Consider the following statements regarding the Gurdwara Reform
1. The shrines and land attached to them, priests began to consider them as their personal properties.
2. Appropriation of shrines income by priests for their private use.
3. Introduction of ceremonies which were anathema to orthodox Sikhs.
4. There were complaints of immorality.
Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?

Solution (By Examveda Team)

Gurdwara Reform is also known as Akali Movement. It was a demand of the Sikhs for the liberation of their shrines or Gurdwaras from the Priests (mahantas) who controlled the properties of the Gurdwaras and asserted these as their own property. Sikhs were fed up with the immoral activities of mahantas and wanted to reform the Gurdwaras. But these priests were under the protection of the British Government. Under the patronage of the British Government, the lands and properties attached to the Gurdwaras were entered against the names of these priests. The Sikhs claimed that the Gurdwaras were public property, thus the public had a right to remove these mahantas. But the government considered mahantas as the legal owners of Gurdwaras. This resulted in the Akali Movement or Gurdwara Reform Movement.