Chapter 10

MILITARY ATTACK ON AKAL TAKHT AVENGED

Who so ever in the past committed a sin of destroy­ing and desecrating the Golden Temple and the Akal Takht had to suffer the penalty of death at the hands of the brave Khalsa. History of the Sikhs bears testimony to such past events but some of the cynical Hindus scoffed at such heroic deeds. While in the wake of brutal mili­tary operations in Punjab there was a wide spread re­sentment and rumour afloat in the air that Indira Gan­dhi, the Machiavellian Princess, would soon meet her nemesis as was met by Massa Rangar, the cynic Hindus laughed it off. They discarded that historic event as a myth of myths. They never believed that Sukha and Me-htab Singh, the valiant Sikhs, had beheaded Massa Ran­gar for his sin of committing desecration of the Golden Temple in the eighteenth Century A.D. However, keep­ing alive the heroic traditions of the Khalsa and the glo­rious history of the Sikhs two young Sikhs, Bhai Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, inspired by the philosophy of Guru Gobind Singh, on one fine morning of 31st October 1984, gunned down Indira Gandhi right in her fortified official residence and right under the nose of her scores of security guards, and thus avenged the destruction and desecration of the Golden Temple and Akal Takht. These two brave Sikhs greatly surpassed even the heroic and glorious deeds of Sukha and Mehtab Singh.

The Sikhs who were languishing under the oppres­sive Army rule in Punjab, un-mindful of the impending danger, heaved a sigh of relief but it proved only momen­tary. The fanatic Hindus, who were already motivated by Indira Gandhi and other Congress leaders including Rajiv Gandhi, to teach the Sikhs a lesson, were mobilised and organised in the late evening of that fateful day. When Rajiv Gandhi arrived at the All India Insti­tute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, at about 3.30 P.M. and saw her mother in the shape of a lump of flesh, he flew into rage. In a fit of rage he instructed the Congress leaders present there to fan out and teach the Sikhs a lesson. He added that he did not want to see the ugly face of any Sikh. At that time he was not sworn in as the Prime Minister. Perhaps for that reason the Congress hordes did not take his cynical utterance seriously. None­theless they directed the Congress activists to do some­thing to satisfy the whims of their boss. But what they simply did was that they manhandled the Sikh passers by and damaged their scooters and cars by which they were travelling in the vicinity of the Medical Institute. Such sporadic incidents occurred in other parts of Delhi too. But when Rajiv Gandhi succeeded to the throne of Delhi in the evening and was sworn in as the Prime Min­ister of India the situation took a traumatic turn. Rajiv Gandhi was hell bent to teach the Sikhs a bitter lesson to avenge his mother's assassination. The Congress Min­isters and other leaders now realised that they would have to take some drastic action against the Sikhs in order to please their new blood thirsty Prime Minister. They chalked out a sinister and dangerous plan during the night which was meant to be implemented the next morning. Prominent Congress leaders, Harkishan Lal Bhagat. Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, Lalit Makan, Arjun Dass, Dharam Dass Shastri and the like were made in-charge of their respective constituencies and were as­signed the defined duties to ensure the successful imple­mentation of the "Operation Genocide" of the Sikhs.

These Congress Ministers collected hundreds of criminals, professional killers, bandits, marauders, loot­ers and plunderers. during the night intervening 31st Oc­tober and 1st November and let them loose like hungry wolves in Delhi to carry out the "Operation Genocide." The residential houses, shops, business and commercial establishments belonging to the Sikhs were identified and marked to be made targets of attack by the arsonists, rap­ists, killers and the plunderers. All sorts of weapons and incendiary material to carry out the diabolic plan were collected in large quantities and handed over to the killer Hindu gangs. In short the stage was set during the night to launch a major onslaught against the Sikhs the next morning.

In order to give free hand to the Hindu-killer-gangs the Delhi police and the Central Reserve Police Force were passed on secret instructions to keep their hands off when the criminally motivated gangs were in action. Further, to give an ample time to these organised criminal Hindu gangs to accomplish their assigned diaboMc job the gov­ernment declared that the dead body of Indira Gandhi would be preserved in the Teen Murti for three days to enable the people to pay homage and simultaneously cur­few for an indefinite period was also clamped in Delhi. The hidden motive behind all this game plan was to per­mit the killer gangs to move about in the city freely and to prevent movements of others who could have saved the Sikhs.

What happened in Delhi from 1st November to 5th November was a horrible holocaust. Almost all shops, business, commercial establishments and industries were first plundered and then set ablaze. The hapless and in­nocent Sikhs, old and young alike, were mercilessly mas­sacred in thousands. Hundreds of them were literally burnt alive in their houses as well as in the open streets and on the roads. The barbaric Hindus frenziedly danced and sang around the burning and crying Sikhs as though they were celebrating some festival. Hundreds of Sikh women and girls were gang raped in the presence of their fathers, brothers, sons. and husbands. Then the males wore brutally slaughtered hpfoi'p the eyes of raped and ravished ladies.

Some of the brave Sikhs, who dared to resist and combat the killer Hindu gangs, were fired at by the Para Military Forces and disarmed so as to let them fall easy prey to the monsters. In many cases the Para Military Forces gunned down the Sikhs in view of the organised killers simply to boost their morale and signal them to carry on with loot, plunder and murders without any hin­drance.

Under a well considered vicious plan the military was called in Delhi and ostensibly given orders to shoot at sight the arsonists and the killers of the Sikhs but not a single shot was fired by the Army during its deploy­ment for full four days. On the contrary, the Army wit­nessed all monstrous crimes as silent spectators. It is crys­tal clear from their passive role that the Army was de­ployed in the city to convey false information to the gen­eral public and the world at large that the Indian gov­ernment had taken all necessary steps and precautions to prevent and control the calamitous situation.

It was not all that only the killer Hindu gangs of Delhi were let loose like mad and ferocious dogs to pounce upon defenceless innocent Sikhs, the Congress leaders transported hundreds of such valves in buses and trucks from the neighbouring villages of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the pretext that they had come to pay hom­age to the dead Indira Gandhi. As a matter of fact they were brought to Delhi to expedite and complete the geno­cide of the Sikhs by the time the dead body of Indira Gan­dhi was cremated on 3rd of November. I observed that the killers did not have the slightest sign or expression of grief or sorrow on their faces. Rather, they were smil­ing and laughing and dancing as though they had come to see some fair or festival.

It was not only in Delhi that the Sikhs were merci­lessly massacred. The same naked monstrosity was in dis- play in other states too, especially those ruled by the Congress Party.

At least five thousand Sikhs were slaughtered in Delhi alone, the same number that had been killed by the Indian Army during the Operation Blue Star.

This genocide of the Sikhs was committed by the barbaric Hindus without any fear of retaliation in Pun­jab because Punjab was already reeling under the repres­sive rule of the Army.

It would be a partial truth to say that only some of the Congress Ministers and leaders had masterminded and organised the genocide of the Sikhs. The real but invisible force behind this great holocaust was Rajiv Gan-dhi himself, the ruthless Prime Minister of India. This fact stands proved by his own confessional statement when he publicly declared that when a big tree falls the earth shakes. If this deviqus justification of the genocide is supposed to be held tenable then why the earth did not shake when Mohari Das Karam Chand Gandhi was gunned down by Nathu Ram Godse, a Marathi Brahmin, on 30th January 1948? Should it be believed that Indira Gandhi was greater than M.K. Gandhi who is revered and remembered by the Congress as the father of the na­tion? Not a single Maratha Brahmin was even manhan­dled not to talk of having been killed. Why? Because in that case both the killer and killed were Hindus and Brah-mans. All this proves that the genocide of the Sikhs was masterminded and organised by Rajiv Gandhi himself.

All this naked barbarity, brutality and monsterity brazenly displayed by the fanatic Hindus in carrying out the genocide of the Sikhs is not a new development in their character and culture viz a viz the non Hindus. They have inherited this criminal and outrageous element of character from their remote ancestors, the Indo-Aryans who had invaded the Indo-Pak subcontinent in about 1500 B.C.. conquered it and made it their homeland. Their kith and kin, the Indo-Aryans, have alluded to Indo-Aryans in Zend Auestea in the following words :-

(1) "You Devas, sprang out of evil spirits, who take possession of you by intoxication, teaching you manifold arts to deceive and destroy mankind, for which arts you are notorious every where."

(Yasna - 32)

(2) "I forsake the Devas, the wicked, bad false, untrue, the originators of mischief, who are most baneful, destructive, the basest of all beings."

(Yasna - 12)

The Devas here are alluded to the Indo-Aryans whose remote descendants the present day Hindu are.

Their bestial character remains dormant when they are subdued and enslaved by a superior force but as soon as they regain freedom and become rulers, their inher­ent character becomes visible. This was clearly manifested in the outrageous geno.cide of the Sikhs. So it is not a flurry of their ferocity. In fact it is an age old bestial habit of the Hindus which it will recur again and again till they are enslaved by some future superior power.

Chapter 11

THE AFTERMATH

Military attack on the Golden Temple Complex was tauntingly Code-named by the government as Operation Blue Star because the Akali support turbans of blue col­our and the government wanted not only to remove blue turbans but their heads too. Similarly Operation "mop up" carried out simultaneously was code named "Woodrose" because the Sikh youth were like roses but in the eyes of government grown in the woods. Both these bloody Operations were carried out with reckless venge­ance. They aroused in the minds of the Sikhs deep re­sentment, hatred and revulsion against the government. Therefore the devout Sikh youths were virtually burning with fire of revenge and vowed to avenge the murder of Akal Takht from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Her sin was unforgivable and unatonable. Hence she was destined to meet her nemesis one day or the other and she did meet it on 31st October 1984 just five months after she had taken the suicidal step attack to the Golden Temple Complex. Though her assassination resulted in the geno­cide of the Sikhs yet it raised the head of the Khalsa and restored their honour and pride.

II

The rise and fall of the Traitors

Though all Akali leaders were released from the Jail in early 1985 yet the Sikh masses seemed to be leader less, for, the released leaders had been badly discredited by their own omissions and commissions. Therefore, they pleaded with Baba Joginder Singh, father of Sant Bhin-dranwaie and persuaded him to lead the demoralised and vanquished community. He was thus forced to lead the Akali Dal. As a result Longowal demitted office of the President of Akali Dal and Talwandi also disbanded his own splinter group. This paved the way for unity among the Akalis and United Akah Dal was formed under the Presidentship of Baba Joginder Singh.

This new dispensation, however, was a big sore in the eyes of courteries of Longowal. especially Balwant Singh, who was Longowal's main advisor, besides Surjit Singh Barnala, who was dreaming to become Chief Min­ister of Punjab. Seeing their dreams shattered Balwant Singh and Barnala persuaded Longowal to withdraw his resignation who readily obliged them as he, too, had a lust for power.

This trinity, while holding negotiations with the Central government before military action, called Opera­tion Blue Star. had considered Sant Bhindranwale as a stumbling block is their way because the latter wanted nothing short of realisation of Anandpur Sahib Resolu­tion while the trinity was ready to give up that demand in return for power. Now that the stumbling block had been removed from their way the "trinity" reopened talks with the Central government. They picked up the thread where they had left it before military action and deliber­ately ignored stalwarts like Tohra, Badal and Talwandi. To facilitate success of negotiations the Central govern­ment appointed Arjun Singh as the governor of Punjab, for, he had cordial relations with the trinity.

Although Tohra, Talwandi and Badal were aware of the secret dialogue being held by Longowal and his courterie with the government yet they did not know what specific formulation the demands would take.

However a sudden announcement made by the Cen­tral government in the evening of 23rd July 1985 sur­prised th,e Akali Dal and the general public. That an­nouncement said that Longowal would meet Rajiv Gan-dhi the Prime Minister, on 24th July. It was a clear indi­cation that some sort of agre&ment between them had been arrived at. As was expected it. was-announced by the government on 24th rJuly that a "Memoran.dum of Settlement" had been signed by Rajiv Gandhi and Longowal. Thus Longowal stabbed the Akali Dal and the Sikh masses in the back once again. At that juncture Longowal did not represent the Sikh masses or the Akali Dal. He was leading only a splinter group of Akalis whereas the majority of them was being led by Baba Joginder Singh but even then he had not been taken into confidence by Longowal. As a result all top Akali leaders outrightly rejected the Memorandum of Settlement brand­ing it a great betrayal of the Khalsa Panth.

There is nothing new in the fake Memorandum of Settlement because similar offers were being made by the government before the military attack on the Golden Tem­ple Complex and those offers were rejected and debunked by Sant Bhindranwale and other leaders including To-hra and Talwandi. If such a lollipop was to be accepted by these old traitors and that too after experiencing a catastrophe then why they had allowed the government to destroy and desecrate the Golden Temple Complex which had caused enormous loss of life and property. Apparently these traitors have laid waste the sacrifices made by the devout Sikhs.

According to the terms and conditions of the so called Memorandum of Settlement the main demand of Anandpur Sahib Resolution has been permanently bur­ied into the deep sea: transfer of Chandigrah has become a dead issue; river waters dispute and other issues have been thrown to the wind. Thus the Memorandum has turned out to be a negation in totality and demands raised during the Dharm Yudh Morcha have been given a per­manent burial.

III

The Last efforts for unity

Fortunately I have had very close and cordial rela­tions with the top Akali leaders especially with Jathedar Gurcharn Singh Tohra ad Jagdev Singh Talwandi. There­fore I tried to create some conducive atmosphere for bring­ing about unity among them. I met all top leaders. They all were willing to forge unity but were apprehensive. Nevertheless I held last meeting with Balwant Singh and Surjh Singh Barnala at Ludhiana on 18th August 1985. We discussed various formulations to forge unity but Balwant Singh harped only on one point saying that none else than Longowal was acceptable to him as the Presi­dent of Akali Dal. Upon this a quick idea came to my mind and I suggested the name of Barnala for Presidentship of Akali Dal. This suggestion enlivened Barnala but Balwant Singh's face turned pale. Any way gathering his nerves he questioned me whether this proposal was acceptable to Talwandi. Certainly. I said with full confidence, and when in ecstatic mood I begged leave of them to convey good news to Talwandi, Balwant Singh followed me to the gate and said in no uncertain words that even Barnala was not acceptable to him. When I asked why he did not say so to Barnala he replied. "How could I say so in his face." There ended the last efforts for forging unity in the Akali Dal. Two days later Harchand Singh Longowal was gunned down by some devout Sikh youth in his own district of Sangrur. When his body was cremated in his own village Longowal I came across Balwant Singh who was in a gloomy mood. tie murmured that he had been ruined. I reminded him of his obstinacy shown by him on 20th August and whispered to him that should he be raised from the grave.

As the luck would have it Barnala was made Presi­dent of Akali Dal. As committed by Rajiv Gandhi. Akali Dal led by Barnala was facilitated by the Congress to win the elections and form the government in 1985. Barnala however was a dejure Chief Minister while Balwant Singh was a de facto Chief Minister.

Rajiv Gandhi wanted to extract an extra pound of flesh from the Barnala government. Then Rajiv inducted government agents in the Golden Temple Complex in the guise of fake militants and then conducted Operation Black Thunder by sending commandos to capture them from the temple. This drama was enacted by the Rajiv government in connivance w'ith Barnala and Balwant Singh in order to justify the earlier military action code named "Operation Blue Star."

Soon thereafter the Barnala government was dis­missed in 1987. And Balwant Singh met the fate of a trai­tor like his mentor. Longowal. Thus ended the sordid story of these traitors.



Post Script

Without giving some more detail about Jathedar Ranjit Singh and assessment of the present politico-reli­gious situation this book seems to be some what incom­plete.

Bhai Ranjit Singh was born on 25th June 1955 in village Thatta Ghariala in Patti Tehsil of district Amrit-sar. This area is a part of "Majha" which is known as a land of the brave people Like Sant Bhindranwale. Bhai Ranjit Singh also studied upto 5th standard in Patti town and then shifted to Delhi in 1970 in search for livelihood. He worked and lived in Delhi upto 1980.

When traumatic incident of 13th April 1978 occurred at .Amritsar he was still living in Delhi. This incident shook his conscience, for, being a devout Singh, he could not swallow the cruel and ghastly murder of the 13 de­fenceless Sikhs at the hands of blood thirsty Nirankaris. He vowed to avenge the massacre of the Sikhs and set upon the job while he was still in Delhi. By winning con- fidence of the Nirankari leaders he managed to enter their citadel, the Nirankari headquarters, at Delhi. Accordingly he was allowed to stay in a room opposite the main en­trance of Nirankari Chief's residence and worked there in the guise of a carpenter for about four months. During this period he carefully watched the movements of Gur-bachan Singh and assessed his security arrangements. Then he meticulously worked out a plan to exterminate the Nirankari Chief in his own den, for, he was solely responsible for the Amritsar episode. When he was fully confident that he would accomplish his task he called upon Sant Bhindranwale in the Golden Temple Complex perhaps to seek his blessing and then returned to Delhi about two weeks before he actually assassinated Gur-bachan Singh on 24th April 1980.

This stout and sturdy man, six feet tall, had a com­panion called Kabul Singh.

Bhai Ranjit Singh, companion of Kabul Singh, stayed with him in the Nirankari headquarters. Ranjit Singh perhaps first intend to gun down the Nirankari Chief on the Baisakhi day, that is. the 13th April, but he could not get the chance. However this stout and sturdy and six feet tall man stunned the country on 24th April 1980 by assassinating Gurbachan Singh. Nirankari Chief right in his fortified citadel in Delhi. This brave Singh avenged the gruesome massacre of the Sikhs and the whole Sikh community was jubilant for this feat of val­our. As he and his companion Kabul Singh knew the exit routes they easily managed to escape. After their escape Kabul Singh went to Sant Bhindranwale and lived with him till the end.

Contrary to the widely published reports that Bhai Ranjit Singh also sought shelter in the Camp of Sant Bhin­dranwale and that later he was weaned away by Longowal who arranged his surrender through Surjit Singh Barnala Bhai Ranjit Singh emphatically said that he himself sur- rendered on 24th March 1983 before G.S. Bawa who was the Director of Criminal Bureau of investigation. He was then convicted in the Nirankari Chief murder case and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was detained in Tihar Central Jail in Delhi and was released on 12th October 1996. Significantly, while Ranjit Singh was still under­going sentence, Gurcharan Singh Tohra. President of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, appointed him Jathedar ofAkal Takht in 1993. However he was for­mally installed as Jathedar after his release from the Jail on 12th October 1996. In his absence Professor Manjit Singh worked as Acting Jathedar of the Akal Takht and when he demitted his office he was appointed Jathedar of Takht Keshgarh Sahib.

During his tenure as Acting Jathedar of Akal Ta­kht Professor Manjit Singh played an uncharitable role. He acted more like a politician than a religious head. He developed vested interests because in the capacity of chairman of World Sikh Council, he had collected huge amount through'donations but refused to render accounts despite repeated appeals made by Bhai Ranjit Singh. It appears that his insolent behaviour smacks some foul play as he has openly challenged the Supreme Authority of the Akal Takht.

With a view to diverting attention of the Khalsa Panth from his uncharitable behaviour Professor Manjit Singh has superimposed another controversy. This con­troversy relates to a Hukamnama issued by the Akal Ta­kht Jathedar forbidding the Sikhs to partake langar in the Gurdwaras sitting in the chairs and served on the tables. Sikhs in Canada wilfully violated this Hukamnama and the tradition laid down by the Sikh Gurus. There­fore the Akal Takht Jathedar declared some of them Tankhayia and then excommunicated them. Being a Jath­edar of Takht Keshgarh Sahib it was bounding duty of Professor Manjit Singh to endorse the religious edict that enjoins upon him but he intentionally opposed and criti­cised the Akal Takht Jathedar keeping his selfish inter­ests above his religious duties. Not surprisingly he has found a ready accomplice in Brajinder Singh. editor of "Ajit". a daily newspaper, published from Jalandhar. This editor at the behest of Professor Manjit Singh and the Chief Minister, has given a new twist to this debased is­sue which has been raised in order to diminish the au­thority of the Akal Takht. Brajinder Singh has gone to the mean extent of criticising Akal Takht Jathedar in his newspaper by name and is indulging in irreligious ac­tivities. He seems to be playing more or less the same role as was being played by Lala Jagat Narain before Operation Blue Star.

It is an irony that history is waiting in the wings to repeat itself so soon. Exactly twenty years ago more or less a similar politico-religious situation was prevailing in Punjab. At that time. too, Punjab government was be­ing run by Parkash Singh Badal in coalition with the Jan Sangh which represents Hindu fundamentalism .

At that time, too. there was a same formulation of political parties which was reigning the country. At that time, too, the same set of moderate or secular Akali lead­ers had played in the hands of fundamentalist Hindus and had vitiated the peaceful situation in Punjab. Twenty years later they are again playing the same game unmindful of the consequences.

It is an irony that the same set of failed and dis­credited Akali leaders are in power in Punjab who had been in power twenty years ago. And it is a tragedy that they have again arrayed themselves against the true lead­ers of the Khalsa Panth. In a calculated move they have started a vicious attack on the Akal Takhl Jathedar and the President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. Twenty years ago they had frowned at Sant Bhindranwale and arrayed their forces against him and Dami Dami Tak'sal but they were badly battered by the brave Sant. And ultimately they sought the help of Cen­tral government which had attacked the Golden Temple Complex to save the "great traitor" (Harchand Singh Longowal) and smash the citadel of the gallant defender of the Panth,

Today too anti-Panthic forces waging war against Bhai Ranjit Singh, JathedarofAkal Takht, not simply to brow beat him but also to diminish authority of the Akal Takht. They are acting in the same fashion as they had done in the case of Sant Bhindranwale.

But Badal should carefully study ABC of dialectical materialism and learn some lesson from the past events. formulate his present policies after rectifying past mis­takes: and plan for the future correctly, lest history should repeat itself again.