June, Bhindranwale & Operation Blue Star: The Making of a Frankenstein’s Monster

For reasons inexplicable, Bhindranwale was allowed to spew venom and preach Khalistani separatism for years.

(This is part one of a four-part 'June' series that revisited significant historical events or policies and how the lessons learned from them continue to be of relevance in present-day politics and society. Read part two here, part three here, and part four here.)

India has suffered many tragedies since 1947; a lot of them were man-made and avoidable. Perhaps, the most poignant and heartbreaking is what happened at the Golden Temple – the most revered shrine of Sikhs -in early June 1984. For years before that dreadful week, prescient analysts and commentators had warned of the unfolding tragedy.

For reasons inexplicable, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was allowed to spew venom and preach Khalistani separatism for years. Bhindranwale and his bloodthirsty followers were allowed to lord over the premises of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

The bloodbath that followed had transformed from 'avoidable' to 'inevitable'. Close to forty years have passed since Operation Blue Star was launched by the Indian Army and many wounds have healed. But some still fester a section of diaspora Sikh counties to invoke Khalistan.

Bhindrawale’s Tainted Legacy and the Rise of Amritpal Singh

Veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta who extensively covered the bloodbath in Punjab in the 1980s – the decade of Khalistani terrorism and interacted frequently with Bhindrawale, recalls the build-up to Operation Blue Star in a piece he wrote in 2018: "By May 1984, it was evident that something catastrophic was going to happen at the temple. Intrigue hung heavy in the air as everybody, even Bhindranwale felt insecure. I wrote a story headlined "Temple Intrigue” in the 15 May issue of India Today, describing a string of cases of torture, the assassination of suspected rivals and renegades, and chopped bodies being taken out of the temple and dumped in gutters. A lone woman shot dead Surinder Singh Sodhi, Bhindranwale’s favourite hitman, while he sat sipping tea outside a tea shop near the temple and screamed, waving her pistol, “Maine badla le liya hai (I have taken revenge).” The next morning, two assassins shot the tea-shop owner. Several mutilated bodies then appeared in gunny bags here and there and the local police had a rough time dealing with them, fishing them out of the gutters. One of these, evidently, was that of Baljit Kaur, the Dalit woman who had shot Sodhi because she believed he had killed her husband. Policemen who put together that body said they had not seen evidence of such brutal torture before.”

The ghosts of Bhindranwale and Khalistan suddenly seemed to come alive in 2023 when an obscure person called Amritpal Singh and his band of followers sought to revive the cult of Bhindranwale. Using the Holy 'Granth Sahib' as a shield, Amritpal led a mob that literally invaded and captured a police station in Ajnala in Punjab.

Amritpal deliberately dressed, styling himself as the long-dead Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters openly hero-worshipped him as Bhindranwale-2. After being on the run for a month, Amritpal surrendered before the Punjab police in a village called Rode – Bhindranwale's native village, after delivering a sermon.

A huge majority of young Indians are not familiar with the cult of Bhindranwale. But back in 1984, he loomed over India as a deadly menace before Army troops killed him with greaves and gunfire close to the Akal Takht at the Golden Temple on 6 June 1984. Most analysts agree that then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had no choice but to order the Army to flush out Khalistani terrorists from the Golden Temple. (Ironically, it is another decision of Gandhi in July 1984 that continues to haunt Jammu & Kashmir even today.)

Operation Blue Star and the Chain of Violence in India

Two questions still haunt commentators, scholars, and historians. The first is: how did Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale suddenly emerge from obscurity to become the popular face of Khalistani separatism? The second: how and why was he allowed to openly mock, challenge, and threaten the sovereignty of India for so many years without any action being taken?

Between 1981- when Bhindrawanle acquired cult status - and 1995 when Khalistani terrorists assassinated the then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, anywhere between 11,000 to 15,000 Indians were killed in Punjab. During Operation Blue Star, the Indian Army lost 136 soldiers in just 24 hours and more than 1000 innocent pilgrims who had come to pray at the Golden Temple were killed.

The roots of the decade-long Punjab tragedy beyond Operation Blue Star can be traced to three factors that remain very relevant in contemporary India: Identity-based politics, regional sub-nationalism, and autonomy to states in a federal setup. Indira Gandhi was then accused by opposition leaders of being authoritarian and intolerant of dissent and criticism.

Today, Narendra Modi faces the same charges. Regional sub-nationalism or chauvinism gained prominence in a diverse array of states in India. It is a strong factor today during Assembly Elections. Identity politics emerged as a key element of public discourse, often leading to mindless violence and destruction. As the recent events in Manipur where close to 100 people have been killed have shown, it remains a threat to Indian democracy.

What It Means for the Sikhs

There is not enough space here for the authors to delve deep into modern history to analyse the Bhindrawale phenomenon. He was perhaps, a logical culmination of Sikh identity politics that first took root in the 1920s. The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee took control of the Golden Temple and the Akal Takht in 1920 after negotiations with the British. The Akali Dal was formed the same year to pursue Sikh identity-based politics. In those days, the Congress publicly supported the demands of the Akali Dal. After independence, they became political rivals in a partitioned Punjab.

The creation of a separate state of Haryana in 1966 and sharing of Chandigarh as a capital led to much angst and rhetoric. The sharing of river waters too became a bone of contention and remains one. In 1973 and 1978, the Akali Dal paid for and endorsed what became famous (or notorious) as the Anandpur Saheb resolutions that advocated greater autonomy for Punjab and a separate identity for the Sikhs.

While the Akalis insisted otherwise, many considered them to be bordering on secession and separatism. From these tumultuous events emerged an obscure preacher called Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale. There is no authentic history, but many allegations. The Akalis blame Indira Gandhi for propping up Bhindrawale to undercut them; the Congress blamed the Akali leaders for fanning soft separatism that was then hijacked by Bhindrawale and his fanatic supporters.

In other ways, it was clear to everyone that Frankenstein’s monster had been created. By 1983, it was out of control. On 25 April 1983, a Sikh Punjab Police DIG AS Atwal was shot and killed in cold blood by a follower of Bhindrawale as he completed his prayers at the Golden Temple. By then, reports of brutal and savage murders inside the shrine had become more frequent. In October 1983, "officially” 58 Hindu bus passengers were shot dead by Khalistani terrorists in Govindgarh. The intensity and ferocity of attacks kept rising even as some supporters of Bhindrawale "declared” the creation of Khalistan.

Indira Gandhi’s Controversial Move Remains Shrouded in Mystery

For the authors and millions of Indians, it remains a mystery as to why Indira Gandhi waited so long to take decisive action even as the militant supporters of Bhindrawale were literally rampaging through Punjab. A prominent editor Lala Jagat Narain and his son Ramesh Chopra were shot dead by the militants respectively in 1981 and 1984. Less than a month after the editor of the Hind Samachar group, Ramesh Chopra, was gunned down, Indira Gandhi ordered the Army to move into Golden Temple.

Throughout most of her political career, Indira Gandhi was both praised and criticised for being bold and decisive; never hesitating to take tough action even if it cost her political capital. Why she inexplicably delayed action against Bhindrawale remains a mystery that she took to her funeral pyre on 3 November 1984. Between 31 October when she was assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards and then, more than 5,000 Sikhs had been massacred by rioting mobs. But that is another story for another day.

(Yashwant Deshmukh & Sutanu Guru work with CVoter Foundation. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)