ANANDPUR SAHIB RESOLUTION, a frequently invoked document of modern Sikhism pronouncing its religious rule as well as its political goal. After having enjoyed power under chief ministers, Gurnam Singh and Parkash Singh Badal in the Punjab, newly demarcated in 1966, Sikhs as represented by their premier political party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, were able to capture only one seat at the elections to Indian Parliament (1971) from among the 13 which were Punjab`s portion. In the Punjab Assembly elections which took place in March 1972 their tally was a mere 24 seats out of a total of 117, and the Punjab Government passed into the hands of the Congress Party, with Giani Zail Singh (later, President of India) as chief minister.
BHAGVAN SINGH LAUNGOVALIA (d. 1944), patriot, Akali activist and one of the founders of the Praja Mandal, a platform meant to provide voice to the people of Indian states ruled by Indian princes during British times to ventilate their grievances and protest against the oppression, misrule and extravagances of the autocrats who presided over their destinies, was born in Burma where his father Rur Singh was a soldier in the army. The only child of his parents, he was named Indar Singh. The family originally belonged to the village of Laurigoval in the present Sarigrur district of the Punjab.
BHAGWAN SINGH GYANEE (d. 1962). prominent Ghadr leader, was born the son of Sarmukh Singh of the village of Varing, 15 km east of Tarn Taran in Amritsar district of the Punjab. Their ancestors, Kashmir! Brahmans, had migrated to the Punjab during the seventeenth century. Bhagwan Singh learnt Urdu at the village school and then joined Gurmat Vidyala, a missionary school at Gharjakh, in Gujranwala district, from where he passed the gyani examination. He was employed as a teacher in the Gurmat Vidyala, shifting after a short while to Khalsa School, Daska, in Sialkot district, where he studied Vedanta under Sadhu Har Bilas.
BHUPINDER SINGH, LIEUTENANTGENERAL MAHARAJA SIR (1891-1931), Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India, Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, Knight of the Order of the British Empire, ruler of the Sikh state of Patiala, was one of the most colourful and influential Indian princes of the interwar years. Tall, robust, dashingly handsome, he was to the British the personification of the Punjabi martial races, a veritable "flower of Oriental aristocracy." In his own eyes, and in the eyes of many of his coreligionists, he was the temporal leader of Sikhism.
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