Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan

apart from being unconstitutional, was considered to have three adverse effects. First, it
would eliminate merit and reduce the eligibility of Sikhs for future recruitment in the
Defence Services to 1.5% or less. Since the issue of these orders, it has come down to
about 8-9%. Second, a large part of the rural Punjab being traditionally dependent upon
employment in the Defence Forces, the new policy could evidently create a major
problem of sustenance and employment in the State. Third, it would eliminate the
historical role of Punjab as the sword-arm of India. The Akalis chiefly objected that this
order of the Centre was violative of Articles 15 and 16 of the Indian Constitution, which
provided that there shall be no discrimination in recruitment to public services on the
basis of one's place of birth. The order being unconstitutional, the Sikhs wanted that it
should be placed before the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court for adjudication
of its validity.
Similarly, it was found that an Executive order had been issued placing a ban on
the wearing of a Kirpan during air travel. The order was considered unconstitutional,
since both under the Law and the Indian Constitution there was a clear provision (Article
25) permitting the Sikhs to keep Kirpan, this being their essential religious wear.
Therefore, the agitation against the Centre continued with the major demands
being four. For, apart from the three Constitutional demands mentioned above, it was
urged that the linguistic demarcation made under the Sachar and the 'Regional Formulae,
that had actually been worked and administered for decades on end, should not be
disturbed especially when everybody had accepted it and even Members to the Punjabi
and Hindi Legislative Committees of the State Assembly had been elected on that basis.
Any change or appointment of a Commission was uncalled for, and presumably aimed at
disturbing the status quo and keeping the whip hand with the Centre. The truth of this
assertion is clear from the fact that, although a quarter century has elapsed since 1966,
and many Commissions have been appointed, yet no final demarcation has been made so
far. From the very start, the Reorganisation Acts which had reduced Punjab to a sub-state,
was attacked on three scores. First, it had kept the control of the waters and hydel power
of the Punjab rivers in Central hands. Second, although Shimla, the one time capital of
the Punjab, and summer Capital of India, was alloted to Himachal, Chandigarh, the
Capital of the Punjab, built over Punjabi speaking areas, was turned into a Union
Territory, thereby creating an entirely new precedent. Nowhere else was either the capital
of the reorganised state transferred, or the question of territorial compensation for it ever
raised. Third, was the change sought to be made in the settled and accepted linguistic
demarcation. As a part of the agitation Pheruman, an ex-Congressman, kept a fast unto
death and died. Sant Fateh Singh also kept a fast, which was given up on the assurance
that a satisfactory solution would be announced by the Prime Minister.
It is for emphasis that the issues relating to the Sikh demands, arising from
Reorganisation Act and otherwise, were purely socio-political. The three main issues
concerning the water and hydel power, the executive order for recruitment of Defence
Forces, and restriction on the wear of kirpan, were entirely constitutional, and the matter
of demarcation of Punjabi speaking areas, was a settled territorial issue which was being
unnecessarily unsettled. The substance of the Sikh demands, was that the three
constitutional issues should be placed for decision before the Constitutional Bench of the
Supreme Court, which was the only forum to decide constitutional issues, and that the
territorial issue, as already settled and accepted by all, should not be put in the melting