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On
13th April 1977, head of Naqli Nirankaris named Gurbachan
led a procession in Amritsar. Earlier he had declared that
"If Guru Gobind Singh can make five beloved one's., he
will make seven stars" . Naqli Nirankaris are strongly
associated with Arya Samajis and other such organization
which came out of need to reform Hinduism, from its age
old superstitions and rituals., but these movements
instead of targeting common Hindu individuals spearheaded
their movement against Sikhism. Arya Samajis and Naqli
Nirankaris wanted Sikhs to start shaving and to drop their
individuality and assimilate into Hinduism (or their form
of Hinduism with rituals like "Havan"). So on this
occasion of Vasakhi, Gurbachan Nirankari led a procession
in Amritsar.
Bhindrenwale
at this time was a small time preacher, who would visit
villages and preach to youngsters to adopt Sikh practices.
Akhand Kirtani Jatha with its leaders set out from Akal
Takht to stop Gurbachan Nirankari for his act of "Creating
five stars". Gurbachan and his armed accomplice fired at
these Akalis and one by 13 Akalis were killed.
After
this incident, Bhindrenwale's reputation as a fierce
emerging Sikh leader rose tremendously in Sikh political
circles. From 1977 until 1983, Bhindrenwale led his
agitation against Arya Samajis and other fanatic Hindu
organizations who were working against Sikh and ncept of
Punjabiat as well as many Sikhs who opposed him for his
fanatical views. Many of his followers were young rural
Sikhs, who had been disappointed with state and central
government due to unemployment, poverty and other
problems. After 3-4 years of trial, Gurbachan of Nirankari
sect was acquitted by Indian court, even though more then
10 person testified against him in court, it was clearly
evident that there were political heavy weights behind him
as well as behind Bhindrenwale.
Till
1983 about 500-1000 persons were killed all over Punjab by
armed brigades of young motor cycle driving terrorists who
would suddenly appear and with one burst of machine gun
kill 10-15 people. Prominent Arya samaji leaders and news
paper publishers of Hind Samachar group like Lala Jagat
Narain was killed by unidentified persons and Government
of India implicated Bhindrenwale and arrested him at Chowk
Mehta in 1982, but he was released in two days. Then, in
later half of 1982 he moved to Golden temple complex where
he setup his headquarters in Guru Ram Das Sarai. In 1984
he moved to Akal Takht. Indira Gandhi and government of
India declared president rule in Punjab and deployed 4
division of Army through out Punjab, in a desperate
attempt to flush out Bhindrenwale and his accomplice from
Golden Temple complex. Then it all started, I quote from
much accomplished book called "Amritsar Mrs. Gandhi's Last
battle", by Mark Tully and Satish Jacob "At Seven
o'Clock on the evening of 5th June, tanks of the 16th
Cavalry Regiment of the Indian army started moving up to
the Golden Temple complex. They passed Jalianwala Bagh,
the enclosed garden where General Dyer massacred nearly
400 people. That massacre dealt a mortal blow to Britain's
hopes of continuing to rule India and was one of the most
inspirations of the freedom movement. When Mrs. Gandhi was
told that Operation Blue Star had started,she must have
wondered whether it would provide the decisive inspiration
for the Sikh independence movement, a movement whch at
that time had very little support outside Bhindrenwale's
entourage and small groups of Sikhs living in Britain,
Canada and the United States. Major-General Brar was
leading a mixed bag of troops, representative of the
widespread recruiting pattern of the modern Indian army,
which has broken with British tradition of limiting
recruitment to certain 'martial castes'. There were Dogras
and Kumaonis from the foothills of the Himalayas, India's
northern border. There were Rajputs, the desert warriors
from Rajasthan. There were Madrasis from Tamil Nadu, one
of the most southern states. There were Biharis from the
tribes of central India, and there were some Sikhs. Major
Brar had joined Maratha Light infantry 30 years ago in
1954 as a lieutenant. He had fought in Bangladesh under
Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora, the Sikh general
who was most outspoken critic of the Operation Blue Star."
Bhindrenwale
and his group had moved to Akal Takht, the highest seat of
Sikh authority few weeks before Army attack. He had been
criticized for this act as he became the only person after
Guru Hargobind to live in Akal Takht. He was obviously
spearheading the last showdown with Indian army and had
knowledge that sooner or later Army would attack and he
himself wanted to go down in Sikh history as a martyr and
not deserter or negotiator as other Akalis political
leaders. He had support of Major General Shabeg Singh,
unofficial hero of Bangladesh war., as well as thousands
of rural Sikh youth.
B rar's superior
officer was Lt-General Krishnaswamy Sunderji, who asked
his chief staff Officer, Lt-General Ranjit Singh Dayal, to
draw up the plans for Operation Blue Star. Dayal, like
Brar was a Sikh, but he had not shaved his beard or cut
his hair, and still wore a turban. Dayal was also an
infantry soldier, having served in the Ist Battalion, the
Parachute Regiment, which was to spearhead the attack on
the Golden Temple Complex. During the 1965 war with
Pakistan, Dayal became legend by capturing a pass which
had previously been thought to be impregnable, and
blocking off one of the most important routes from
Pakistan-Controlled Kashmir into Indian state of Jammu and
Kashmir. A frontal assault was impossible and so
Lt-General Dayal climbed up the mountains towering over
Haji Pir pass and came down on top of the Pakistanis.
D ayal, Sundarji
and Brar drew up at twofold plan. The essence of this plan
was to separate the hostel complex from the Temple complex
so that the hostels could be evacuated without becoming
involved in the main battle. To achieve the prime
objective to get Bhindrenwale out of the temple complex
they had planned a commando operations. Commandos were to
be supported by infantry, Tanks were only to be used as
platforms for machine guns to neutralize fire on troops
approaching the Golden Temple complex, and to cover the
Temple exits in case anyone tried to escape. Armored
personnel carriers were to be positioned on the road
separating the hostels from the Temple complex to keep the
two potential battle fields apart. |