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1984 Anti-Sikh Pogrom It's Still A Matter Of Life & Death For Us

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Anniversaries of tragedies are dreary occasions, stained by a past that is resuscitated only so that it can be buried for another year by the ritual of observance.
So, much will once again be written about the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 - the Congressmen who led the mobs, the victims who died and the eyewitnesses who live on, clinging to a futile hope for justice. But in the interstices of such events, life also changed for so many Sikhs who did not directly experience the violence.
Cleanshaven with only an inchoate sense of being a Sikh, I was then at Pilani, my first semester at an engineering college in Rajasthan. On the afternoon of 31 October, the BBC confirmed that Indira Gandhi was dead. I can recall so many of us exulting, as classes were called off. Ragging had just come to an end and for us freshers, it was an occasion to walk to the market and sit at ease over chai and samosas.
It was only over the next few days that the gulf between me and the majority of my fellow students became apparent. The campus gates barred outsiders, classes and life went on as usual for most students. However, I could not get through to my family in Delhi for several days. The censorship of papers only made the trickle of news of violence unfolding in the city that much more forbidding.
There was nothing I could do, but not for a moment could I escape worrying about what may be happening in Delhi.
Over the years, I have picked up a sense of what it meant to be in Delhi for those few days - the burnt cars and silent streets, as well as a policeman's mocking laughter over a call from my family to the control room to help relatives who were less favoured by their location.
In a house in West Delhi, an old uncle and aunt and a young cousin faced mobs at the gates. A childhood friend later recounted how fellow passengers hid him under a second class berth behind a suitcase as mobs searched the train. As soon as the train started moving, he lopped his hair off.
In comparison to the brutality of the actual violence, none of this should matter.
Yet it does.
My inchoate identity became subject to a far stronger sense of self scrutiny. In some sense, the same thing happened to many others. It resulted in a rethinking of what it means to be an Indian and an aggressive defensiveness at being Sikh.
For me, as for most Sikhs, Sikh jokes stopped being funny in 1984.
In the subsequent decades, others have been forced to live through the same horror. In 2004, two years after the Gujarat massacres, I walked through the charred remains of Gulbarg society in Ahmedabad, listening to a man who survived the mob that killed Ehsan Jaffrey.
Just recently, a friend of many years showed me a few short pieces he had written about growing up a Hindu in Amritsar in the years that Khalistanis unleashed their madness. I could recognise the echo of my experience in their words.
This then is what I have come to believe - to be a minority is not a fact of birth, but of circumstances. What such a minority fears is not the violence of the State, but the moment when a mob decides to usurp the State's monopoly over violence.
Safety for a minority lies only in a State that is secular, plural and willing to exercise its power to thwart a murderous mob.
A State, that is, that can ensure that eventually a Kamal Nath and a Narendra Modi are put behind bars.
The need for such a State also leaves me contemptuous of those who celebrate men like Kobad Ghandy, the well-to-do Bombay boy who went on to become a Naxal leader. The product of a complacent middle class that has never felt any sense of siege, Kobad is typical of the Naxal leadership and their urban sympathisers.
Never actually having faced the dread of a mob, these men can casually talk of doing away with the State in the name of the people. Neither do they think twice about the murder of ‘class enemies'.
Remember, every mob that resorts to violence and recognizes no restraint over its own acts of murder does so in the name of the people.
 
Hartosh Singh Bal turned from the difficulty of doing mathematics to the ease of writing on politics. Unlike mathematics all this requires is being less wrong than most others who dwell on the subject.
 
Aug 27, 2005
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Namaste

Aman ji your post was right on time for me. I was going to start a thread asking for information about these events.

I still have a problem with the order of events. I understand that Sikhs, who wanted a separate state were holed up the Golden Gurdwara( please excuse my spelling) and then were forced out by the police.

I understand from the BBC that Indira Gandhi's Sikh security guards violated her trust turned on her and shot her seven times. This assassination was a reaction to the police action at the Gurudwara.

Is this accurate so far?

Was it then that the Hindi (?) mobs started on a rampage killing every Sikh man or teen Sikh mail they found vulnerable.

It appears that India is prone to rampaging mobs and sometimes the victims are Muslims.

I have tried to behave as a third party. However my impression had been and is that a Sikh's word is his bond so I do feel disappointed that Sikh bodyguards and security killed Indira as opposed to quiting or simply walking off.

I am sure my version is a Western one so I am very interested in a Sikh version.

Peace
Satyaban
 

spnadmin

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Satyaban ji

Somewhere in the 1984 section of the forum, see the link under Sikh History, there is a thread with a timeline of the events. The destruction of the Golden Temple was in 1984. The pograms in Delhi came afterward in that year. The history and politics of this are very complicated.

Jarnail Bhindranwale who was jatehdar of Damdami Taksaal took control of the Golden Temple. Indira Gandhi sent tanks and heavy arms in after a less heavily armed battalian found themselves unable to defend against Bhindranwale's sharp-shooters. The second onslaught by Indian Army forces led to massive destruction and death. Later the bodyguards of Indira Gandhi, 2 Sikhs, assassinated her. That event led to a program in Dehli and other parts of India that involved the hunting down, torture and murder of Sikh men, both adults and children, the destruction of property, raping of women, and ultimately to many widows and orphans who were relocated to widow's colonies where their lives deteriorated. They are still waiting for justice.

That is the story in a nut-shell. I left out a lot of details. You need to read the many threads in the section that I just told you about to get the complete picture. Check the commemorative articles thread first because the chronology is laid out there. Then fan out to the other articles. meanwhile I will look for a timeline for you.
 

spnadmin

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First BBC breaking news

BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1984: Troops raid Golden Temple in Amritsar

OK - Here is the Google timeline link

http://www.google.com/archivesearch...ine_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CCoQ5wIwCg

Caution - The way you read the Google timelines is by news articles linked to specific events. The timeline extends into the present. The articles are usually newspaper articles and will often not have complete information. However you do get a sense of what was happening on a given day.
 

spnadmin

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Here is the time line from our Commemorative Articles thread. It gives you more close-up detail for the days surrounding the attack.

Operation Bluestar

Operation Bluestar Images
Chronology of Events

Tuesday May 25th

125,000 Indian Army troops are mobilized and deployed throughout Punjab surrounding all important Gurdwaras including the Golden Temple complex.

Friday June 1st

Thousands of pilgrims start to gather at the Golden Temple complex to celebrate the martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev on June 3rd.

As Bhindranwale sits on the roof of the Langer hall, police snipers open fire on him. They missed and Sikhs fired back.

A seven hour skirmish during the night lasting until the morning leaves 11 dead and 25 injured. There were bullet holes in the Langer building, in the marble pavement (parkarma) surrounding the Golden Temple and in the Golden Temple itself.

Sunday June 3rd

All communications including phone lines to and from Punjab are cut. Road blocks prevent anyone from entering or leaving Punjab and all journalists are expelled from Punjab. A total curfew is imposed and as many as 10,000 pilgrims are trapped inside the temple complex.

Milk vendors from the villages who supply milk to the city of Amritsar are shot dead for violating the curfew orders.

Monday June 4th

The army starts firing on the temple complex and their is a gun battle lasting 5 hours. Using machine guns and mortars the army fires at Sikh positions at the two 18th century towers called Ramgarhia Bunga's, and the water tank behind Teja Singh Samundri Hall as well as surrounding buildings. At least 100 are killed on both sides.

Tuesday June 5th

At 7:00 p.m. Operation Blue Star, the invasion of The Golden Temple begins with tanks of the 16th Cavalry Regiment of the Indian Army moving to enclose the Golden Temple complex. Troops are briefed not to use their guns against the Golden Temple itself or the Akal Takht. Artillery is used to blast off the tops of the Ramgarhia Bungas and the water tank. Scores of buildings in and around the temple complex are blazing. One artillery shell lands more than 5 km away in the crowded city.

In the narrow alley behind the Akal Takht paramilitary commandos try to get into the temple. Some make it to the roof but are turned back due to the heavy gunfire. Meanwhile tanks move into the square in front of the northern entrance to the Golden Temple known as the clock tower entrance.

At 10:30 pm commandos from the 1st Battalion, the Parachute Regiment try to run down the steps under the clock tower onto the marble parkarma around the sacred pool. They face heavy gunfire, suffering casualties and are forced to retreat. A second wave of commandos manage to neutralize the machine gun posts on either side of the steps and get down to the parkarma.

The Akal Takht is heavily fortified with sandbags and brick gun emplacements in its windows and arches. From here and the surrounding buildings the militants are able to fire at any commandos who make their way in front of the Gurdwara.

Two companies of the 7th Garhwal Rifles enter the temple complex from the opposite side on the southern gate entrance and after a gun battle are able to establish a position on the roof of the Temple library. They are reinforced by two companies of the 15th Kumaons. Repeated unsuccessful attempts are made to storm the Akal Takht.

Wednesday June 6th

After midnight tanks are used to break down the steps leading to the parkarma from the hostel side and an 8-wheeled Polish-built armored personnel carrier makes it's way towards the Akal Takht. It is destroyed by a Chinese-made rocket propelled grenade launcher.

Six or more Vijayanta tanks enter the temple complex crushing the delicate marble inlays of the parkarma and plow their way towards the Akal Takht. Orders arrive and the tanks start firing their large 105mm cannons equipped with high explosive squash-head shells into the Akal Takht. These shells are designed for hard targets like armour and fortifications. When the shells hits a target, their heads spread or squash on the hard surface. Their fuses are arranged to allow a short delay between the impact and the shells igniting, so that a shock-wave passes through the target and a heavy slab of armour or masonry is forced away from the inside of the target armour or fortification.

The effect on the Akal Takht, the most sacred of the five Takhts,
is devastating. Over 80 shells are pumped into the sacred Gurdwara. The entire front of the Takht is destroyed and fires break out in many of the different rooms blackening the marble walls and wrecking the delicate decorations dating back to the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Marble inlays, plaster and mirror work, filigree partitions and priceless old wall paintings are all destroyed.

The gold dome of the Akal Takht is also badly damaged by artillery fire. At one stage a 3.7 inch Howell gun is mounted on the roof of a building behind the shrine and fired a number of times at the beautiful dome.

At the other end of the Temple complex on the easternmost side a battalion of the Kumaon Regiment were invading the hostel complex where many of the innocent pilgrims were in hiding as well as the temple administration staff. There was no water because the water tower had been destroyed and it was very hot.

(Bhan Singh, Secretary of S.G.P.C.)
"They cut our electricity and water supplies. It was very hot in the rooms. There was no water. We had only two plastic buckets of water. Longowal had to place two people as guards over the buckets. Many people would squeeze their undershirts to drink their sweat to quench their thirst."

Around 1:00 am the Army entered the hostel and administrative buildings and ordered everyone out and made them sit in the courtyard of the Guru Ram Das Hostel. There were about 250 people who came out.

As night fell the Army troops were given the order to storm the remains of the Akal Takht and shoot on site anyone they found inside. The troops encounter little resistance and find dead bodies and the smell of death everywhere.

Thursday June 7th

In the early hours of the morning the troops discover the bodies of what was thought to be Sant Bhindranwale and his closest followers in the basement of the Akal Takht.

The day was spent in clean up operations flushing out any remaining snipers and collecting the dead bodies. Soldiers were openly walking about the temple in their shoes, drinking alcohol as well as smoking. Blood and bodies were strewn all over the broken marble of the parkarma. With putrefying corpses floating in the sacred pool of nectar and the smell of death everywhere.

The Darshani Deori the entrance gate of the Golden Temple which houses many priceless treasures was destroyed and looted. Although fighting had now died down, the central library complex was mysteriously burned down. Many priceless manuscripts, some in the Gurus own handwriting were lost forever.

The number of people who lost their lives will never be known. The Army refused to let the Red Cross enter the complex and cremated the dead before the bodies could be identified or claimed by their families. The Amritsar municipal sweepers refused to clear the dead bodies away but were eventually persuaded by offers of rum and being allowed to strip the bodies of all valuables. They piled the dead into garbage trucks and unceremoniously cremated them. Family members were not allowed by the army to claim the remains or perform any traditional funeral rites. It is clear that thousands lost their lives in the Temple complex.

Elsewhere across Punjab hundreds of Sikhs were killed in the army operation at the same time which saw 42 Gurdwaras raided at the same time as the Golden Temple, including high casualties at Moga, Mukatsar, Faridkot, Patiala, Ropar and Chowk Mehta.

Aftermath

Kar Seva is the ceremonial cleaning of the sacred pool is normally undertaken every 50 years. A special Kar Seva was undertaken in 1985 to replace some of the damage. Tens of thousands of Sikhs participated and the sacred pool of nectar was completely drained and cleaned.

Restoration work has taken 15 years to complete. The Akal Takht has been entirely rebuilt. The marble of the parkarma has been replaced in sections with new marble. Repair work on Harmandir Sahib included reguilding the temple dome and walls with new gold. The Ramgharia Bungas have been repaired and Teja Singh Samundri Hall has been left, pockmarked with bullet holes as a reminder of the tragedy.

What was one of the darkest chapters of Sikh history, reminiscent of the persecution the Sikhs faced at the hands of the Mughals has acted like a lightening rod for all Sikhs. It should not be viewed as a cause of incitement of hatred, but rather as a jolting reminder to Sikhs that they cannot take the existence of their religion for granted. As caretakers of the Sikh religion, it is up to Sikhs to actively participate and make sure that the message of the Gurus and the Sikh religion survives and grows, overcoming any and all adversities.

Source Operation Bluestar




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http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=101460
 
Aug 27, 2005
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Sister you have not mentioned the action of the security guards, Sikhs, murdering who they swore to protect. As any wise person I assume Gandhi chose Sikhs because of their trustworthiness, prowess, and keeping their word. Viewing this as a third party I think the security guards as a matter of Sikh and personal honor should have quit and not turned on their employer. They or he certainly played a role in the rampage that ensued,

I will check your suggestions but what do you think about my opinion above.

Peace
Satyaban
 

spnadmin

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Satyaban ji

First of all I concentrated on pulling events together in sequence for you, with names and places. Not responding to the other level of questions. Now I see that there were and apologize for not noticing sooner.

The Sikh bodyguards! Taking justice into one's own hands is never a good thing. Acting from revenge is never a good thing. But judging the moral nature of another is also not a good thing. I can honestly say that I understand why this happened with a kind of melancholy perspective on it. These men were human with human passions. I am disheartened that two men took justice in the way they did. At the same time, when you read and understand their story -- they stepped forward and admitted responsibility for their acts and did not ask to be "understood." As far as I know they accepted their fate. There was nothing really to understand -- because why they did what they did is so very clear. Were their actions morally right? Is homicide ever morally right? Read the articles we have posted, the stories of the victims; and then ask yourself if the actions of these 2 men were hard to understand.

Sikhs are fallible like every one else. Sometimes promises are broken. But forgiveness and compassion are also Sikh values. Being stuck in a hard place is something to overcome.

I must tell you though -- I do not weep for Indira Gandhi. My opinion was then and is now that she lacked the wisdom needed to guide India forward, and her judgment was deeply flawed. That is just my political opinion of her and her agenda. I do weep for the thousands of innocents who suffered at her hands. It has taken India two decades to move beyond her policies and take its rightful place as a leading democracy.

Also, I missed the last part. No I do not think that India is prone to "rampaging mobs" more than any other country - Italy, Germany, France. No I do not agree with that.
 
Aug 27, 2005
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From the 1st week of November 1984 issue of time magazine:

Standing at attention more than halfway along the path were two khaki-uniformed security men wearing the traditional beards and turbans that identified them as Sikhs. One of them, Beant Singh, was a favorite of Mrs. Gandhi's: she had known him for ten years. Only two months earlier, when Mrs. Gandhi was asked if she could trust Sikh guards in the wake of her controversial decision to have the Indian army root out Sikh extremists at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Sikhs' holiest shrine, she had glanced at Beant Singh and said, "When I have Sikhs like this around me, then I don't believe I have anything to fear." When the director of the country's central intelligence organization suggested to Mrs. Gandhi in July that Sikhs be removed from her security staff, she had refused. "How can we claim to be secular?" she had asked in a hastily scrawled note. Not far from Beant Singh stood Satwant Singh, 21, who had been assigned to Mrs. Gandhi's detail five months before.
<!-- Begin Article Side Bar --><!-- Begin Article Side Bar Copy -->
<!--BEGIN SPHERE INLINE SIDEBAR MODULE--><!--END SPHERE INLINE SIDEBAR MODULE--><!-- End Article Side Bar Copy -->
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> tiiQuigoWriteAd(755777, 1458854, 142, 225, -1); </SCRIPT>

<!-- End Article Side Bar -->The two men were no more than seven feet away as she greeted them. Beant Singh drew a .38 revolver and fired three shots into her abdomen. As she fell to the ground, Satwant Singh pumped all 30 rounds from his Sten automatic weapon into her crumpled body. At least seven bullets penetrated her abdomen, three her chest and one her heart. The Prime Minister was dead.


Read more: Indira Gandhi: Death in the Garden - TIME


Peace
Satyaban
 
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kds1980

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Sister you have not mentioned the action of the security guards, Sikhs, murdering who they swore to protect. As any wise person I assume Gandhi chose Sikhs because of their trustworthiness, prowess, and keeping their word. Viewing this as a third party I think the security guards as a matter of Sikh and personal honor should have quit and not turned on their employer. They or he certainly played a role in the rampage that ensued,

I will check your suggestions but what do you think about my opinion above.

Peace
Satyaban

I am really surprised by your remarks.How could you blame sikh bodyguards for the rampage.The question is not whether they were right or wrong .The question is why The 1984 carnage happened ? In India there were 3 assasinations But no such carnage happened after mahatma gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi killed.Is It because they were killed by hindu's? So it only prove that
apart from Hindu's If anybody do something wrong then entire community should be punished.

I am no khalistan Supporter but If a spiritual person like you say this that then I have to say that what khalistani sikhs say that India is not country of sikhs is true.We can only be Good Indians if we do something good for country
but if because some sikhs do wrong then entire community is should be punished and they themselves are responsible
 

spnadmin

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Aug 27, 2005
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Kanwardeep ji

I said "They or he certainly played a role in the rampage that ensued,", not that the two were to blame because there were many I think.

I am ignorant of the inter-turmoil among Sikhs. What I think is first arming a place deemed holy or sanctified with machine guns and all manner of weapons is sacrilege.

As I have pointed out to Muslims a mosque that is used to store weapons becomes an armoury and a mosque that is fortified with weapons to be used as a position of fire base or defensive is no longer a mosque but a fortress and should be eligible for return fire. This happened in Sadr City.

It also appears to me that the Indian security forces used a very heavy hand when a siege or extended negotiations should have been the order of the day. I am not coming down on the side of the rulers of India at the time for a few reasons. Among them are the attack on the Golden Temple because talking is always better than shooting and killing, also the gov't did not act fast enough to stop the carnage of the mob violence. Finally there is the lack of prosecutions even today.

Peace
Satyaban
 

kds1980

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It also appears to me that the Indian security forces used a very heavy hand when a siege or extended negotiations should have been the order of the day. I am not coming down on the side of the rulers of India at the time for a few reasons. Among them are the attack on the Golden Temple because talking is always better than shooting and killing, also the gov't did not act fast enough to stop the carnage of the mob violence. Finally there is the lack of prosecutions even today.

Peace
Satyaban

There was no question of acting fast by Govt because it was planned by them.Delhi transport corporation buses were used to transport mobs from one corner to other corner
Police was ordered not to Act.Goons were even imported from neighbouring states.
So It was not at all Riot Or spontanious reaction .It was massacre planned by Government
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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and are we forgetting that Beant Singh was Shot dead unarmed when he had already laid down his weapon ?? a Conspiracy theory is there that the real killers of IG were some others..Bs and SS were merely pawns...the name of Dhawan is mentioned...

1. When Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi it was kept secret that a HINDU had killed him...
........when the BS and SS killed IG..it was announced immediately on AIR who killed who..
NO riots against HINDUS....but planned riots against Sikhs...

2. When Rajiv was blown up by a Tamil Hindu bomber..no such riots against HINDUS..

The Evidence is too overwhelming..it was a planned event...to teach the sikhs a lesson and take revenge ofr the anti-Emergency Morcha ONLY the SIKHS kept alive. IMHO this Anti-Emergency MORCHA that the AKALIS under BADAL took from Darbar Sahib Complex was a totally UNNECESSARY poking out of the Sikh "head"....as the entire INDIA was quietly taking the punishment of Emergency of IG..the Sikhs ahd no need to put their ehad out to SAVE the BJP...who should have taken their Morcha from DURGIANA MANDIR !!..This was a classic case of..Mantar mein parrhddan..khud wich unglee tun deh...Meaning..I (BJP) will read the Holy Mantras...while YOU (sikhs/badal/akalis) put your hand inside the SNAKES HOLE !! The Sikhs put their hand into the snakes den..and got BITTEN Baldy..and the Mantram reading @friend..then distributed Ladoos and told IG..why didnt you attack Golden Temple EARLIER ?? imho BADAL is the one responsible for all this !!! he started the DESTRUCTION and is now well on his way to TOTALLY DESTROYING EVERYTHING SIKH...:(:confused:
 

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