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- Rationalist and progressive ideas of the 19th century influenced the Sikh community.
- In 1873, Singh Sabha Movement was founded at Amritsar. It gave importance to western education for Sikh community and countering revivalist policies of Christian missions & Hindu fundamentalists.
- Gurudwara reform movement was known as Akali Movement. It was an offshoot of the Singh Sabha Movement.
- Objective: To liberate Sikh Gurudwaras from the control of corrupt mahants who enjoyed the support of the government.
- In 1921, Akalis launched a mass non-violent, non-cooperation satyagraha against the mahants of Gurudwaras. Initially, reformers met with success as agitators formed groups to compel mahants and managers to hand over control to local devotees. The government supported the reformers as it didn’t want to antagonise the reformers.
- Government saw that the Akali movement was increasingly being integrated with the national movement.
- British government agreed to the demands of Alkalis and passed Sikh Gurdwara Act in 1922 and amended it in 1925. This legislation handed control of gurudwaras to Akalis to appease the Moderates Akalis but used force to repress the extremist Akalis.
- Akalis participated in freedom struggle, wherever and whenever called. Akali movement may have been sectarian but was not a communal movement.
