Chapter 6

PRELUDE TO MILITARY ATTACK AGAINST SANT BHINDRANWALE

It had by now become clear that Indira Gandhi. clandestinely aided by the Third Agency had created and fomented the Punjab problem and turned it into seem­ingly unresolvable crisis. A state of insecurity and insta­bility was deliberately created through the operations of the Super Intelligence Agency. Through the same Agency a feeling of mutual distrust between the Hindus and the Sikhs was generated which led to disturbances of com­munal harmony not only in Punjab but in the whole coun­try. The Sikhs were projected as communal, extremists, terrorists, separatists and anti national. To disseminate this vicious propaganda against the Sikhs, the Press, All India Radio and TV. were pressed into service. This ca­nard was carried to every nook and corner of the coun­try. The cry of the Sikhs was drowned in the vast sea of this vicious propaganda. Political atmosphere was sur­charged to such an extent that the Hindu Opposition Parties vied with one another to denigrate the Sikhs and advocated for taking military action against Sant Bhin-dranw ale and his followers. Atal Bihari Bajpai, President of'BJP. Charan Singh. President of the Lok Dal. leaders of both the Communist Parties, which style themselves as secular but basically they too are communal, and oth­ers were strong votaries of taking military action against the militant Sikhs. So much so Harchand Singh Longowal, Balwant Sin.gh Ex-Minister, Surjit Singh Barnala. and some other Akali leaders covertly supported the military action simply to please the Centre and then gain politi­cal power, So all Hindu Parties and the Akali traitors among the Sikhs cried with one voice "attack the Golden Temple Complex and teach a lesson to the militant Sikhs Now the psychological and political atmosphere was ripe for Indira Gandhi to invade the Golden Temple Com­plex. She went on the AIR and the TV late in the evening of June 2. 1984 to address the nation. She pretended that she had tried to resolve the Punjab crisis but the Akalis. were using dilatory tactics. Her address to the country and the world was a camouflage in order to cover up her ill-conceived motives. Her motives were clear because on June 1'. 1984 she had already deployed at least seven Divi­sions of Armed Forces in Punjab who had taken their predetermined positions the same day. Her address to the nation, in fact, constituted a blatant lie and was a threat to the Akalis that if they failed to accept her dictate she would have her will by use of force,

In her broadcast she blamed the Akali leaders for not having reached agreement though the stark fact was that it was she who had resiled not once but thrice when the agreements between the Akalis and her team of min­isters had been reached. Her statement that sale of to­bacco. liquor and meat had been banned in the demacrated areas in the walled city ofAmritsar was a white lie. With regard to the demand for enacting of All India Gurdwara Act she stated that other states were being consulted. Mere consultation does not amount to accepting the de­mands. Similarly, her announcement that she would con­stitute a Tribunal headed by a Supreme Court Judge to decide the distribution of river waters dispute was a dip­lomatic move which lacked sincerity. Her proposal to ap­point a Commission to decide the territorial dispute with regard to Chandigarh. Abohar. Fazilka and other Pun­jabi speaking areas, was a hollow announcement. The setting up of Sarkaria Commission (R. S. Sarkaria was appointed as one-man Commission to submit his report redefining State-Centre relations) amounted to ditching the Anandpur Sahib Resolution which has been the main demand of the Akalis. ll was clear from her broadcast that she wanted to lull the Akalis with sweet but hollow promises. Not a single demand of the Akali Dal for which it had launched Dharm Yudh Morcha in 1981 was ac­cepted.

In a clever move she blamed the moderate Akali leaders for having lost their control over the Morcha. She chided them that the terrorists, the anti-national ele­ments and the religious fanatics had gained the upper hand and it was they who had been controlling the move­ment. This was a reference made to Sant Bhindranwale and his followers. Under such pretexts she launched mili­tary operation against the Sikhs She found immediate lame excuse for launching military offensive in the pro­posed call given by the Akali Dal for blocking movement of grains from Punjab to other States. Longowal inten­tionally gave this call at the behest of the Centre so that Indira Gandhi could justify her ill-designed military ac­tion. Did she give the Akali leaders a single day to recon­sider their threatened agitation proposed to be launched from 3rd June onwards? It is pertinent to note that the army had clamped curfew in whole of the Punjab on 3rd June and enforced it so strictly that whole life in Punjab came to a stand still. How the Akalis under such critical conditions could have obstructed running of trains? It was clear that the military curfew had completely thwarted the threatened Rail-Roko agitation. Where was, then, the justification for Indira Gandhi to resort to brutal mili­tary action? Any how she found an excuse to take action against Sant Bhindranwale and his followers.

Her closing words in the broadcast that "Don't shed blood, shed hatred" were likened to the Devil quoting scriptures. It was Indira Gandhi who shed blood of the Sikhs and spread hatred against them and not the vice versa.