My first encounter with
the topic
Every year Sikhs remember those who
fought for the Panth when the Indian Army attacked Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, in June
1984. I have a small memory of my elementary school days in Punjab, a very
vague one, that there’re ‘terrorists’ in Darbar Sahib in 1984. Probably the
only young memory of 1984. It wasn’t that my family members didn’t consider
Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale a martyr, but, somehow, this thought was
there. I don’t remember where this came from. My school wasn’t a ‘religious
school’, nor the teachers would be telling the young school goers about the Operation
Bluestar.
How did that become
part of my memory? I do not know.
In my high school, I
got the first set of books on Bhindranwale Sant and Operation Bluestar from my
grandfather. I used to read books in my high schools. I still remember very
thin, small-sized, books on the lives of the Sikh Gurus. I think I read all of
them. I don’t remember how I got to Operation Bluestar books, searching through
my grandfather’s cupboard? Or probably a sudden discussion started, and my
grandfather gave me those books? Maybe.
So, I read those two
books written in Punjabi – Sant Bhindranwale and Operation
Bluestar – by Surjeet Jalandhari. Both seemed to the first edition. I was
too young to comprehend all the details, but a bird-view was formed that
Bhindranwale Sant wasn’t a terrorist, he was speaking against the injustice and
wasn’t a moderate Sikh who would be silent if the injustice continued. He would
invoke the arms, if needed, as done by the Khalsa in the 18th and the 19th
centuries.
During my college
days, I listened to his speeches. They were so straight to the point, no
beating around the bush. Any person who’s listened to his speeches would agree
that he wasn’t against Hindus, wasn’t in favour or against Khalistan, didn’t
believe in killing innocents, had arguments in his favour for everything he
said.
Authors and their
arguments
Many books have been written about the
Punjab period from 1980s to 1990s, by both Sikhs and non-Sikhs, those in favour
of the Sant or against him. There aren’t any similarities between these two
sides though. One will try to start from the beginning, the other would just
outline the details of the killings. One would justify the arms of the Sikhs,
other would reprimand it.
Over the years I read
several books on this topic. The authors against him had two major points, 1)
Sant Bhindranwale shouldn’t have picked the weapons, 2) he shouldn’t have asked
to kill innocents. I think the first point is not valid in totality. It’s half
of a question, second half hasn’t been asked my majority of the authors, or
should I say all of them, i.e., he shouldn’t have picked the weapons against
the Indian State.
The sixth Sikh Guru
had armed the Sikhs, and since that period Sikhs have been fighting the battles
and wars against injustice. It’s not a new phenomenon that Sikhs picked the
weapons to fight. It wasn’t even about turning Darbar Sahib into a fort. Those
who had issues with Sant Bhindranwale arming the Sikhs or fortifying the Darbar
Sahib wouldn’t raise a finger if it’d been done in the Mughal Period by the
same person, or in the British Rule. I am sure that they would consider him a
martyr if he’d died in a battle against the Mughals or Britishers, keep the
same set as is, just change the Indian Army into Mughal or British officers.
Like I said, it isn’t about the arms, it’s about against whom he picked the
weapons.
Don’t get me wrong,
but no timid journalist or historian wants to write against the State,
irrespective of who’s in control, because of its repercussions. How many people
have written in favour of Sikhs in the battles with the Mughals? We know how
the Sikhs were portrayed in the Mughal books. Similarly, once the Punjab was
annexed by the British in 1849 AD, the same set of people who’re with the Sikhs
for whatever the benefits, left them or joined the British. Everybody wants to
be on the winning side.
Second point is highly
inappropriate. People have called him a Hindu-hater. Or on his commands the
Hindus were killed in Punjab. It’s highly unfortunate and vicious that the
innocent Hindus were killed in Punjab because of their faith. But there is no
link between their killings and Sant Bhindranwale. He’d helped the Hindus, two
prime examples were when a person kidnapped a Hindu girl, and he ordered his
men to retrieve her and sent it to her family; second, he compensated the
Hindus when their religious book was burned.
If he’s striking terrors in the hearts of the Hindus, then why were Hindus coming
to him for talks and debates? Subramanyam Swami, Jethmalani, Sadhus, etc., had held
discussions with him!
And those who blamed
him for anti-Hindu stances and arming the Sikhs, they all were present during
that decade, from the likes of Khushwant Singh, Tavleen Singh, Arun Shourie,
Kuldeep Nayar, Shekhar Gupta, J. S. Arora, etc., then why didn’t they ask these
questions to him? If they did and they weren’t satisfied, they should have
argued, but that wasn’t the case. Tavleen Singh is a prime example. When
Bhindranwale Sant gave her a vivid view of the injustice inflicted on the Sikhs
by the government,
she didn’t argue, probably didn’t even check if it’s true or not, or raise questions
to the government. They became mute spectators just to quote him later for vilification,
and many of them believed what they read in the newspapers, rather than doing
their journalistic investigation.
It's easy to raise
questions when the person isn’t present, because dead do not speak.
Lies to cover the truth
There’re two assassinations which
aren’t thoroughly discussed by some authors, but just a small summary was given
to hide the truth. First, Lala Jagat Narayan was killed because he’s against
the idea of Khalistan and Sant Bhindranwale. I believe there’re many people
who, before the Operation Bluestar, were against Khalistan. Killing someone
just because he’s against the idea of Khalistan doesn’t make sense. If it were
true, why was only he killed? To instil fear? The common argument. No. That
argument has been used so many times that it’s become unbelievable.
Almost
every outside authors – those who’re living outside Punjab but wrote about the
Punjab Crisis – mentioned Lala’s assassination, but they didn’t objectively
give a proper irrefutable argument for that. Although, in his speeches,
Bhindranwale Sant did mention Lala’s activities, still none of these authors
dared to write about Bhindranwale Sant’s words. I believe majority of the early
writers who wrote on Operation Bluestar, their purpose was to justify Operation
Bluestar, so they missed many details on purpose.
A. R.
Darshi, a PCS officer, writes:
Besides the Nirankaris Lala Jagat Narain,
a staunch Arya Samaji and the chief Editor of the Hind Samachar Newspapers Group
based at Jalandhar was spitting fire through his newspapers by making
derogatory speeches against Sant Bhindranwale as well as against the Sikh
Gurus. He vehemently supported the vicious Nirankari movement launched against the
Sikhs and went to the extent of writing editorials defending the outrageous
acts of the Nirankari Chief. Not only that, he appeared as a star defence witness and
gave a false statement in favour of Gurbachan Singh in the murder case. His preposterous
propaganda and outrageous actions against Sikhism provoked and angered the Sikh
youth to such an extent that two of them gunned him down in broad day light, on
9th September 1981 while he was travelling in his car from Ludhiana to Jalandhar.
Surjit Jalandhari in
his 1983 book[i]
gave the similar reasons of Lala’s assassination:
By calling Lala ji as ‘Amar Shaheed’, that he’s martyred
because of his free thoughts, that he’s gunned down due to his brave editorials,
that he’s killed because he told the truth … these are plain lies. Who reads
Lala ji’s editorials except his followers? If one reads, who believes in them?
The reason of him being killed due to his writing/editorial is promulgated to
make ‘late Lala ji’ into ‘Amar Shaheed Lala Jagat Narayan ji’. And if the Sikh
writers or pseudo journalists consider his writing as the reason of his death,
they’re playing in the hands of the Lala’s family[ii]. And for
their family’s benefits they agree on these thoughts/opinions.
The real answer to the second question is that he’s
assassinated because of his acts of saving the Nirankari Chief Baba Gurbachan Singh
and his followers, and his testimony in Karnal session court in their favour, who
were the killers of the Sikhs and defamer of Sikhi, and his testimony acquitted
the Nirankari Baba and 64 other convicts, that’s why the warriors from the
Dharam Yudh, which’s started against the Nirankaris, shot him dead.
Gobind Thukral quoted Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in 1982:
We are no extremists or communalists. Give us one
instance when we insulted or hit anyone. But the Government terms us
extremists. We are extremists if we protest when our Gurus are painted as
lovers of wine and women by the Lala's newspapers.
In his speech,
Bhindranwale Sant said:
Sikhs are being called communal, extremists,
separatists, and militants. But my turbaned brothers, our existence is accursed;
our life as humans is futile. The worthless Lala, Lala Jagat Narain, died. His
body was given to his son Romesh. Why did he die? The case is still going on.
Some say [my speaking] will affect the proceedings. Be it so, it does not
matter. Both [the accused] will be hanged. Let that be. Why did Lala Jagat Narain
die? He published in the newspapers that Guru Gobind Singh Ji lived his life as
a prince, that he was very fun-loving; even worse language was used. Jathedar
Gurdial Singh Ajnoha, now in heavenly abode, went abroad. Lala Jagat Narain
said: “The passport issued to the Jathedar should be withdrawn; it should be
cancelled because Jathedar Ji is a traitor to the country. Gurcharan Singh
Tohra, President of the Shromani Gurdwara Parbandbak Committee is a traitor.”
No Sikh took notice. No government noticed this. No Hindu brother noticed this.
Students belonging to the Federation set fire to some sheets from newspapers.
M.I.S.A. was invoked against them. They suffered beatings. Some Guru's beloved
could not take it any more. Seeing his Father being insulted, someone with a
sense of honor, taking support from the Guru, put him on the train [of death].
They have said: “Bhindranwale had him eliminated, had him killed.” They kept me
too for twenty-five days and then, taking note of the large congregations that
assembled, begged forgiveness and released me. …
How far are we going to hold on to this peacefulness?
Here is a picture of Lala Jagat Narain with Guru Gobind Singh Sahib. On the
right is Lala Jagat Narain and this is the photo of the Tenth King, Guru Gobind
Singh Sahib. A worthless person, without mother and father, without any
background nor anything else, and his son Romesh should print his picture
alongside that of our Father, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib! How many Sikhs are
sitting here? Has any Sikh ever had the audacity to print a picture alongside
Bhagwan Krishan or Ramchandra Ji? I like to say this to Romesh and to the
Government as well; it will be good if, within the next three or four days, he
asks the Sikh Nation for forgiveness in writing. If Romesh, the son of the
Lala, does not realize his error and does not ask the Sikh Nation for
forgiveness, then if someone puts him on the train [of death], it will be the
responsibility of Romesh and the Government, it won't be mine or the Sikh
Nation's.
People can differ as
much as they can on if these reasons were enough to kill a person. Didn’t
Surjit Jalandhari write on the reasoning of the Sikhs and pseudo journalists?
That he’s a free thinker so was killed? Anyways, why the prominent writers and
journalists didn’t talk about this angle? Weren’t they spreading rumours and
fear with these claims of him being a critic of Sant Bhindranwale and Khalistan
which got him killed?
Second assassination
was of Gurbachan Singh, Chief of Nirankaris. This assassination isn’t discussed
like Lala Jagat Narayan because, 1) both are linked, if they talked about
Nirankari Chief, they had to write about its links to Lala’s murder, which, I
think they even knew, they didn’t mention, 2) if they gave so much space to
Gurbachan Singh, their narrative of Sikhs killing the free thinkers or
opposition wouldn’t stand a chance.
I have believed over
the years that the clash between the Sikhs and Nirankaris on 13th April 1978
was the beginning of the conflict. I was wrong; it was the ending chapters of
the conflict. The Nirankaris have been doing the anti-Sikh propaganda for long.
Like the journalists and authors didn’t talk about the Lala’s acts before his
murder, they didn’t write on the Nirankaris’ actions too. They did mention the
brutal clash between Sikhs and Nirankaris in 1978, not the prior statements and
processions of the Nirankaris.
A. R. Darshi writes:
To achieve their objective the Nirankaris led by
Gurbachan Singh, a prophet of sensual pleasures, launched a tirade against the
Sikh Gurus and Sikh religion. He criticised Guru Nanak Dev and equated him with
a beggar, he denounced Guru Gobind Singh calling him simply a hunter and wanderer.
Thus he ridiculed the Sikh Gurus and openly challenged their noble teachings
and their faith. Besides this, the Nirankaris published books titled “Avtar
Bani” and “Yug Pursh” eulogising Avtar Singh, predecessor of Gurbachan Singh,
as the real and greatest Avtar (incarnation of God) ever born on the earth.
These rubbish books slighted all the Sikh Gurus, the prophets and the great
seers of all religions and advocated that Avtar Singh was the true Guru who is
unparalleled in the history of mankind. This was a big challenge to Sikhism as
its very foundation was being shaken.
Gurbachan Singh actively aided by the government, launched
his Anti-Sikh movement with a main thrust in Punjab. Giani Zail Singh who too,
was a man of questionable morality, covertly supported the Nirankari Chief. The
Giani, then Chief Minister of Punjab, appointed Hardev Singh Chhina an I.A.S. officer
as the Chief Secretary of Punjab[iii].
Chhina was a staunch supporter of Gurbachan Singh Nirankari and he converted many
high and low ranked officers into Nirankaris by showering undue favours on
them. All such government employees of shady character and reputation were
elevated and given important assignments in the state administration.
The sinister Nirankari movement actively aided by the government
was scuttling the faith of Nanak and Khalsa of Guru Gobind Singh. It is
surprising that neither the Akali Dal nor the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee bothered to counter this nefarious anti-Sikh onslaught. It was only
Dam Dami Taksal, founded by Guru Gobind Singh and then headed by Baba Deep
Singh Shaheed, which decided to blot out the anti Sikh campaign. The Taksal
under the youthful leadership of Sant Kartar Singh challenged and countered the
anti Sikh activities of Nirankari Chief. When battle lines between the Nirankaris
and the Taksal were drawn, Sant Kartar Singh, unfortunately met with an
accident in the prime of his life and passed away on 16th August, 1977. It was
now left to Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who succeeded Sant Kartar Singh,
to continue the fight against the Nirankaris who were indulging in blasphemous
activities. His struggle was also targeted at the Indian Government which had been
discriminating against the Sikhs and treating them as second rate citizens.
Below are some of the
statements and actions of the Chief of the Nirankaris:
1. As reported in the
April 1966 issue of the Sant Nirankari (p. 7), Avtar Singh, in a public
gathering at Delhi on the 27 February, 1966, proclaimed that, “while Guru
Gobind Singh had ordained only Five" Beloved Ones as the founding members
of the Khalsa, the apotheosis of Sikhism, I, Avtar Singh, have now ordained Seven
Beloved Ones”.
Gurbachan
Singh, the son and successor of Avtar Singh, has now re-named these seven
Beloved Ones, panj pyaras, as Seven Stars, satt sitaras, betraying his deep attachment
to the movie-cult and intimate interest in cine-literature.
2. “Gurbachan Singh
is the Descent of Divinity on Earth, He is the Sustainer of the entire
Universe. (O, Gurbachan) your Will is the sole measure of Goodness. For, you
are the enternal living God[iv].”
The
last couplet of this litany is from the Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib,
which enunciates that, God’s Will the Matrix and final Test of human ethical
judgement and He is the eternal Living God. The first two lines are a piece of
crude versification in the Avtarbani of these pseudo-nirankaris and by joining
these two couplets the Sikh sacred text has been grossly profaned and put into service
of deification of Gurbachan Singh.
3. When the Fifth
Nanak, Guru Arjun (1563-1606), established Amritsar as the
centre of Sikh religion, the first sacred tank he got
dug-up, was Santokhsar. Avtar Singh has recently dug up a ditch
at his headquarters at Delhi and has named it Santokhsar,
with the deliberate and malicious intention of insulting
the Sikh religion.
4. The follower of
Baba Gurbachan Singh, Harcharan Singh Chandigarh, gave the Chief a postcard where
he called the Chief as the heir of Guru Nanak Dev ji and Guru Gobind Singh ji.
How can Sikhs tolerate this that soil can be compared with the Divine.
5. ਸੇਵਾ
ਤੇ ਅਰਦਾਸੇ ਕਰ
ਕਰ ਮਨ ਨਾ
ਨਿਰਮਲ ਹੋ ਸਕਿਆ
।
ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ
ਜਹੇ ਸਰ ਦਾ
ਪਾਣੀ, ਮੈਲ ਨਾ
ਦਿਲ ਦੀ ਧੋ
ਸਕਿਆ ।
ਤਰਨਤਾਰਨ
ਵਿਚ ਲਾ ਲਾ
ਤਾਰੀ, ਭਵ ਸਾਗਰ
ਨਾ ਤਰ ਸਕਿਆ ।
ਪੜ੍ਹ
ਸੁਖਮਨੀ ਸੁਖ ਨਾ
ਲੱਭਾ, ਜੀਅ ਨਾ
ਮੇਰਾ ਠਰ ਸਕਿਆ ।
There are many
examples given in ਭਿੰਡਰਾਂਵਾਲੇ
ਸੰਤ where
the author quoted from Nirankaris’ religious text.
Everybody is on the
same page irrespective of their opinion about Sant Bhindranwale that the
clashes were between the Sikhs and the Nirankaris, not Hindus and Sikhs, or
Sikhs and the police. But over a period of time, some zealot Hindu groups
turned it into Hindu-Sikh; when the Sikhs were protesting against the
Nirankaris, the Hindus like Harbans Lal Khana opposed it and started tarnishing
the Sikhs and their beliefs.
Nirankari Chief, Lala Jagat Narain, and Harbans Lal Khana, they all were either
part of the political parties or associated with them, and neither the
political parties nor the police acted against them.
Aftermath of Operation Bluestar
Government assumption was to resolve the conflict in Punjab, they had
to send the army in. They were warned of the consequences, but they paid no
heed to it.
The commandos were trained under RAW long before Operation Bluestar. So the sudden
movement of the army in Darbar Sahib is said to be due to the morcha announced
by Longowal to prevent the movement of grain in the state stands
incorrect. It doesn’t even make sense. Longowal was a pacifist person …
why the government thought they would need army with huge ammunition and tanks
and commandoes to capture that person, or to stop the morcha of the
Akali Dal? It never was about that. Foolish are those who think of this reason
for Operation Bluestar.
Punjab Governor B. D. Pande had warned RAW and others:
Attacking the Golden Temple will mean a point of no
return and the Sikh community will be totally alienated for generations to
come.
The outcome of attack on Darbar Sahib was predictable,
I believe. They, I think, knew the consequences – both about the assassinations
and the armed revolt by Sikhs.
I am really amazed that the insurgency after the
Operation Bluestar continued for a decade in Punjab. It wasn’t an easy thing
for majority of the people who had no background of military but their own
history. The armed Sikhs continued the struggle during the high and low of the
Movement. They weren’t only fighting against the oppressors but also those who’d
picked the weapons in their name for looting and killing people. Baba Manochal
did mention about this two-front
battle they were fighting, and Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu gave the similar
story.
There’re those Sikhs too who didn’t like the idea of
Khalistan, but the attack on Darbar Sahib changed everything. And then there’re
those who weren’t actively involved in the armed struggle, but might have sympathy
with the kharkus; and when they were tortured by the
police, they raised the arms against the State. It’s the grievances
that led to the Dharam Yudh Morcha in 1982 and the militancy in Punjab after
Operation Bluestar. If the Indira Gandhi government in 1980s had not exploited
the grievances, found a sound solution, the situation would have been better.
But both the mother-son duo used the situations for their political benefits:
Indira Gandhi, Operation Bluestar; and Rajiv Gandhi, Sikh pogrom after Indian Gandhi’s
assassination. And its outcome was the 1984 elections when the Indian National Congress
won more than 400 seats, the first time in the history of India, with the highest
percentage in the Lok Sabha.
I don’t think any Sikh has any issues with the kharkus
dying while fighting. To some extent it’s understandable that the police
officers were following the orders to kill those who picked the arms against
the State. The kharkus knew when they raised the arms that it’s either
the Kingdom or the Martyrdom, nothing in between, no compromise. What’s beyond reprehensible
and repulsive was the excessive forced used by the State machinery against the
non-kharkus or the family members of the kharkus for promotions
and prize money. And no politician or Punjabi Hindu wants to talk about it.
The police
brutality is well recorded by the contemporary journalists in 1990s. When
the State wants to convey their own narrative, they can go to any means to
protect its officers. How is
it possible that a lower-level person would go on a killing spree without caring
about the repercussions? Because they had the people in high positions to save
them. But when the ‘trouble’ is over, these lower-level
officers became expendable. You will see many convictions of the police
officers after the 1990s but won’t find a top-level officer in the list. K. S. Dhillon, former Punjab DGP, admitted that the Centre condoned extra
judicial killings.
It should also be noted that an anthropologist from the US was raped
by the rogue police in India to make her run away from Punjab, so that she
wouldn’t write the story of militants, which was against their own narrative.
It would be incomplete if I miss to write that the
Hindus were targeted by some groups. I think majority of the authors have
written the Hindu killings in Punjab. It is also true that some of them left
Punjab due to fear. When I visited Dalhousie a couple of years back in India, I
met two or three families who left Punjab during those times. They had small
shops in Dalhousie to make their living.
Majority of the kharkus were against the
killing of the Hindus in frustration. Baba Manochal in his interview with Kanwar
Sandhu had mentioned that it’s impossible to keep tab on everyone when they
were underground, and the kharkus had to kill many of these people who’re
on a spree of killing Hindus.
There are many aspects of this. Since we are
underground, it is not possible to keep tabs on everyone. Frankly, if a
government with such vast resources at its command can't prevent Pilibhit-type
massacres, it is unfair to expect underground groups to enforce fairplay.
We, in fact, don't want so many youth to take to
militancy. Some are in it now for the heck of it. These elements are a headache
for us too and we have had to kill a number of them.
Unfortunately, we have to fight on two fronts – against
the Government and against some militant groups. I concede there've been
massacres of innocents. But these've been retaliations against the Government's
lawlessness.
Many authors who supported the militancy in Punjab
have written about the killings of the Hindus. They never shied away from this
truth. It’s unfortunate. And despicable. But what did the police do to give
justice to these people? You would find news articles that so and so person was
killed who massacred the Hindus. But none of them were tried in a court of law.
No way of knowing if they actually did it. Sometimes the police would kill an
innocent and call the militant has been killed, which later would be found to
be alive in a jail. A. R. Darshi has written that RAW was involved in killing
the Hindus in Punjab before the Operation Bluestar. It’s more
complex than writing the mainstream militancy in Punjab was killing the Hindus
to instil fear in them to make them run away from Punjab to settle in some
other states.
This militancy had big names on its list, beginning
with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, General Vaidya, many police officers …
till the assassination of Punjab CM Beant Singh, who’s said to be the
mastermind and gave free hand to the police force to kill the Sikhs. It is
visible from the map of Ensaaf too that
after Beant Singh became the CM, there’re many enforced disappearances in
Punjab in the name of militancy. Jagtar Singh Tara, involved in Beant Singh’s assassination,
said, ‘I have no regret killing
Beant Singh. But the seventeen innocents who died along with him, I regret
that. If killing a butcher can save thousands of innocents, nothing is wrong in
that. We killed Beant Singh to end the law of terror.”
The police brutality didn’t even leave the Human Right
Activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who uncovered the extrajudicial killings
by the Punjab Police.
I think the worst part is the so-called Sikh political
party – SAD – didn’t do anything for these excesses of the police power when
they made their government in Punjab in 1997. That is the saddest part of the
story. Every single person, be it politicians or police officers, used the militancy
for their gains, both monetary rewards and power. None cared about the
innocents dying. But then this’s part of the Indian subcontinent, where butchers
come and go, and the political classes use them because they are expendable, and it’s
been going on for thousands of years.
Self-lament of the Sikh youth
I think some of the Sikh youth has never been this confused as they’re
now about the Sikh Philosophy and Sikh History. It isn’t about the right
information not available for them. They’re in self-pity and self-lament mode.
They do not want to call the atrocities committed by the armed forces during
the Operation Bluestar and the Militant Movement in Punjab, especially when evidence
is available at their disposal. They overlook and blame the Sikhs, their own,
for everything that happened since 1978 clash.
It can’t just be the influence of the Rightwing and
their propaganda. It’s more about living a fearful live, reminding if you
demand something, even under the boundaries of the Indian constitution, you
will be vilified, and, probably, end up in a ditch or jail. So, better keep
silence, or pay a lip service to the State narrative. We’ve seen this during
the Farmers Protest in 2020-2021 that how they’re vilified and called
Khalistanis and terrorists. Although, those who participated in the protests
have seen firsthand how the narrative and propaganda work at the national
level, and it gave them some idea that at the time when there weren’t many ways
of communication back in 1980s, how the narrative was set. They learned what the
Rightwing can do now when there’re limitless ways of communication for propaganda.
It also has to do with a podcaster in New Zealand
whose everyday topic is Militant Movement in Punjab and Bhindranwale Sant.
Although, none of these people have sat for the debates, except calling them on
their radio and cutting them off when they don’t have proper arguments in their
favour, or name-calling, recent being the talk with Paramjit Singh Akali.
Think, every day you’re listening to the same narrative and false propaganda,
it will definitely influence your mindset. But the good thing about the anti-Sikh
propaganda is, the historians and the students of history will go deeper in
history, find new sources, with fresh zeal, to counter their claim. And it always
is productive. During the 5Ks
propaganda, someone commented on our video that he read more books on the topic.
These influenced Sikh youth have contradictory views because
they aren’t self-read but gathered bits and pieces from here and there. They
would start with the same argument that Bhindranwale Sant shouldn’t have been
in Akaal Takhat, would give examples how the Guru left the Anandpur Sahib
during the battle – the same set doesn’t believe in any historical granth
but Gurbani; their stance changes whenever they want – and later would say if
the Guru stayed for a battle, Sant Bhindranwale shouldn’t have as we can’t
compare him with the Guru. They aren’t clear on their argument, but they want
to go against whatever Sant Bhindranwale stood for.
One thing is a fact. Sant Bhindranwale and the Sikhs who’re
martyred in Operation Bluestar, a memorial is built in their name in the precincts
of Darbar Sahib. And those who attacked it, opposed Sant Bhindranwale, favoured
Operation Bluestar, their names aren’t there and won’t be remembered kindly in the
Sikh history.
Sometimes I think there will never be another decade in
Punjab for the nonsensical killing spree by the State, when there’re so many
electronic devices available, when the whole world is so much connected, nobody
would dare to kill innocents in numbers. But when I think of Maoists and militancy
in J&K, I believe it will never stop. Police brutalities will never stop,
only the faces will change, not the methods. This is new India, where the Brown
People rule.
I will end with A. R. Darshi’s
comments, which I think are too daring, considering he’s part of the government:
In this regard Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi also exhorted
the Sikhs to take swords if their just demands were not conceded by the
government. When Madhusudan Singh asked M.K. Gandhi what the Sikhs should do in
the event of betrayal by the Congress, Gandhi firmly replied that in that case
the brave Sikhs should take their swords in their hands with perfect justification
and safeguard their rights by use of the arms. If Gandhi, a great leader of the
Congress, justified armed struggle by the Sikhs to safeguard their interests,
why Sant Bhindranwale was blamed for his militant struggle.
Aligning with Gur Sobha of 1711 AD:
ਅਸੁਰ
ਸਿੰਘਾਰਬੇ ਕੋ
ਦੁਰਜਨ ਕੇ
ਮਾਰਬੇ ਕੋ
ਸੰਕਟ
ਨਿਵਾਰਬੇ ਕੋ
ਖਾਲਸਾ ਬਨਾਯੋ
ਹੈ ।
