The Caravan — February 2018

39

model minority · reportage

FEBRUARY 2018

agitation,” an official document on the
lead-up to 1984, the central government
declared, “The Anandpur Sahib Resolu-
tion is at total variance with the basic
concept of the unity and integrity of
the nation as expressed in our constitu-
tion. It cannot be accepted as a basis for
discussion.”
Even while the Akali Dal was at the
forefront of the Punjabi Suba movement
and central in pushing Sikh inter-
ests—and even providing formidable
resistance to Indira Gandhi’s draconian
Emergency in the preceding decade—
the party’s electoral success was not
guaranteed. Punjabi Sikhs did not vote
as a block, and the dominant Congress,
under Gandhi, courted and sometimes
won Sikh votes. In its confrontation
with the Akalis, the central govern-
ment, under the Congress, shored up
a figure who was proving to be a deft
navigator of the tensions of this era—a
charismatic, incendiary preacher
named Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
An orthodox Sikh with a substan-
tial following, Bhindranwale openly
preached violence in pursuit of his
desired ends. His followers are thought
to have assassinated two of his ideo-
logical opponents, and his organisa-
tion contributed to Punjab’s escalating
pre-1984 militancy. When asked if he
supported Khalistan, Bhindranwale
said “We are not in favour of Kha-
listan nor are we against it.” He often
used the term “qaum” to refer to the
religious characteristics of Sikhs, mark-
ing them out as a distinct and homog-
enous entity. His rhetoric emboldened
Khalistani separatists. “Sikhs are living
like slaves in independent India,” he
claimed. “Today every Sikh considers
himself as a second-rate citizen.” The
scholar Harnik Deol has written that
Bhindranwale was “able to convey a
specific definition of a Sikh” that “led
to the dissemination and consolidation
of a puritanical Sikh identity to a large
section of the population for the very
first time.”
Bhindranwale’s allegiances shifted
between the Congress and the Akalis
depending on what was most expedient
to his survival. As he grew increasingly
powerful, he began making demands
of the Congress that Gandhi would not
accept. Bhindranwale and the Con-

gress fell out. The preacher and his

increasingly militant followers moved

into the Golden Temple complex in

Amritsar, from where Bhindranwale

issued commands and ordered assassi-

nations. The stage was set for one of the

most infamous incidents in Sikh—and

I nd ia n—h istor y.

On the evening of 5 June 1984, the

Indian military stormed Sikhism’s holi-

est site, hoping to kill Bhindranwale

and flush out his backers. Gandhi was

told that the raid—named Operation

Blue Star—would be quick and rela-

tively devoid of violence. Haphazardly

planned and hastily executed, it instead

took all night and killed scores of civil-

ians. Government troops succeeded in

killing Bhindranwale—a deeply divisive

figure among Sikhs to this day—but

also caused serious damage to the Akal

Takht, or “timeless throne,” which

stands across from the Golden Temple

itself. Tank guns blew a hole in the

structure’s iconic central dome.

Operation Blue Star further polar-

ised India along religious and ideologi-

cal lines. In the aftermath, some Sikh

military troops mutinied, and support

for Khalistan grew. On 31 October

1984, two of Gandhi’s Sikh bodyguards

killed her as she was walking out of her

residence. The anti-Sikh pogrom—per-

petrated by organised Hindu mobs and

led mostly by Congress politicians—oc-

curred in the three days immediately

afterwards. According to reports made

available by one of several subsequent

enquiry commissions, public buses

were used to transport the mobs, vot-

ers’ lists were used to identify Sikh

homes and the police disarmed Sikhs

who were trying to defend themselves.

the air india flight 182 bombing was

just one instance of the use of lethal

methods by Khalistani separatists to

retaliate for 1984 and advance their

cause. According to Human Rights

Watch, “Sikh separatists in Punjab

committed serious human rights abus-

es, including the massacre of civilians,

attacks upon Hindu minorities in the

state, and indiscriminate bomb attacks

in crowded places.” The Indian gov-

ernment carried out a brutal counter-

insurgency, led by the police officer

KPS Gill. Through the 1980s and 1990s,

militancy in Punjab was stamped out.

The methods used by Gill, himself

Sikh, were vicious and inhumane, and

included the torture and extrajudicial

killing of thousands.

On his website, Jagmeet Singh refers

to this as part of a 20-year “genocidal

campaign” in which “Sikh youth disap-

peared, torture was rampant, and Sikhs

endured relentless state-sanctioned

india today group / getty images