[9] Countering this, Vallabhbhai Patel had reaffirmed on 24 August 1945, the Congress Resolution of 1929 and promised on 5 April 1946: "Sikhistan issue will be considered in the Constituent Assembly after the transfer of power in the hands of the Indians.

"[24]: 368 Nehru had been quoted in the 9 January 1930 edition of the Lahore Bulletin during the freedom struggle,[31] and as late as July 1946 at the All India Congress Committee in Calcutta,[8][32] that "the brave Sikhs of Punjab are entitled to special considerations.

[30] In addition, the Akali delegation maintained that the measure of provincial autonomy afforded in the document did not match prior assurances, and the demarcation of provinces in the North was specifically delayed to deprive Sikhs of a political foothold in their own homeland of Punjab.

Andhra Province is a settled fact; other cases are to be looked into; but North India cannot even be considered for it, The next was this consideration for services, that has also been denied...."Naturally, under these circumstances, as I have stated, the Sikhs feel utterly disappointed and frustrated.

[41] While earlier in June 1948, both Punjabi and Hindi were both made official media of educational instruction, the Municipal Committee of Jalandhar in February 1949 resolved to make Devanagari Hindi the sole media in its schools,[38] and the Senate of Panjab University, then Punjab's only university, passed a resolution on 9 June refusing to use Punjabi in any script as a medium of instruction;[38][42] both were strongholds of the Arya Samaj, which, supported by its Jan Sangh and Hindu Mahasabha allies, would never accept the formula or implement it in its schools.

[43] To undercut the linguistic basis of the demand, the Arya Samaj embarked on a newspaper propaganda campaign to encourage the Hindus of even the Punjabi-speaking area to disown Punjabi entirely and select Hindi in censuses beginning in early 1951.

Stemming from new nationwide momentum for linguistic states,[45] it was charged with "'investigat[ing] the conditions of the problem, the historical background, the existing situations and the bearing of all relevant important factors thereon.

The Punjabi Suba was also seen as a means to prevent Sikh religious apathy, and resultant backsliding into Hinduism, on the basis of shared religious postulates and cultural kinship,[55] after considerable repudiation of traditional beliefs during the 19th century formation of Hindu identity by reformist neo-Hindus like the Arya Samaj, including the rejection of polytheism, idol and avatar worship, temple offerings, pilgrimages, the widow remarriage prohibition, child marriage, sati, and Brahmin priestcraft.

[70] With the language being distinct in grammar and lexicon, the Akali Dal regarded this reasoning as a pretext that amounted to religious discrimination, and that the demand would have been accepted without hesitation if the Sikhs were not set to be the majority.

[76][74] There were critical voices raised, on grounds of constitutional propriety as well as the perceived inadequacy of the measure, and Giani Kartar Singh conceded that what was offered was not the Punjabi Suba of their conception.

[80] The Arya Samaj had introduced Devanagari as the vehicle of Hindu education in Punjab in the late 19th century, along with an artificial, heavily Sanskritized Hindi "divested as far as possible" from the colloquial Punjabi of the masses.

[76] The movement's openly militant Hindu revivalist stance, its violent attitudes and methods, and heavy usage of Hindi speakers from outside Punjab as agitators was strongly criticized across the country.

[105]: 1588 Through 1960, in preparation for the 1961 linguistic census, the Jan Sangh and the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha continued to publish propaganda that again encouraged the state's Hindus to register their mother tongue as Hindi, as in 1951.

The Sikhs saw no grounds for this committee, as per the Regional Formula, any change in the existing arrangements was to be made only with the consent of the concerned parties, and they saw the attempt to graft another script on Punjabi as an attack on their religious and cultural identity.

Congress Sikhs worked to defeat the Akalis; Giani Kartar Singh even resigned from his ministry to focus solely on campaigning, and with help from the state government created the Sadh Sangat Board to contest the elections.

"[116] To suppress the spread of the movement, the government sealed and offices of two pro-Akali newspapers (the Punjabi-language Akali and the Urdu-language Parbhat) and detained their staff, though following objections of the All India Journalist Association against the curtailing of press freedom, were allowed to resume operation.

Jail officials misrepresented thumb marks signing apologies as for the purposes of railway passes; upon discovery of this, Akali prisoners began demanding notes stipulating that their releases were unconditional.

"[123] This outburst would harm his image further among Sikh circles, including the executive committee of the Chief Khalsa Diwan which reiterated the constitutional right to advocate for a unilingual state within the country without being called unpatriotic, Hukam Singh of the Akali leadership who denounced him forcefully as a "Goebbelsian liar," and Fateh Singh, who on 29 October wrote that to Nehru that denying the Punjabi Suba closed all avenues for the legitimate demand, which left him no choice but to "resort to fast unto death to prick [his] conscience," to begin on 9:00 a.m. on 18 December.

[3][125] Nehru had invited Fateh Singh for the 8 February talks; the pending creation of Nagaland for "the protection and preservation of Naga culture" had given Sikhs new hope for the acceptance of the Punjabi Suba on similar grounds.

Rejecting Nehru's 10 August appeal letter otherwise, Tara Singh's fast, meant to draw national and international attention to the cause, again led to the Punjab Congress government's suppression of pro-Akali newspapers (the Punjabi-language Jathedar and again Parbhat), the arrest of approximately 50 Akali leaders on 1 June, the withholding of funds to Khalsa College, Amritsar until its pro-Akali principal Dr. Harbans Singh was suspended in order to suppress student protests.

Arya Samaj ideologue and news editor Lala Jagat Narain, who had resigned as minister in protest of the Regional Formula, warned on 6 October that "the Hindus of Punjab would never accept the settlement.

[24]: 371  He would hold a large rally to this end on 22 July 1962 at Mullanpur, and the political sidelining of Tara Singh amongst the Akalis would be assisted by Kairon, the Punjab Congress, and Communists, in a bid to take over the SGPC.

"[147] The few recommendations that were fielded by the Das commission included those by Arya Samaj editor Virendra, on behalf of the Hindi Raksha Samiti, who denied Punjabi as the mother tongue of the state's Hindus,[148] its separate status, and the legitimacy of Gurmukhi as anything more than a religious script, as well as that of Balraj Madhok of the Jan Sangh, who cited the Regional Formula and regional committees as the real sources of trouble to be scrapped,[137] and also denied the legitimacy of Gurmukhi for Punjabi.

Arya Samajists would nevertheless decry these efforts as a "consolidation of Sikh strength" and a steps towards a power seizure, and under such characterizations Kairon was told by the central government to merge the Punjab Raksha Dal with the Home Guard; factory plans were cancelled.

This Conference in commemoration of General Hari Singh Nalwa of historical fame reminds all concerned that the Sikh people are makers of history and are conscious of their political destiny in a free India.

Such a suicidal step can only help us in jumping from frying pan into fire," and Fateh Singh offered blood, "as much as can be taken leaving a bare minimum for me to exist or for self immolation for the Punjabi Suba."

[158] Stories of the bravery and patriotism of the Sikhs during the war had already been circulating, and on 6 September the Union Home Minister, Gulzarilal Nanda, had made a statement in the Lok Sabha that "the whole question of formation of Punjabi-speaking state could be examined afresh with an open mind.

[169] Amidst perceived attempts by Nanda and Indira Gandhi to limit the Committee's purview, the Sikh Review Calcutta reiterated the constitutional and linguistic grounds for the Punjabi Suba;[170] a memorandum submitted by Buta Singh on 5 November blamed "Hindu communalists and their hirelings" for creating the problem by renouncing Punjabi for Hindi, and Tara Singh reiterated the Sikh right to "demand a self-determined political status for themselves within the Republic of the Union of India such as might enable them to preserve themselves and prosper freely.

[2] Several months before its inauguration, Fateh Singh expressed his dissatisfaction over several issues of contention, including genuinely Punjabi-speaking areas being left out of the new state and given to Haryana and Himachal Pradesh,[32] namely adjoining areas of Ambala, Kalka, Pinjore, Chandigarh, Karnal, Una, Dalhousie, and parts of Ganganagar district,[24]: 371  as well as Sirsa, parts of Nalagarh, Tohana and Guhla, Ratia block in Hissar, and Shahbad block in Kurukshetra.

[2] A week after the implementation, Fateh Singh called for the continuation of the agitation, in order to have Chandigarh and adjoining Punjabi-speaking areas left in Haryana, as well as the control of the Bhakra Nangal Dam and other hydropower projects and headworks, returned to Punjab.