SINGH SABHA OF NEW YORK Inc.

 SANT JARNAIL SINGH BHINDERANWALE
Life, Mission And Martyrdom

Dr.Ranbir Singh Sandhu

ALLEGATIONS BY THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

In justifying its attack on Sikh places of worship, the Indian Government declared : 'Bhindranwale and others operating directly from the Golden Temple complex began to extol and instigate violence'; that 'extremists were attacking conscientious police officers who were doing their duty of enforcing the law'; and that 'Bhindranwale had advocated the killing of Hindus in Punjab so as to set in motion a general exodus'. The army action was described as 'operations taken to remove terrorists, criminals and their weapons from sacred places of worship.' Indira Gandhi, in her broadcast to the nation on June 2, 1984, described the leadership of the Sikh agitation as 'a group of fanatics and terrorists whose instruments for achieving whatsoever they may have in view are murder, arson and loot'. The Indian Government's 'White Paper' charged that 'the tactics employed by the secessionist and terrorist groups were: systematic campaign to create bitterness and hatred between Sikhs and Hindus; indoctrination in the ideology of separatism in militant terms behind the facade of gurmat camps; training in the use of modern weaponry; use of terrorism against specific targets in the police and the administration of Punjab; preparation of 'hit lists' of those who disagreed and organizing their murder; random killing of persons of a particular community aimed at creating terror and instigating communal violence; stockpiling of arms and ammunition in places of worship; utilization of smugglers and anti-social elements for procuring supplies of arms, ammunition and for looting banks, jewelry shops and individual homes; and obtain covert and overt support from external sources?' Was this indeed true. Let us examine the various allegations. 1. Initiation of Violence Tavleen Singh reports: 'Contrary to the popular belief that he took the offensive, senior police sources in the Punjab admit that the provocation came in fact from a Nirankari official who started harassing Bhindranwale and his men. There were two or three Nirankaris in key positions in the Punjab in those days and they were powerful enough to be able to create quite a lot of trouble. The Nirankaris also received patronage from Delhi that made Sikh organizations like Bhindranwale's and the Akhand Kirtani Jatha, headed then by Bibi Amarjit Kaur's husband, Fauja Singh, hate them even more.' Khushwant Singh tells us: 'Terrorist activity preceded the morcha by more than six months and was born out of encounters faked by the Punjab police and the armed conflict between the Nirankaris and Sant Bhindranwale beginning April 13, 1978.' Sant Jarnail Singh Bindranwale repeatedly declared that he would never initiate a dispute or a confrontation. However, he also asserted that if someone attacks a Sikh, he should get a proper response. In his view : 'When is a Sikh wrong? It is when he poses a question. When is a Sikh's sin washed away? It is when he responds. A Sikh will never be the first to attack, to ask the question. Asking the question means being the first to attack. That is what we call asking a question. Later, seeking justice is called the answer. If we are sons of Sikhs, we shall never be the first to attack in the form of a question. Also, if we are sons of Sikhs, we shall never hesitate in responding. If we hesitate then we are artificial Sikhs, spoilt Sikhs, not real Sikhs. If we attack first then too we are spoilt Sikhs.' b. Attacks on 'Conscientious' Police Officials As oppression against devout Sikhs escalated during 1982 and 1983, Sikhs from villages flocked to Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale seeking redress. At first he felt that there were some unscrupulous police officials who were responsible for the spate of arbitrary arrests followed generally by brutal torture and often resulting in death in police custody. He sought redress from higher authorities in the administration and from courts. Higher police officials listened to him, assured him of fairness but took no action. For example, referring to the assurances given by the Inspector General of Police in the case of Harbhajan Singh and Harpreet Singh, Sant Bhindranwale commented: 'Deviously, they keep telling the President (of the Shromani Akali Dal) on the phone that the boys have not committed any offense. If they are innocent then why are they kept there, for fun? How long are we going to suffer this oppression?' The news media and the political leadership would not believe his charges of police brutality. The administration, instead of punishing the guilty policemen, rewarded them with promotions. He found that the courts were powerless in enforcing their decisions. For example : 'At the time of Amrik Singh's arrest, Puran Singh Hundal, his lawyer, went to the judge. He petitioned the judge and after submitting the petition came and met the (police) officers. He said to the officers: "Here is his (Amrik Singh's) petition to the judge and the judge's signature. The lawyer can stay (with the accused)." The officers at that place told him: "We do not know the judge. Here, we are the judges." The lawyer went back to the judge and told him: "Sir, here is your signature. These are your orders and the officers say they do not know the judge and that they are the judges." The judge folded his hands and said that this was not in his power. Where will you go? When there is no respect for the judge and the (police) officer says he is everything, then there is the instruction: "With your own hands, take care of your business".' He publicly identified some of the most notorious culprits in the police force. Some of these officials were eventually killed, possibly by surviving relatives of their victims. The Government and the news media immediately held Sant Bhindranwale responsible for 'death of conscientious police officers' without any evidence that he was connected with these incidents in any direct manner. For example, he protested that he had nothing to do with Atwal's murder in April 1983. However, most writers continue to blame him for it. There is a feeling that the Government had got Atwal killed to silence him forever. He was a Sikh police officer who knew too much about the murder of Sikhs in Chowk-Mehta in 1981 where he was on duty at the scene, and the murder of the 19-year old Hardev Singh and his associates by the police in March 1983 for which he was supervising the investigation. However, later on, faced with continuing torture and brutality of his adherents, Sant Bhindranwale did declare that he would provide shelter to any one who would punish the culprits. This was after the Sikhs had been driven to the wall. Frustrated in his attempts to get the Government to inquire into incidents of police excesses and to punish the guilty officials, he told his audiences in March 1983: 'Khalsa Ji: one gets justice out of inquiries when there is room for (vcIl, dlIl, apIl) legal representation, argument, and appeal. Here (under Indian Government) it is outright injustice. They have decided to annihilate the Sikhs, to insult their turban, to destroy their Faith. Under this situation, why do you need to use a lawyer and appeal?' Again, in July 1983, he said: 'Khalsa Ji: what assurance, what justice, what fairness can you expect from a Government, from courts, which no longer trust people, which have lost all faith in men and trust only dogs? How can you expect justice from them? Those who have no faith in men, those who have no faith in the legal process, in reasoning, and in appeal to conscience of the perpetrators; those who only trust dogs, but if the dogs point to their own house as the source of crime, they don't trust the dogs either.' 3. Keeping 'Hit-Lists' The Indian Government and its supporters have said that Sant Bhindranwale kept 'hit lists of those who disagreed with him and organize their murder'? Amarjit Kaur refers to 'the barbaric acts, duly sanctioned by the author of the 'hit-lists' living in the safety of Akal Takht'. Noting this propaganda, Sant Bhindranwale said : 'If, from this stage, I say something naming someone they say: "Bhindranwala has given out the name of such person, now this name has come on the list." This kind of gossip goes on.' Also : 'It is said that I have already made a list. I haven't made any so far but the way these people are forcing us, it is quite possible that the youth may have to start such a list. I have not made any.' He got quite upset upon learning that Indira Gandhi had accused him of keeping 'hit lists' and said : 'She has said that Bhindranwale has prepared a hit list. You might even have read this in the newspapers today. I have challenged her and given a warning. Upon my life and upon my breath, let her prove where did I get the paper for that hit list, where did I get the pen, and the ink and the inkpot. She should get the CBI to check this out. If she proves that I have signed any paper; that I have signed for the purpose of any body's being killed; standing here in the presence of Hazoor, I declare that I shall cut off my head and place it before the Congregation. I shall leave Guru Nanak Niwas and go away. But she should tell, she should provide proof. If she does not have any proof but has some honor, dignity and some little decency, she should resign the office of Prime Minister and come before the public in the streets. A person should be occupying an office of such responsibility, be the Prime Minister; and listening to news from favorites like Romesh, news from the likes of Virendra and Yash should start saying "He is very dangerous. He has made up a hit list!" Where is that list? It is only in the newspapers. If she has said that a list has been made, who has told her about it? She should apprehend those people who have found it. She should interrogate them the way others, Singhs, are treated. They should tell her where that piece of paper is. She should get that paper and show it to me.' There never was such a list though many journalists bought the official line and kept harping on it. Khushwant Singh claims : 'I was on Bhindranwale's hit list for the many unkind things I had written about him in my columns and said over the BBC.' The fact is that Sant Bhindranwale hardly knew him. Addressing a Sikh gathering, he said : 'There is one Khushwant Singh. I have only seen him barely once. He is from Delhi and is close to Indira.' Apparently, Khushwant Singh was claiming to be on a fictitious 'hit list' merely as a quixotic target of a non-existent threat. 4. Hating and Killing Hindus and Others The Government blamed Sant Bhindranwale for 'advocating the killing of Hindus in Punjab so as to set in motion a general exodus', 'random killing of persons belonging to a particular community aimed at creating terror' and for 'carrying on a systematic campaign to create bitterness and hatred between Sikhs and Hindus'. As noted earlier, prominent intellectuals and the news media went along with the official line of thinking. Sant Bhindranwale emphasized the uniqueness of the Sikh faith being founded upon its set of beliefs and practices, not upon hatred of any religion. He advised everyone to be true in their own faith. The Sant did not consider Hindus to be 'close' to the Sikhs in their beliefs and practices. However, emphasizing the catholicity of the Sikh faith, he pointed out that Siri Guru Granth Sahib includes verses composed by some Hindu saints. Addressing the Hindus, he said : 'Who was Jaidev? Wasn't he a Hindu from amongst you? He was a Brahmin. Jaidev is sitting here in Guru Granth Sahib. If a son of a Sikh has made obeisance here he has done so at the feet of Jaidev, the Brahmin.' Sant Bhindranwale did note that even though Sikhs had defended the Hindus' right to free worship, Hindus were ungrateful. He said : 'The one who got the Fifth King tortured on the hot plate was from among them; the one who administered poison to the Sixth King was from among them; the one responsible for the martyrdom of the Sahibzadas was from among them. For the sake of all of them, for the sake of their janeoo and tilak the Ninth Kinggave his head and now these people have had books published claiming that Guru Tegh Bahaadar Sahib Ji gave his head for some personal feuds and he did no service to the Hindus. What can we expect from the nation, the people, into whom such ingratitude has crept in.' Nayar, informs us that : 'Bhindranwale asked Longowal to give a call to the Sikh masses to purchase motorcycles and revolvers to kill Hindus in Punjab.' This accusation was based upon a public statement by Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, President of the Shromani Akali Dal. Sant Bhindranwale took Longowal to task for attributing to him something that he could never even dream of, namely, killing members of a certain community. During one of his speeches attended by many Hindus, he said : 'You have learnt from the newspapers, and from propaganda by ignorant people, that Bhindranwala is an extremist; that he is a dangerous man, a communalist; that he kills Hindus. There are many Hindus sitting here. You should carefully note how many I injure and how many I kill before leaving. You will be with me. Keep listening attentively. Having listened, do think over who are the communalists; whether they are the turban-wearers or your newspaper owners, the Mahasha Press.' Addressing this issue in some detail, he said : 'I have no enmity with the Hindus as such. If I were their enemy, why would I rescue the daughter of a Hindu from Jalalabad. ... Kailash Chander owns a retail shop here. His shop was burnt down. The Retail Merchants Union asked him: "Name Bhindranwale." He did not do so. The Hindu along with two Sikhs, the three of them, came to see me in my room. He came and started to cry. I asked him: "What is the matter? Why are you crying?" He said: "My shop has been burnt down." ... I gave him the five hundred rupees. In Kapurthala, a copy of the Ramayana was burnt. The leaders of that place know about this. The Jatha spent 5,000 rupees in litigation over that. On the 4th (April 1983), two Hindus were martyred in connection with the 'rasta roko' agitation. Shromani Akali Dal and the Shromani Committee paid (their families) 10,000 rupees each and the Jatha gave another 5,000 to each family. If I was an enemy of all the Hindus, where is the need for me to pay all this money?' He did not at any time preach initiation of conflict or confrontation although he did advise resistance to oppression and to wanton killing of innocent people. In response to Indira Gandhi's accusation, he declared : 'She says that Bhindranwala destroys temples, that he does not like temples and wishes to destroy them, that he kills Hindus. Responsible persons who are associated with the Jatha go there and build temples. You can figure out yourselves whether I am in favor of destroying temples or of keeping them. Our Father sacrificed his entire family for the sake of (Hindu) temples and she gives help to people who destroy gurdwaras; to the followers of human gurus and of hypocrites. On top of it she blames Sikhs that they make trouble.' Emphasizing the need to stay peaceful and to avoid confrontation as far as possible, Sant Bhindranwale said : 'The Government is trying very hard to start Hindu-Sikh riots. Avoid this as along as you can. However, if the Hindus also get into the Government's boat and start to dishonor the daughters and sisters of the Sikhs and to take off the Sikhs' turbans, then, in order to save our turban, we shall take what steps the Khalsa, following the path shown by Guru Gobind Singh Ji, has always taken in the past. We might have to adopt those methods but we shall do so only when we are forced to. We shall not resort to those methods on our own. We have to be peaceful.' e. Hiding from the Law Was Sant Bhindranwale a criminal wanted by the law? India Today reported in December 1983 that a senior officer in Chandigarh confessed: 'It's really shocking that we have so little against him while we keep blaming him for all sorts of things.' The fact is that when the Government was in the process of training army units in the planned invasion of Darbar Sahib, the only charges against Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale were that his speeches were 'objectionable'. Sanghvi reports : 'In April 1980, after the Congress had returned to power, murderers believed to be linked to Bhindranwale, assassinated Baba Gurbachan Singh, the leader of the Nirankari sect. At the time, there was an outcry and demands were raised for the arrest of Bhindranwale. As Home Minister, Zail Singh told Parliament that Bhindranwale had nothing to do with the murder: a statement for which he has been criticized by every writer on the Punjab. His supporters do not dispute that he made the statement (it is on record) but argue that it was a reply to a Parliamentary question and had been written for him by his civil servants. In fact, they say, whatever Bhindranwale's involvement, the Government had no concrete evidence and the ministry thought it inadvisable to arrest him on a flimsy case only to have him acquitted and transformed into a hero.' Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had, apparently, not committed any violation of the law and, accordingly, had no need to 'hide' anywhere. But, speculates Khushwant Singh : 'When Bhindranwale sensed that the Government had at long last decided to arrest him, he first took shelter in the Golden Temple, then occupied and fortified portions of the Akal Takht.' Why, one might ask this famous columnist, would Sant Bhindranwale present himself, along with over 50 of his supporters, at the Deputy Commissioner's residence on the day he moved to the Darbar Sahib complex, if his purpose in moving there was to hide from the law? Gurdev Singh, District Magistrate at Amritsar till shortly before the invasion is on record as having assured the Governor of the state that he could arrest anyone in Darbar Sahib at any time. There were people who felt offended by Sant Bhindranwale's views and wanted him silenced. They noted his innocence but stubbornly refused to accept it. Commenting on Sant Bhindranwale, Shourie conceded : 'For all I know, he is completely innocent and is genuinely and exclusively dedicated to the teachings of the Gurus'. However, he went on to state in the same paragraph: 'It is not Bhindranwale who triggers reflex actions in the tension that precedes a riot, it is this apprehension and fear that he has invoked.' Amarjit Kaur, while accepting that the Government had to release Sant Bhindranwale after his arrest in 1981 'for the lack of any legal proof', goes on to state : 'Everybody was frightened because they felt that if they did give any evidence against Bhindranwale or against any of his men, they and their entire families would be killed. Bhindranwale had put fear into the people because innocent people were being killed and any officer who went against his wishes was killed.' Why were these people frightened and so apprehensive if he had committed no crime? It was a self-imposed dread of the revival of the Sikh faith and the popularity of the Sant. Why would he hide from the law? No court had asked for his personal appearance for any crime. Was he wanted by the 'lawless' police and an oppressive government so that he could be killed, as many other Sikhs had been, in order to silence the voice of protest and to check the revival of the Sikh faith which he led? 6. Advocating Political Separatism The Government blamed Sant Bhindranwale for 'indoctrinating an ideology of separatism in militant terms behind the facade of gurmat camps'? A government note alleged : 'The obvious direction and thrust of the movement was towards an independent Khalistan-fully supported by neighboring and foreign powers. The terrorists led by Bhindranwale were perhaps only cogs in the wheel. If the army action had not been resolute and determined, the movement would have moved towards full scale insurgency which would have crippled the armed forces in any future confrontation across the borders.' These were wild and baseless accusations but many Hindu writers joined in this chorus. According to Surendra Chopra : '..it is argued that all this would end when shackles of slavery are broken. Bhindranwale never elaborated what he meant by this. An obvious connotation is the achievement of sovereign state.' Nayar claims that Sant Bhindranwale said 'the next stage was to have a separate homeland, and for that the Sikhs must be ready to fight'. There is no corroboration available for this view. In fact, the Sant repeatedly declared that he had no interest in political matters and had not raised the slogan of Khalistan . Firstly, the gurmat camps were not organized by Sant Bhindranwale and the only ones he spoke to were those held within the Darbar Sahib complex. Secondly, claiming his assertion, that Sikh religion had an identity of its own and was not a sect within Hinduism, to imply political separatism and demand for an independent state is illogical and perhaps mischievous propaganda by the Government and extremist Hindus. Sant Bhindranwale was repeatedly questioned by reporters regarding the demand for an independent state for Sikhs. He explained : 'I don't oppose it nor do I support it. We are silent. However, one thing is definite that if this time the Queen of India does give it to us, we shall certainly take it. We won't reject it. We shall not repeat the mistake of 1947. As yet, we do not ask for it. It is Indira Gandhi's business and not mine, nor Longowal's, nor of any other of our leaders. It is Indira's business. Indira should tell us whether she wants to keep us in Hindostan or not. We like to live together, we like to live in India.' Also : 'How can a nation which has sacri-ficed so much for the freedom of the country want it fragmen-ted but I shall definitely say that we are not in favor of Khalistan nor are we against it.' He declared : 'I have given my opinion that we do not oppose Khalistan nor do we support it. We are quiet on the subject. This is our decision. We wish to live in Hindostan but as equal citizens, not as slaves. We are not going to live stuck under the chappals (Mrs. Gandhi's shoes). We have to live in freedom and with the support of Kalghidhar. We wish to live in Hindostan itself. It is the Central Government's business to decide whether it wants to keep the turbaned people with it or not. We want to stay.' There were persons, some of them even close to Sant Bhindranwale , who supported an independent state but he himself was not one of them. Sant Longowal is said to have confirmed that, as late as June 5, 1984, Sant Bhindranwale refused to declare his support for an independent state. He did, however, declare that if the Indian Government invaded the Darbar Sahib complex, foundation for an independent Sikh state will have been laid. This was to emphasize that the invasion would unalterably confirm the Government as an enemy of the Sikhs. The Khalistan bogey was apparently a creation of the Indian Government responding to the clamor of the extremist factions among the Punjabi Hindus. 7. Getting Support from External Sources? Did Sant Bhindranwale 'receive covert support from external sources'? Raising the specter of 'the foreign hand' was Indira Gandhi's favorite ploy and it was eagerly accepted by the Indian public which is always suspicious of 'colonial powers'. The accusation was obviously added to other innuendoes against Sant Bhindranwale in order to mobilize public opinion. Responding to an accusation by Indira Gandhi, Sant Bhindranwale challenged her saying : 'If you know that persons from Pakistan come here to see me, you have so large a C.I.D. why are those persons not arrested on their way? Then, they return from here. Why are they not apprehended at that time? If you know that they come to see me then you must be in league with them and they must be coming, getting out and returning with your permission' He further said: 'It has been said from this stage that Indira should resign her office but, perhaps, I am right when I say that only such persons do this who have some sense of dignity. What is the use of saying anything to those who have no sense of shame at all? Occupying such high office, having become the Prime Minister of Hindostan, without thinking, she has herself started to accuse leading personalities. Which court will you turn to for justice?' Regarding receiving funds from Sikhs living outside India, he told the prospective donors : 'The foremost way of helping the martyrs is that if the congregations in foreign countries collect some money, bring it yourselves. From here I shall give you a car and my driver. He shall take you to the homes of the martyrs. You can give them yourselves whatever you consider appropriate. The second alternative, if you cannot adopt the first, is that I can give you the addresses of all the martyrs. You can take these and directly send help to the martyrs, not through intermediaries. The third alternative is that if you can trust the Jatha and you voluntarily wish to send the moneys to the Jatha - I do not ask you for any money - you may send it. I do not ask for it.' There was nothing underhanded or secretive about this at all. Sant Bhindranwale was a preacher and there was no support for this activity from any foreign government. To Sikhs settled abroad, his advice was to help the families of victims of torture and extra-judicial killings by the police. His enemies interpreted, and continue to do so, this assistance to the victims of government brutality as support of terrorism. 8. Procuring Weapons for Looting Banks, Jewelry Shops and Individual Homes? Keeping weapons is part of the Sikh faith in which the ideal person is a 'saint-soldier'. Sant Bhindranwale often reminded the Sikhs that, in line with the principles of their faith, they should possess and carry arms and quoted Siri Guru Gobind Singh Sahib's instructions : 'Without weapons and hair a man is but a sheep. Held by the ear, he can be taken anywhere. Listen, my beloved Sikh, this is my command: Without weapons and hair, do not come to my presence.' Sant Bhindranwale explained that a Sikh does not keep weapons for offense or for hurting people: they are only for defense against oppression. He compared the Sikh concept of keeping weapons with a nation's maintaining its defense forces in a state of preparedness. He quoted from Siri Guru Granth Sahib: "When the house is on fire, he (one who did not use his time to prepare for the possibility) goes to dig a well to get water." Following Siri Guru Gobind Singh Sahib's teachings, Sikhs were not to be looking for conflict. However, Sant Bhindranwale reminded Sikhs of Guru Sahib's statement that when all other means of redress fail, it is right to use weapons to fight oppression. Explaining the Sikh attitude towards possession of arms, Sant Bhindranwale expressly reminded his listeners : 'I am strongly opposed to having weapons and then engaging in looting shops, looting someone's home, dishonoring anyone's sister or daughter. .... With reference to weapons I shall only say that you should bear arms. Being armed, there is no greater sin for a Sikh than attacking an unarmed person, killing an innocent person, looting a shop, harming the innocent, or wishing to insult anyone's daughter or sister. Also, being armed, there is no sin greater than not seeking justice.' This teaching, basic to the Sikh faith, was described by many Hindus as 'cult of violence'. Sinha et al. wrote : 'Bhindranwale wanted to revive an older tradition of armed fight which went several centuries back, and originated in some of the Gurus themselves. This went very well with the archaic outfit of the revivalist movement. It also filled its adherents with the irrational zeal.' After the British occupied Punjab, Sikhs were completely disarmed. In 1914, the Government agreed that any Sikh could keep a kirpaan as part of his faith. However, for firearms, one had to obtain a license from the local authorities. This practice has continued after India's freedom from British rule. The Indian Government as well as the press have harped on the circumstance that Sant Bhindranwale, on his travels in the country, was often accompanied by an armed retinue. It is not at all uncommon for important persons in India to have armed escorts. All the weapons carried by Sant Bhindranwale and his men were, at one time, duly licensed and he was not breaking any laws. There have been no reports of any of Sant Bhindranwale's escort hurting anyone. On the other hand, the press never protested the fact that the Nirankari Baba traveled with enough armed men with him, that in Amritsar on April 13, 1978, they fired upon an unarmed group of about 100 protesting Sikhs killing 13 and injuring another 78. The 'White Paper' referred to the subsequent Sikh protest as 'dogmatism and extremism'. The Indian Government's solution to the problem was to disarm the victims, instead of protecting them. In 1981, responding to the clamor of the extremist Hindu Press in Punjab, the licenses issued to Sant Bhindranwale and his men were ordered canceled. In March 1983, after Hardev Singh's murder by the police, the Home Ministry asked the State Government to seize all firearms in the possession of the Sant and his men. When the Sikhs launched an agitation in August 1982, government response to peaceful protest consisted of beatings, brutal torture, and killing in fake encounters of Sikh youth, in particular of those belonging to Sant Bhindranwale's group. Sant Bhindranwale placed the number of persons so killed at 113 in February 1983, about 140 in July 1983 and about 200 later that year. Over 2,000 are said to have returned from police stations as cripples. It was under these circumstances that Sant Bhindranwale asked his men to defy the order to deposit their weapons so that, if need arose, they could defend themselves against the Nirankaris and others who might be bent upon mischief. Much has been made of the Darbar Sahib complex having been turned into an arsenal and a fort by Sant Bhindranwale. Since 1982, extremist Hindu factions had demanded that the Government forces should enter the Darbar Sahib complex and arrest Sant Bhindranwale. All the Sikh leaders, including Sant Bhindranwale, had made it clear that if the Government invaded this center of the Sikh faith, they would resist with whatever means they could muster. The Government is alleged to have arranged for weapons being smuggled into Darbar Sahib. This influx of weapons was apparently planned to heighten the scale of the conflict in order to justify the killing of as large a number of Sikhs as possible without arousing a national protest against the genocide and also to ensure that after the invasion was complete, these could be shown as having been recovered from the so-called 'rebels'. Noorani states : 'Prem Kumar reported in The Statesman of July 4: "The arrival of light machine-guns and sophisticated self-loading rifles had been taken notice of by various agencies. The information received was so detailed that even the make and the country of origin of the weapons was known...The authorities had some idea of the source of these weapons, mainly smuggled from Pakistan and obtained through thefts and robberies and leakage from Indian Ordnance units... Many may be surprised over the fact that the Central and the State Governments used to receive almost hourly reports of monthly meetings of Akali leaders even when only five or six of the top leaders attended these meetings in the Temple complex. When Sant Bhindranwale discussed his plans with only one or two close confidantes, the information reached the authorities. It is understood that the Government got information about Sant Bhindranwale even when he was confined to the Akal Takht and till as late as June 6." As P.S. Bhinder, former IGP, told Neerja Chowdhury and Shahnaz Anklesaria of that paper, shortly before he quit, "Intelligence information reached the places it should have. It was a political failure." A.S. Pooni, Home Secretary of Punjab, also confirmed that "the Government had a fair idea of the kind of weapons inside the Golden Temple".... How did they reach there? In Kar-seva (voluntary labor) trucks carrying food and construction material. "They were not intercepted because there were oral instructions "from the top" until two months ago not to check any of the Kar-Seva trucks", Bhinder told the two correspondents.' CLOSING REMARKS In the history of mankind, whenever a corrupt and degenerate society has felt threatened by moral and social revival, the powers of the day have branded the leaders of such revival as traitors and criminals and so justified their elimination and brutal subjugation of their associates and disciples. These messengers of peace and brotherhood were killed not because they had committed any crime but because they did not toe the line of the rulers of the time. These people were 'inconvenient' because of their popularity and influence with the people. Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's martyrdom represents yet another addition to this illustrious list. Sant Bhindranwale was a religious preacher without interest in politics. His mission was to propagate the basic principles of Sikh religion. He emphasized a life of prayer and saintliness and himself set an example for the other Sikhs. He advised Sikhs to possess weapons and to be ready to lay down their lives, if necessary, in the interest of ensuring justice and protection of the defenseless and the weak, in line with the teachings of the Gurus. He insisted that a Sikh should never initiate a confrontation. A Sikh's way is one of love and mercy and not of violence. Sikh response to oppression and injustice had to consist of persuasion, legal action, appeal to higher authorities in the Government, and that a Sikh should follow the tradition of recourse to weapons only as the last resort when all other means had been exhausted. This is the path he followed when faced with escalating state oppression. After the confrontation with the Sant Nirankaris on April 13, 1978, when 13 Sikhs lost their lives to firing by gunmen in the Nirankari camp, all he wanted was that the Government arrest and prosecute the murderers. After the incident at Chowk-Mehta, on September 20, 1981, in which the police fired upon Sikhs and killed 18 of them, all he asked for was a judicial inquiry into the matter and for punishment of those who were guilty. Upon Amrik Singh's arrest, convinced that this was arbitrary and that Amrik Singh had committed no crime, he sought the intervention of the District Magistrate, Amritsar, through peaceful demonstration. He sought legal redress and found the courts to be powerless in enforcing their judgments; their orders were not obeyed or the victims were re-arrested on trumped-up charges immediately after being released. The news media and the national leadership, instead of checking police brutality, lauded such arbitrary re-arrests and indeed called for them in order to keep the 'terrorists' behind bars. The Government canceled the arms licenses of the victims and not those of the perpetrators. He would narrate stories of police brutality to news reporters but they, instead of pursuing the matter to bring these to public attention, dismissed them as his 'favorite yarn'. Till the very end of his life, the Sant claimed that he had never used his weapons to hurt any one and complained about police high-handedness. Arbitrary arrest, torture and elimination of young Sikhs was carried on till the Sant felt pushed to the wall and, not getting redress from the higher authorities, the courts, the news media, and the national leadership, told his men to resist because arrest, in most cases, meant elimination in police custody and a faked report of an 'encounter'. The revival of the Sikh religion that Sant Bhindranwale led worried the extremists among the Hindus because it stemmed the tide of apostasy among Sikh youth and reinforced the Sikh sense of religious identity. The so-called 'moderates' among the Sikhs at first wished to use this immensely popular religious leader to advance their own purposes but later, as his popularity among the Punjab peasantry grew, considered him to be a threat to their hegemony over Sikh affairs. He had to be killed not because he had committed any crime but because too many people loved him and looked up to him for guidance in their misery. Laura Lopez wrote in June 1984 : 'By early this year, it was apparent to her that Bhindranwale had become so popular he had usurped the Akalis' authority, leaving the party impotent in negotiations and fearful of his violent fanaticism. No matter how long she talked to the Akalis, Mrs. Gandhi concluded, they could never deliver on an agreement that would hold while Bhindranwale was alive.' In order to eliminate him, he had to be depicted as a criminal, as the symbol of all that was evil and dangerous for the country. Indira Gandhi's Government, influenced and assisted by extremist Hindu politicians whose support she needed for the next elections, and the polarized news media, carried on a continuous disinformation campaign to vilify Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and the institutions he represented and symbolized. He was blamed for everything that went wrong and for every crime that was committed in Punjab. Government agencies routinely fed the news-media with such 'information'. The Hindu-dominated press and the Indian Government found it convenient to interpret the centuries old Sikh prayer as a call for Sikh supremacy and secession and, therefore, an act of sedition. Sikh possession and carrying of weapons - the Indian Constitution accepts the possession and carrying of a kirpaan by a Sikh as part of practice of his religion - was described as creating tension and terror. Peaceful Sikh protest against public ridicule of their religion was met with bullets. The tradition of peaceful civil disobedience, successfully used against the British by M. K. Gandhi, was regarded as treason when it was used by the Sikhs to press their economic and religious grievances, and met with mass killings to 'teach them a lesson'. At the same time, attacks on Sikhs and Sikh institutions were dismissed as 'natural reaction.' The propaganda was eminently successful. Even though there was no evidence of the Sant having committed any crime, many well-meaning people were misled into believing that he was leading a revolt against the country, that he was a secessionist, that he hated Hindus and encouraged their being massacred, etc., and that Government action against him and other Sikhs was justified. The sensitivities of the Indian people were dulled to the point that they accepted without protest, and even endorsed, the gruesome torture and unlawful elimination of tens of thousands of devout Sikh men, women, and children. Many Hindus felt the Sikhs had brought upon themselves the misfortunes that visited upon them. If Sant Bhindranwale was indeed the fountainhead of all trouble, Indian Government's success in killing him should have marked the end of the campaign. But it was not so. Sant Bhindranwale was merely a symbol. What needed to be destroyed was the Sikh faith as taught by Siri Guru Gobind Singh Sahib because it was viewed as a threat to the concept of Indian nationhood that had to be fostered. According to Pettigrew : ''The army went into Darbar Sahib not to eliminate a political figure or a political movement but to suppress the culture of a people, to attack their heart, to strike a blow at their spirit and self-confidence."

The Sikhs: Past and Present Vol 7(1), 1-18, 1997.

Introduction

OUR GURUS

Our Present Guru Sahib

Q & A about S.G.G.S

Nanakshahi Calendar

Sikh Day Parades

Sikh Code of Conduct

Divine Truth Book

Some Articles

Some Assorted Articles

Gurbani Dictionary

Sikh Awareness Project

Great Sikh Women

Great Sikh Men

Thoughtful Contributions

Quizzes for Kids

Note-Worthy Visitors

Safety Saves Us