Thread by @AstroAmigo

Thread for #KhalistanTerrorism and how Congress helped Janrail Singh Bhindrawale grow to the level we all know. I am only presenting facts without siding with any party. Constructive criticism and additional genuine facts are welcome. 1/x

In early 20th century, Communist Party had great impact in Punjab. After end of WW II, one Gangadhar Adhikari, a leader of communist party, raised slogan of 'Sikh Homeland'. Interestingly, This Gangadhar Adhikari had previously worked with scientists like Einstein & Max Planc 2/x

In his book namely 'A History of Sikhs', Khushwant Singh writes that some Sikhs always dreamt of a separate State for themselves. After daily Ardas, the slogan of Guru Govind Singh 'Raj Karega Khalsa' was raised and this slogan always kept the dream of a separate State alive. 3/x

Some Sikh leaders had even began saying that there was right of Sikhs on Punjab after the British. But the partition of India deteriorated the dream of a 'Separate State' for Sikhs. 4/x

After independence of India, when Andhra became a separate state on linguistic basis, some Alkali leaders demanded creation of Punjab state on the basis of Punjabi being spoken in some areas. 5/x

On the other hand, some leaders of Jansangh appealed Punjabi Hindus to leave Gurumukhi and adopt Hindi. This started widening the gap between Hindus and Sikhs. 6/x

This was the time when the influence of Akalis started to increase in Punjab and it became an alternative for Congress, and to counter it, Indira Gandhi projected Zail Singh as the Chief Minister of Punjab. 7/x

The purpose of Zail was clear - to reduce the influence of Akalis. Akalis were in management of almost all schools, colleges and Gurudwaras. 8/x

To achieve his goal, Zail Singh named many roads and cities after the Sikh Gurus, organized many functions on their birthdays and martyrdom days and taught their teachings with a zeal in education curriculum. 9/x

Among all this, status of a person rose exponentially. His name was Janrail Singh Bhindrawale. It is believed that he was backed by Congress to counter the Akalis. 10/x

It is said that Zail Singh and Darbara Singh gave him support so that they could tackle Akalis and subsequently, Sanjay Gandhi, Indira's elder son, backed him and virtually made him undeclared chief of Punjab. 11/x

Senior journalist Kuldeep Nayyar writes in his book 'Beyond the Lines: An Autobiography' that Sanjay Gandhi felt that a saint could be projected against the then chief of Akalis who also happened to be saint - Sant Harcharan Singh Longowal. 12/x

His search didn't last long and he found this saint from Damdami Taksal, a powerful educational organization of Sikhs in the form of Bhindrawale. 13/x

Nayyar furtehr writes that Congress leader Kamal Nath had accepted that Congress leaders gave Bhindrawale finances, but he further says that they (Congress leaders) never imagined that Bhindrawale would go on the path of terrorism. 14/x

It is said that his father handed him over to Damdami Taksal when Bhindrawale was of 7 years. His initial education took place here only. Slowly he started to impress everyone. He appeared to Sikhs to return to the path shown by Guru Gobind Singh. 15/x

He appealed them to part ways with habits like drinking alcohol, smoking. As his popularity increased more, he started speaking against Hindus, I am not sure about reason. He spew venom against Hindus in his lectures & addressed then by terms like Topi wale, Dhoti wale etc. 16/x

He called the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as "Panditan di dhi" (पंडिताँ दी धी, daughter of Pandits) in his speeches. He was appointed the head of Damdami Taksal in 1977. 17/x

With his rise, Punjab started boiling. On Baisakhi of 1978, a violent incident took place b/w Akali workers & some people of Nirankari sect & 13 Akali workers got killed in the incident. Bhindrawale took leading part in the protests which were organized against this violence.18/x

Violence continued to increase. In September 1981, Lala Jagat Narain Singh, the founder of Hindi daily Punjab Kesari was assassinated. Bhindrawale was accused of it but he had gained such popularity that police couldn't dare to arrest him. 19/x

He himself announced the time and date of his arrest. Zail Singh was home Minister in central government at that time. Bhindrawale was arrested and kept in circuit house but was released for the want of proofs. 20/x

By then, Bhindrawale had openly announced his hatred for Hindus. Heads of cows were thrown in temples and idols of Hindu Gods were defaced but no one dared to stop Bhindrawale. Hindus also started to retaliate. 21/x

They also started tearing Guru Granth Sahib and threw remnants of cigarettes in Gurudwaras. When things got escalated to this level, people who once supported him including Zail Singh and Darbara Singh, sidelined from him. 22/x

Airplanes of Indian Airlines were hijacked twice in July and August 1982 and they were taken to Lahore. Assassination attempts took place twice on Darbara Singh. In April 1983, DIG Amritsar A S Atwal was murdered on the steps of Golden Temple. 23/x

In October same year, terrorists hijacked a bus enroute to Delhi from Amritsar and selectively massacred 6 Hindu passengers. Terror incidents took place in air, on road and even rails weren't spared. 24/x

By the time government machinery could act against Bhindrawale, he started living under security of Akal Takht in December 1983. He was surrounded by 200 gunmen. He had understood that 2nd stage of fight had come & he started accumulating arms ammunition inside Golden Temple 25/x

Terrorism reached its peak in Punjab. Now terrorists were also in gloves with Bhindrawale and both waged war against the government. 26/x

In 1982, Gurcharan Singh Longowal established a front named 'Dharm yuddh' to force the govt. to adopt demands of Anandpur Sahib resolution (you can read about it on wiki). Some of its demands were against federal structure of India and it demanded more rights for Punjab. 27/x

Demand for Khalistan was not expressly made in this resolution. In her book '1984: Lessons from History', Harminder Kaur writes that stance of Bhindrawale on Khalistan was not clear. 28/x

Situation had worsened in Punjab and now a direct conflict between Bhindrawale and the government remained a mere formality.

Indira Gandhi had denied most of the demands of Anandpur Sahib resolution and she didn't act on the demands she accepted. 29/x

Conflict was on rise. Harminder Kaur writes that negation between government and the protesters took place as many as 6 times in 1984, last meeting being on 26th May 1984. Neither Indira Gandhi accepted demands nor representatives from Bhindrawale group buckled. 30/x

Golden Temple was swiftly being converted into a fort. Bhindrawale was assisted by Shubeg Singh, a former major-general of Indian army and Amreek Singh, head of the Sikh Federation of India. 31/x

Harminder Kaur writes that when BBC questioned if Golden Temple was being fortified, he replied negatively. Ramchandra Guha writes in India after Gandhi that sand bags were kept on walls of the temple in the supervision of Major General Shubeg and....... 32/x

... it was planned to somehow keep the struggle alive until the moment a common Punjabi revolted. On the other hand, Major General Kuldeep Singh Brar was handed over operation against the terrorists. 33/x

Interestingly, Shubeg had fought alongside Major General Brar in 1971 war, but now they were on opposite sides. It was explained to Brar that a revolt can take place in Punjab so Golden Temple was to be freed from terrorists within 48 hours, that too without any loss to it. 34/x

On 2nd June 1984, Indira Gandhi made the country aware of conditions in Punjab through All India Radio and appealed the terrorists to drop weapons. On the next day, army started 'Operation Blue Star'. 35/x

Electric supply and telephone lines of Punjab were disconnected. The Golden Temple was surrounded by the army and it started cautious firing. Since it was the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev, there were lots of people inside the temple. 36/x

The terrorists got shield in the form of people and they weren't allowed to go outside. The temple was anyhow evacuated and the final assault was launched in the night of 5th June. 37/x

Army was strictly instructed to not fire at the Akal Takht but it was facing most ferocious attack from that side only. Many soldiers died and it was 2 in the night. Kuldeep Singh Brar writes it in his book. 38/x

Guha writes that Brar sought the permission of using tanks from Delhi over telephone which was granted immediately. After that, the tanks broke outer walls of the Temple and shot mercilessly. 39/x

In this final assault, Bhindrawale, Shubeg and Amreek Singh were killed. Operation Blue Star was stopped after a few days. Army faced 79 casualties and 200 terrorists were killed and many civilians were also killed in this operation. 40/x

AFTEREFFECT :

Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her security guards in the same year on October 31st. Riots broke out after her assassination in which many innocent Sikhs got butchered, raped and tortured by hired goons and hooligans of Congress leaders. 41/x

General Arun Vaidya, the then chief of Indian Army (during Operation Blue Star) was murdered next year in Pune. Assassination of Brar was attempted in England. Punjab got further engulfed in the fire of terrorism. 42/x

Longowal was also murdered in 1985. Finally KPS Gill got hold of terrorism in Punjab.

Operation Blue Star was the first operation in which army fought against own people. 43/x

When Chidambaram proposed to use army to counter the problem of Naxals, then Chief General VK Singh declined it saying that army doesn't fight against its own people. We have committed this mistake once, not again. 44/x

Thus it can be safely concluded that Bhindrawale was promoted initially by Congress so that it could tackle Akalis, but when he became too hot to handle and started propagating Khalistan terrorism & waged war against the country, Indira destroyed the evil Congress created. 45/45