Similar is the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is a Sikh religious party but maintains ties with Hindutva organizations, as they also represent Sikhism.

This time, the BJP ( NDA ) had allied with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( AIADMK ) and the Biju Janata Dal besides its existing allies, the Samata Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena.

The inaction of the authorities in Amritsar and elsewhere was decried by Akali Dal headed by the Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowal as a political stunt by the Congress ( I ) party of Indira Gandhi.

Nevertheless, Kapur Singh was later supported by the Akali Dal leader Master Tara Singh, who helped him win elections to the Punjab Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha ( Indian parliament ).

After independence of India, the Punjabi Suba movement led by the Sikh political party Akali Dal sought creation of a province ( suba ) for Punjabi people.

The Akali Dal officially never demanded an independent State for the Sikh nation, and at times, explicitly opposed it.

The Akali Dal, a Sikh-dominated political party active mainly in Punjab, sought to create a Punjabi Suba (" Punjabi Province ").

The Akali Dal led a series of peaceful mass demonstrations to present its grievances to the central government.

The demands of the Akali Dal were based on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, which was adopted by the party in October 1973 to raise specific political, economic and social issues.

Indira Gandhi's Congress ( I ) party supported Bhindranwale in a bid to split the Sikh votes and weaken the Akali Dal, its chief rival in Punjab.

The Congress leader Giani Zail Singh allegedly financed the initial meetings of the separatist organization Dal Khalsa, which disrupted the December 1978 Ludhiana session of the Akali Dal with provocative anti-Hindu wall writing.

The Akali Dal was initially opposed to Bhindranwale, and even accused him of being a Congress agent.

In August 1982, under the leadership of Harcharan Singh Longowal, the Akali Dal launched the Dharam Yudh Morcha (" Group for the Battle for Righteousness ") in collaboration with Bhindranwale.

She used it to depict the Akali Dal as a separatist party, and to present herself as the India's savior.

The Akali Dal officially stated that the Sikhs were Indians, and Anandpur Sahib resolution did not envisage an autonomous Sikh State of Khalistan.

In November 1982, Akali Dal announced the organisation of protests in Delhi during the Asian Games.

Later, the Akali Dal organised a convention at the Darbar Sahib attended by over 5, 000 Sikh ex-servicemen, 170 of whom were above the rank of colonel.

During this turmoil, the Akali Dal began another agitation in February 1984 protesting against clause ( 2 )( b ) of Article 25 of the Indian constitution, which ambiguously states " the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion ", though it also implicitly recognizes Sikhism as a separate religion with the words " the wearing and carrying of kirpans shall be deemed to be included in the profession of the Sikh religion.

The Akali Dal members demanded that the constitution should remove any ambiguous statements that uses the word Hindu to refer to the Sikhs.

The Central government attempted to seek a political solution to the grievances of the Sikhs through the Rajiv-Longowal Accord, which took place between the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Harchand Singh Longowal, the then President of the Akali Dal, who was assassinated a few months later.

* Shiromani Akali Dal, a political party in India

The following day, after the murder, Harchand Singh Longowal ( then president of Shiromani Akali Dal ) hinted at the involvement of Bhindranwale in the murder.

Faced with imminent army action and with the foremost Sikh political organisation, Shiromani Akali Dal ( headed by Harchand Singh Longowal ), abandoning him, Bhindranwale declared " This bird is alone.

While the majority of the Akali leaders pursued the idea of a more empowered Sikh-majority state within India, some other Sikh leaders such as Jagjit Singh Chauhan pursued the idea of a sovereign Khalistan.

However, their demands were not taken seriously, and several Akali leaders were arrested for burning the Indian constitution in protest.

Known as a hardliner, Tohra had carved out for himself the image of a non-conformist with the powers-that-be in Akali politics and had taken frontline SAD leaders Surjit Singh Barnala and Parkash Singh Badal who had headed Akali Dal governments in Punjab in the eighties and nineties.

The origin of Tohra-Badal feud could be traced to the former's demand made in November 1998 for one-man-one-post for Akali Dal leaders, a remark seen by political observers as his pot shot at Badal who was at that time both the chief minister and SAD president.

Singh, given the unique spiritual designation “ Siri Singh Sahib ” by the elected leaders of the SGPC and Shiromani Akali Dal in 1971 for his work spreading Sikh teachings in the west, also brought a visionary sense and a global perspective to the situation.

The leaders, all of them members of the Akali party, however could not fathom using their long-time political foe as a positive instrument for peace and self-preservation.

Hailey presented a draft of a new Gurdwara Bill to the Akali leaders imprisoned in Lahore fort.

Among the prominent Akalis, Mehtab Singh and Giani Sher Singh along with twenty other Akali leaders accepted the conditional release.

The Akali Party launched a campaign against the conditionally released leaders.

Religious nationalist parties include the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is closely identified with the creation of a Sikh-majority state in Punjab and includes many Sikh religious leaders in its organization.

From there, he joined his campaign to the Akali campaign for their political, economic, cultural, and religious demands.

The factions in Vancouver and Victoria broke away from the Khalsa Diwan Society, and established their own gurdwara society called Akali Singh.

As it turned out, the Sikhs belonging to the Congress party, namely the Giani Zail Singh the Home Minister, Darbara Singh the Chief Minister in Punjab, the Maharaja of Patiala-Amarinder Singh, and Buta Singh kept apart from their Akali party counterparts until June 1984 when Amarinder Singh turned in his party membership and, for a time joined the Akali party.

Shiromani Akali Dal observed their death anniversary as ' martyrdom ' on 31 October 2008

In August 1982, Bhindranwale and the Akali Dal Launched the Dharam Yudh Morcha, or the “ battle for righteousness .” Their goal was the fulfillment of the demands based on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.

As of 6 March 2012, the assembly elections results for the state were declared and Shiromani Akali Dal ( SAD ) and Bhartiya Janta Party ( BJP ) coalition won again, for the second consecutive time in Punjab.

Parkash Singh Badal became CM of Punjab for the 5th time, when he took the oath as a chief minister of Shiromani Akali Dal party of Punjab state on 14 March 2012 at Chappad Chidi, Mohali.

With the support of the Akali Dal and the Congress for Democracy, it had amassed a two-thirds, or absolute majority of 345 seats.

Subsequently he practised law for some years, and became politically active in the late ' 60s, rising through the ranks of Akali Dal.

With the direct and indirect support of the Central Sikh League, the Indian National Congress and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the Shiromani Akali Dal started a non-violent struggle against the government for the control of the Gurdwaras.

The Shiromani Akali Dal and the executive declared conditions imposed for the release of prisoners as wholly unnecessary, unjust and derogatory.

When the new elections for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee were held, the Akali Party won majority and the newly elected Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elected Kharak Singh as the President and Master Tara Singh as the Vice President.

The Shiromani Akali Dal ( Amritsar ) has advocated formation of Khalistan, an independent state for the Sikhs.