Thread by @satty643

Thread:

This thread tries to capture what pressure or tussle was happening in militant side during and before the pressure operation Blue Star in 1984 and how it played out even latter.

After becoming a head of damdami taksal Bindranwala soon went into clash with Nirankari. Give a fiery speech against them.

On Baisakhi day April 13 1978 there was a violent clash in Amritsar when people from akhand kirtani Jatha and bhindranwale men attacked nankhari function. The head of akhand kirtani Jatha fauja Singh was killed.

The very next day Babbar Khalsa was formed with the intent of taking revenge from Nirankari.

In fact Babbar Khalsa was almost at start from its inception was against bhindranwale-whom they believe had not turned up against the Nirankari as vowed in subsequent protest.

But Bhindranwale gained lot of popularity out of this event. He later suggested that he would weigh in gold the person who would kill the Nirankari chief.

Nirankari head Baba gurcharan Singh was murdered in 1980. Bhindranwale response was that of approval.

In 1981 Jagat Narayan, the editor of Punjab Kesari- Hindi daily from Jalandhar,- known to be sided with Nirankari was murdered.

The blame was on bhindrawala.

He could have been arrested in Haryana but given a let off by some connection in central government. He was later arrested from Damdami taksal head office at Mehta, after much drama and violence., But subsequently released.

Thereafter he moved to to golden temple Amritsar and in in conjunction with akali dal launched Dharam Yudh morcha.

Bhindrawala lived in room number 47 Guru Nanak niwas.

His favourite theme was persecution of Sikhs by State/Govt/Hindus.

He loves the media. Never denied interview to anyone and had developed an art of being in headlines or being media star.

His favourite theme was persecution of Sikhs by State/Govt/Hindus.

He loves the media. Never denied interview to anyone and had developed an art of being in headlines or being media star.

From then onwards there was two groups - Akalis as moderate group and bhindranwale was an extremist group for Sikhs.

Bhindranwale was aided by Harminder Singh Sandhu and balveer Singh Sandhu.

Harminder Singh Sandhu speak fluent English and had previous closeness with Congress leaders. He was secretary of AISSF and had 20 cases against him.

Balbir Singh Sandhu lived in a room number 32 of Guru Nanak niwas also called the headquarters of Khalistan. it is there that he issued the first passport of Khalistan

Balbir Singh Sandhu lived in a room number 32 of Guru Nanak niwas also called the headquarters of Khalistan. it is there that he issued the first passport of Khalistan

The tension between moderate group led by longowal and extreme group let by bhindranwale was a constant theme before operation Blue Star.

Whenever there was some activity by moderates with central government it would result into to some sort of a a violent reaction.

One person playing the wily game on both sides was gurcharan Singh Tohra SGPC president.

For example when talks of Akalis leadership with opposition leaders regarding the resolution of Chandigarh and water disputes was about to to take place, bhindranwale would issue statement that he would kill 5000 Hindus if the police does not return his mini bus.

People justify the statement of bhindranwale in many roundabout ways but the plane fact is it was done to derail the talks and fail the moderates by polarising the society more.

Similarly in 1984 when talks were about to take place professor VN Tiwari prominent literature personality and the member of Rajya sabha was killed.

Then a month later atmosphere of talks was again generated at the release of some political prisoner. Again all of sudden Ramesh Chandra son of Jagat Narayan editor of Punjab Kesari was murdered.

However the situation in Punjab both from the point of law & order as well as communal polarisation was getting out of control.

April 25 1983 dig Avtar Singh atwal shot dead outside golden temple. Eyewitness seen the attacker running back towards golden temple after shooting DIG

There was also the killing of six Hindu bus passenger In Dhillwan nearby Beas.

Punjab government was dismissed and president rule was imposed.

When Bhindrawala was asked he replied that when 6 Hindus were killed the government falls, but when 200 were killed by police nothing happened.

Government care more about Hindu lives than about Sikh lives.

To polarize the society on religious line by issuing statement like this was the Ploy by by Bindranwala .

Other objective was to cut down on Akalis and make him more prominent.

By the end of 1983 law and order situation in Punjab has really worsened. Even many dead bodies were found in the sewer in street behind the Guru Nanak niwas.

By then longowal also decided to take control of the situation in his hands. He entered into an understanding with akhand kirtani Jatha leader and Babbar Khalsa to end the dominance of bhindranwale.

Babbar Khalsa was led by Sukhdev Singh. It is strange they were not initially under the radar of the police.

Six members of Babbar Khalsa on 15 Dec 1983 just went on to capture some of the rooms of Bhindranwala group. Their intention was to initiate the fight.

Bhindranwala in spite of having numbers didn't picked up the fight and moved on to Akal Takhat. 

There was some controversy about granting the Akal Takhat stay to Bhindranwale.

Longowal tried to resist it. The objection was how could somebody stay at the first floor just in front of Darbar Sahib.

As usual Tohra manipulated the situation in favour of Bhindranwala.

So it was akali, akhand kirtani Jatha and Babbar Khalsa on one side while on other side we have bhindranwala, AISSF and damdami taksal men.

For sometime longowal seems to have taken control of Dharam Yudh morcha and the importance of bhindranwala was reduced Somewhat.

But then in February 14 1984, in an incident in Haryana Sikhs were humiliated and Gurudwara desecrated; allowed the comeback of  bhindrawala. 

It is then that he calculated that for each Sikh there are 35 Hindus- reminding that sikhs are capable of handling 1.25 lakh.

At about this time bhindrawala started to to be less and less visible. He also surround himself by armed men from all four side. There are suggestions that he was tipped off a plan to kill him .

According to Harminder Singh Sandhu version Surendra Singh chinda and Baljeet Kaur did planed to kill bhindrawala but failed. The allegation was that plan was hitched up by gurcharan Singh of AKali dal.

But they did kill SS Sodhi- right hand man of bhindrawala and member of his killer squad. Chhinda was killed and mutilated body of Baljeet Kaur was found in sack somewhere in Amritsar.

Longowal set up a five member committee ye to investigate the allegation. The committee absolve gurcharan Singh but he has to resign. Longowala again seemed to had lost the game to Bindranwala .

In mean time law and order situation continues to deteriorate. In March 1984 HS Manchanda president DGMC was killed.

In April 16, 38 railway station in Punjab was set on fire.

Hindus living around Darbar Sahib found the voices and the tone coming out of extremist as too uneasying . There was report of money being extorted from the the shopkeepers and people around golden temple. Some report suggest the direct involvement of bhindranwala & amrik Singh.

But for the sikhs , bhindrawala had touch some raw nerve. His undiplomatic pronouncements, instant justice style were very well taken by the masses who seems to be in a midst of a identity crisis.

Even now when you took to the reading about those past events, you would detect touch of sympathy for bhindrawala among Sikh writers in general and total antipathy by non Sikh writers. This should not be seen as coincident. His basic politics was against Hindu Sikh fraternity.

Violence ensure that the paramilitary forces would permanently established around golden temple.

Month before Blue Star, there was constant gun battles with paramilitary forces on daily basis. Both sides occupied the top position around the golden temple

Just as it became inevitable of army operation, large number of Bhindranwale supporters escaped. Only people who were left were his men from Damdami taksal. Bhai Kanwar Singh and his men left.

Babbars also use the exit route. Ingact the conduct of Babbar was very intriguing. They seems to come and go at will. Before Blue Star, they were provoking forces with gun fires, but focus always remained on bhindrawala and not on them.

Anyhow around 1000 supporters of Bhindawala remained within and they put a fierce resistance. Many fought with the diet of parched gram (shakarpara)  and biscuits. Bhindrawala Amrik Singh Sehbag Singh seemed to have died on the night of 5-6 june.

Later army found an escape route from Akal Takhat.

He could have escaped but never did that.

Balbir Singh Sandhu also believed to have died, but his body was not found. However among the surprise survivor was Harminder Singh Sandhu. He got married just  in may 5. He was among the among leaders like longowal, Tohra and other pilgrims who were safely taken out by the army.

On morning of 6 June, ( most top leaders would have been dead by now), when the army was about to take about moderate leaders like longowal Tohra and even Amarjeet Kaur ( of akhand kirtani Jatha), there was grenade and firing attack allegedly by bhindrawala supporters.

There was response by Babbars and army men. The exact detail is not known but the maximum killing of innocent people happened during this incident -around 500 people killed

Besides the killings of innocent men or women in Guru Ram Das Sarai & Teja Singh samundri hall, the army explanation is also shallow on two counts.

About excessive damage to Akal Takhat,  they say that they have to throughout grenade to flush out the resistance. One of the grenade cause fire 2 to stock of 60 LPG cylinders causing real damage.

Similar explanation- grenade attack and excessive wind-  they give of how the reference library containing rare manuscript and valuable scriptures caught fire.

It must be remembered that army was equipped with fire fighters during the operation.

But many sources cite that army was worried that frustrated militants may try to blow up main golden temple building. This was found to be a wrong concern.

Army quickly send team to take over the main temple. 22 people were found in the main building. Their main concern was to be taken out safely as they had not pass the stool for last 2 days.

The tussle of various fractions continuous even after operation Blue Star.

Longowal entered into agreement with central government- Rajiv longowal Accord - in July 1985.  He was killed by militants in August 1985.

Sukhdev Singh Babbar continued his militant activity e after 1984. You are skilled in police operation in a bus 1992 in Patiala. At the time of his death he was among the most wanted extremist in India.

Harminder Singh Sandhu was put into jail for 6 years after operation Blue Star. He was released in 1990 but was soon gunned down. At the time of his death he was just 33.

End ...