Editing Khalistan movement (section)

===Delhi Asian Games (1982)===

The Akali leaders, having planned to announce a victory for Dharam Yudh Morcha, were outraged by the changes to the agreed-upon settlement. In November 1982, Akali leader [[Harchand Singh Longowal]] announced that the party would disrupt the [[1982 Asian Games|9th annual Asian Games]] by sending groups of Akali workers to Delhi to intentionally get arrested. Following negotiations between the Akali Dal and the government failed at the last moment due to disagreements regarding the transfer of areas between Punjab and Haryana.<ref name="JSChima">{{citation|last1=Chima|first1=Jugdep S|title=The Sikh Separatist Insurgency in India: Political Leadership and Ethnonationalist Movements|date=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJaHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72|pages=71–75|place=India|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-81-321-0538-1|access-date=5 October 2020|archive-date=30 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330072133/https://books.google.com/books?id=qJaHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72|url-status=live}}</ref>

Knowing that the Games would receive extensive coverage, Akali leaders vowed to overwhelm Delhi with a flood of protestors, aiming to heighten the perception of Sikh "plight" among the international audience.<ref name="JSChima" /> A week before the Games, [[Bhajan Lal Bishnoi|Bhajan Lal]], Chief Minister of Haryana and member of the [[Indian National Congress|INC]] party, responded by sealing the Delhi-Punjab border,<ref name="JSChima" /> and ordering all Sikh visitors travelling from to Delhi from Punjab to be frisked.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sharma|first=Sanjay|date=5 June 2011|title=Bhajan Lal lived with 'anti-Sikh, anti-Punjab' image|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bhajan-Lal-lived-with-anti-Sikh-anti-Punjab-image/articleshow/8731824.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610094016/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-05/india/29622770_1_bhajan-lal-syl-punjab|url-status=live|work=[[The Times of India]]|archive-date=10 June 2011}}</ref> While such measures were seen as discriminatory and humiliating by Sikhs, they proved effective as Akali Dal could only organize small and scattered protests in Delhi. Consequently, many Sikhs who did not initially support Akalis and Bhindranwale began sympathizing with the Akali Morcha.<ref name="JSChima" />

Following the conclusion of the Games, Longowal organised a convention of Sikh veterans at the [[Golden Temple|Darbar Sahib]]. It was attended by a large number of Sikh ex-servicemen, including {{Abbr|retd.|retired}} [[General (India)|Major General]] [[Shabeg Singh]] who subsequently became Bhindranwale's military advisor.<ref name="JSChima" />