their suggestions in the meeting, everyone gave the final decision to Akali Dal President Mohan Singh Toor, Shiromani Committee President Gurcharan Singh Tohra and Prakash Singh Badal. In the meeting held that night, Jathedar Tohra had also taken another senior party leader Jagdev Singh Talwandi with him. When Jathedar Tohra’s opinion was first asked in the meeting, he said, “I have only fulfilled my duty by calling a meeting of the party working committee in your absence. Now the decision has to be taken by the Akali Dal, I have to confirm it as the President of the Shiromani Committee. Whatever decision you take, I will do the same.” But the three Akali leaders started saying that you give your opinion.
Jathedar Tohra asked whether you want to form a front? When the rest said yes, Jathedar Tohra said that instead of common workers and people, only 500-1000 selected leaders should be arrested because the emergency could last for a long time.
Parkash Singh Badal disagreed and said that we should take out a public march. During the discussion about leading the first batch after the decision to take out a public march, Jathedar Tohra suggested the name of Bir Davinder Singh, but Parkash Singh Badal said that we three should go in the first batch without Jathedar Jagdev Singh Talwandi. Jathedar Tohra agreed to this proposal, but Jathedar Talwandi said that he would not be able to lead the march alone by staying outside. He put a condition that if he is given the responsibility of leading the march, then Jathedar Tohra should stay outside to help him. Finally it was decided that Mohan Singh Toor and Parkash Singh Badal will lead the batch before Sri Akal Takht Sahib on July 9.
Mohan Singh Toor was given Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts, so that he could motivate Akali workers for the Morcha. Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra was told that he will motivate the workers of Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ropar, Patiala and Sangrur. Prakash Singh Badal took the responsibility of Kapurthala, Faridkot, Muktsar and Bathinda districts. After holding the next meeting on July 6, these Akali leaders left for their respective areas.
When Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra returned to Amritsar on July 6, he heard the propaganda against him among the Akali leaders there that he had an internal nexus with Indira Gandhi, due to which he did not want to allow a front against the Emergency. This propaganda against Jathedar Tohra was being done by people associated with Mohan Singh Toor and Prakash Singh Badal. Prakash Singh Badal did not even come to the meeting on July 6.
When Jathedar Tohra asked Mohan Singh Toor in a strict tone about the propaganda being done against him, he first denied it. When Jathedar Tohra took the name of a particular person and said that you yourself have said these things to this person, he got angry and started saying, come on, leave the anger. I have to clarify my entire position in the Diwan to be held at my Akal Takht Sahib today.
On the first day of the march organized by Shiromani Akali Dal, leaders like Prakash Singh Badal, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Jagdev Singh Talwandi, Atma Singh, Basant Singh Khalsa etc. presented themselves for arrest and were sent to jail indefinitely. During this march which lasted for 19 months, about 43,000 Sikhs were arrested.
Although in the initial phase there was no unity among the Akalis and SGPC members regarding this, but as soon as the bugle was blown against oppression, everyone united and opposed the emergency with full force.
Out of the entire country, Akali Dal took out continuous marches against the emergency only in Punjab. In the spirit of the agreement reached by the then Prime Minister with the Akalis, the Akali Dal Executive decided to declare the march from 9th July in the last days of June and the first group was arrested. This series of arrests continued till the announcement of the end of the emergency i.e. 17th January 1977.
Due to lack of consensus, the Prime Minister angrily gave a unilateral decision on river water on 24 March 1976, the consequences of which Punjab is suffering till date. Through this unilateral notification, 3.5-3.5 MAF water was distributed to Punjab and Haryana and 8 MAF water was given to non-riparian Rajasthan. This decision later became the reason for the Dharam Yud