Word: akali
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Still, Rajiv's most immediate priority is to negotiate some sort of truce with the Sikh community and to end the bloodshed that is ravaging the country. Mrs. Gandhi contributed to the rise of Sikh extremism by refusing to compromise with the moderate faction of the Akali Dal, the Sikh political party, thereby enabling the fanatical Sant Bhindranwale to rise in the esteem of Sikh militants. Rajiv will have to find a way to seek a reconciliation at a time when emotions are inflamed on every side. One step toward solving this and other conflicts would be to permit...
...Gandhi can probably no longer negotiate with most of the moderate leaders of the Akali Dal, the Sikh political party. A few, in fact, are now regarded as cowards by the enraged Sikh community. She will have to await the emergence of a suitable Sikh leader, possibly retired Lieut. General Jagjit Singh Aurora, a hero of the 1971 Bangladesh war. In the past the Sikhs have sought the exclusive use of Chandigarh, the Le Corbusier-designed city that since the creation of the predominantly Hindu state of Haryana out of the heavily Sikh Punjab in 1966 has served...
...Gandhi insisted her decision to storm the temple complex was the right and only one. She had failed in her attempts to negotiate with the Sikhs' Akali Dal Party over demands for increased water and territorial rights, social and linguistic concessions and exclusive control of the Punjabi capital, Chandigarh, all of which had sparked the violence. By early this year, it was apparent to her that Bhindranwale had become so popular he had usurped the Akali's authority, leaving the party impotent in negotiations and fearful of his violent fanaticism. No matter how long she talked...
...crisis came to a head when, in an effort to press home its demands for religious and regional autonomy, the Sikhs' Akali Dal Party announced that it would begin to block grain shipments to the rest of India from Punjab, which is the nation's breadbasket. The action would have cut off 65% of the country's crucial grain reserves, threatening widespread famine...
...guiding light," emerged in 1978 as the most radical of the Sikh leaders. He possessed a mythic sense of his own destiny and claimed from an early age that he was fated to lead the Sikhs in their struggle for autonomy. Gradually distancing himself from the more moderate Akali Dal, Bhindranwale began in 1981 to use holy places as sanctuaries and military training grounds for Sikh fundamentalists rallying around him. The tall, lean leader always wore a sword as well as a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver on a gun belt with silver bullets. He preached that Sikhs were a religious...