“Even in the best of times, perceptions of an event or a situation vary. Catastrophic events obscure objectivity, divide people and often cause facts to fall by the wayside. Operation Blue Star and its aftermath were cataclysmic events of this nature, making India go to war with itself.
I was an eyewitness, and at times an actor, as this moment of history unfolded.”
– Ramesh Inder Singh, in ‘Turmoil In Punjab: Before and After Blue Star,’ a book to be released on 20 June 2022
Ramesh Inder Singh, IAS
Ramesh Inder Singh (RI), IAS 1974 batch, took over as Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar on 04 June 1984. Army’s op Bluestar to storm the Golden Temple Amritsar to flush out the militants began on the evening the next day, 05 June. It ended on 06 June with army in control of the Harmandir Sahib complex. RI thus had a ringside view of the storming of the temple, and of the subsequent reconstruction and reconciliation. He was awarded Padma Shree in 1986 for his work post Bluestar. He was thirty-six years old and is the youngest ever govt servant to be awarded a Padma.
RI became Chief Secretary of Punjab and later its Chief Information Commissioner. So, he has first-hand knowledge of people, politics, and problems of Punjab.
The book is in two parts. The first part covers 1987-96, RI’s personal observations and interpretations of the events. Part 2 of the book is a deeply researched history of the “deep, fundamental ethno-socio-religious fault lines that led to the turmoil in the state [and that] still persist.”
Prelude to Bluestar
Till late nineteenth Sikh and Hindu were congruent. They saw little difference in their religious beliefs. Hindu families raised a few of their children as Sikhs, Keshdhari Sikhs The religious strife began with the conversion of two prominent Sikhs “Maharaja Duleep Singh, son of the famed Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and Raja Harnam Singh of Kapurthala to Christianity in 1853 and 1860.”
In the face of conversions to Islam and to Christianity, Hindu formed reformist orders such as the Brahmo Samaj (1828), Arya Samaj (1875), Dev Samaj (1886), and Ramakrishna Mission (1897) Sikhs formed Singh Sabha in 1872. Arya, supported by Sikh, held Shuddhi Sabha to reconvert people from Islam or Christianity. This was the ‘Arya–Sikh Bhai’ phase. But in 1898, Kahn Singh Nabha published a book, ‘Hum Hindu Nahin,’ which said that “Sikhism is a distinct religion from Hinduism and other religions.” The ‘Arya–Sikh Bhai’ phase was over.
Before the partition in 1947, Master Tara Singh a Sikh political and religious leader of Akali Dal (SAD) said “Sikhs [will] not allow Pakistan to emerge.” SAD consistently and strongly opposed the creation of Pakistan. But “to preserve Sikh identity and to secure a piece in the political pie,” SAD demanded a Punjabi-speaking Sikh majority state, Punjabi Suba. The Suba was formed on 01 November 1966 by dividing Punjab state into Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh.
A battle for political power in Punjab ensued between Akali and Congress. In 1972, Congress won the Punjab assembly election and formed the government with Giani Zail Singh as chief minister. After the electoral defeat, Akali passed an ambiguous Anandpur Sahib Resolution in 1973. It demanded more autonomy to Punjab. Congress and others called Akali secessionist, anti-national, and divisive.
Akali still had a strong hold on rural Sikh. Congress decided to create an alternative Sikh leadership to compete with the Akali. Giani Zail Singh, later President of India, asked Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to help Congress break the hold of SAD on rank-and-file Sikhs. Bhindranwale was the charismatic head of Damdamī Ṭaksāl, an influential 300-year-old Sikh seminary set up by Guru Gobind Singh. Bhindranwale obliged. But he soon developed a large following and realized that he could play a role in Sikh history. Congress had let the genie out of the bottle.
Bhindranwale attracted large numbers to Khalsa. He claimed that politicians wanted to overwhelm Sikhism with Hinduism. He and his militant followers began to always carry firearms. And in 1982, they occupied Akal Takht in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, and with the help of retired Major General Shabeg Singh. fortified it and began to use it as their headquarter. He set up a parallel government resolving cases and disputes. He mounted a Dharam Yudh Morcha to make Punjab a semi-autonomous homeland for Sikhs.
About the same time the demand for a homeland for Sikhs, Khālistān (‘Land of the Khalsa‘) a sovereign state in Punjab region, peaked. The demand, first made in 1940, gained momentum in 1970-80s because of financial and political support of the Sikh diaspora, and reached the zenith in late 1980. Congress accused Bhindranwale of supporting the Sikh separatist movement for Khālistān.
Operation Blue Star
Militants were being trained in the use of firearms at Golden temple and at gurudwaras in Punjab and in J & K. Int said that Pakistan’s ISI and USA’s CIA were stirring the separatists. And Bhindranwale was a motivator for the militants.
Indira Gandhi, the prime minister, decided to dislodge Bhindranwale and his followers from the Golden temple. He was asked to move out but refused. Indira Gandhi then ordered the army to flush them out. Army began operation Bluestar on 01 June 1984 with simultaneous strikes on militants in Golden Temple and in Gurudwaras in Punjab. And at 07 pm on 05 June army stormed the Golden Temple. Army had to use artillery and tanks because the militants had armour piercing weapons, rocket propelled grenades, and machine guns. Fighting was over on 06 June. Bhindranwale and Maj Gen Shabeg Singh were dead. Estimates of total causalities, army, militants, and civilians mainly pilgrims, vary from a few hundred to 18-20,000. Bluestar was over on 10 June.
Six months after Bluestar, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh security guards. This ignited anti Sikh riots in Delhi, killing 3,000 Sikhs, and in 40 other cities killing 5-12,000 Sikhs. Two years later, Gen A S Vaidya, the army chief at the time of Bluestar and its main organiser, was assassinated in Pune by two Sikh militants.
Op Wood Rose and Op Black Thunder 1 and 2
After Blue Star, op Wood Rose was conducted from June to September 1984 to “prevent widespread public protest.” SAD leaders were arrested, All India Sikh Students Federation was banned, and thousands of Sikhs in rural areas were detained, interrogated, many were tortured, and thousands disappeared.
In January 1986, about 200 Sikh militants entrenched in the Golden temple. On 30 April 1986, NSG and BSF Jawans stormed the temple and captured them. Causalities were one killed and one injured. This was op Black Thunder 1.
In op Black Thunder 2, police laid siege to Golden temple from 09 May to 18 May 1986 forcing 200 militants in the temple to surrender. Forty-one militants were killed.
Op Blue Star was poorly executed, caused damage to the golden temple, huge loss of life and did not have great impact on militancy. Black Thunder was well planned and conducted, caused no damage to the temple, and had low causalities. And it broke the back of the separatist movement.
Insurgency and movement for Khālistān petered out in mid-1990 for several reasons like faction in-fights and public disillusionment with the movement. But heavy police crackdown also played an important part.
Conclusion
Punjab is like a dormant volcano. Khālistān has backing of expat Sikhs from Canada, Italy, and the UK, and from ISI of Pakistan. A few militant groups were arrested by police in Punjab in 2018.
Ramesh Inder’s book is timely. It tells us about the insurgency and separatist movement in Punjab. We must learn from that history. Because as George Santayana said, ‘Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.’
