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ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਝ | Raag Maajh
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Vaar Gujari (508-517)
Vaar Gujari (517-526)
ਰਾਗੁ ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ | Raag Dayv-Gandhaaree
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Ghoriaan (575-578)
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ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਤਸਰੀ | Raag Jaitsree
Gurbani (696-703)
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Vaar Jaitsaree (705-710)
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ਰਾਗੁ ਟੋਡੀ | Raag Todee
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Gurbani (721-727)
Bhagat Bani (727)
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Gurbani (728-750)
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Gurbani (795-831)
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Vaar Sat (841-843)
Chhant (843-848)
Vaar Bilaaval (849-855)
Bhagat Bani (855-858)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੋਂਡ | Raag Gond
Gurbani (859-869)
Ashtpadiyan (869)
Bhagat Bani (870-875)
ਰਾਗੁ ਰਾਮਕਲੀ | Raag Ramkalee
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Sadd (923-924)
Chhant (924-929)
Dakhnee (929-938)
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Vaar Ramkalee (947-968)
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ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ | Raag Maalee Gauraa
Gurbani (984-988)
Bhagat Bani (988)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਰੂ | Raag Maaroo
Gurbani (889-1008)
Ashtpadiyan (1008-1014)
Kaafee (1014-1016)
Ashtpadiyan (1016-1019)
Anjulian (1019-1020)
Solhe (1020-1033)
Dakhni (1033-1043)
ਰਾਗੁ ਤੁਖਾਰੀ | Raag Tukhaari
Bara Maha (1107-1110)
Chhant (1110-1117)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕੇਦਾਰਾ | Raag Kedara
Gurbani (1118-1123)
Bhagat Bani (1123-1124)
ਰਾਗੁ ਭੈਰਉ | Raag Bhairo
Gurbani (1125-1152)
Partaal (1153)
Ashtpadiyan (1153-1167)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਸੰਤੁ | Raag Basant
Gurbani (1168-1187)
Ashtpadiyan (1187-1193)
Vaar Basant (1193-1196)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਾਰਗ | Raag Saarag
Gurbani (1197-1200)
Partaal (1200-1231)
Ashtpadiyan (1232-1236)
Chhant (1236-1237)
Vaar Saarang (1237-1253)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਲਾਰ | Raag Malaar
Gurbani (1254-1293)
Partaal (1265-1273)
Ashtpadiyan (1273-1278)
Chhant (1278)
Vaar Malaar (1278-91)
Bhagat Bani (1292-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਾਨੜਾ | Raag Kaanraa
Gurbani (1294-96)
Partaal (1296-1318)
Ashtpadiyan (1308-1312)
Chhant (1312)
Vaar Kaanraa
Bhagat Bani (1318)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਲਿਆਨ | Raag Kalyaan
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ਰਾਗੁ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ | Raag Prabhaatee
Gurbani (1327-1341)
Ashtpadiyan (1342-51)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ | Raag Jaijaiwanti
Gurbani (1352-53)
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Swaiyyae in Praise of Gurus
Shaloks in Addition To Vaars
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ਰਾਗ ਮਾਲਾ, Raag Maalaa
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Sikh History & Heritage
1984 Commemorative Articles Operation Bluestar
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<blockquote data-quote="spnadmin" data-source="post: 147372" data-attributes="member: 35"><p>Published in Sikhs: Past & Present.</p><p></p><p><em>It is from my book 'SIKH HISTORY in 10 volumes' (from vol 7);</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Available from: Singh Brothers Amritsar (and also from leading book shops at Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh</em></p><p><em>3 of the 10 volumes were published in September 2010, vol 4 to 7 will be released in August 2011 and 8 to 10 will be published in December 2011.</em></p><p><em>For more details read the book</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Attack on Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht (part 1)</strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> Indira Gandhi had since long been planning for an attack on Darbar Sahib; first, in the summer of 1983 she first asked Lt General S. K. Sinha, then vice-chief of the Indian Army to prepare a position paper for an assault on Darbar Sahib; but, when he strongly advised her against taking such a step;[1] as a result he was transferred to Army Headquarters; later, he chose to seek pre-mature retirement. Now Arun Shridhar Vaidya was appointed the Chief of Army with Lt. General Krishna Swamy Sunderji (General Officer Commander in chief of the Western Command) as vice Chief. In September 1983, Indira Gandhi asked Vaidya and Sunderji to to prepare a position paper; it was ready by the end of December 1983; Indira Gandhi studied it for two weeks and, on the Indian Army Day, on the 15th of January 1984, she gave final instructions to General Sunderji to be prepared for attack.[2]</p><p></p><p> In the third week of January 1984, a commando force of 600 soldiers was selected from different units of the Indian Army; they were sent to make rehe{censored}als for an assault on Darbar Sahib complex, and, for this purpose a life size replica of the Darbar Sahib complex was built in the hills of Chakrata (near Dehradun), about 240 kilometres from Delhi. In January 1984, after accomplishment of the mission of practice of mock attack on Darbar Sahib complex, Indira Gandhi was briefed about the completion of the preparations for attack; between February and May 1984 Indira Gandhi alerted the Army three times but each time she vetoed the invasion; ‘a case of nerves’ as per a senior aide.[3]</p><p></p><p> As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Third Agency had escalated violence in the Punjab in order to justify attack on Darbar Sahib; in 1981 there occurred just 28 incidents of violence in the Punjab, in 1982 the number was just 33; in 1983 when the Third Agency began its action for final round the number rose to 138 but after this when the Commandos had completed their mock battle in Chakrata hill, number of incidents of violence began rising and just in five month (from the 27th of January to the 2nd of June 1984) 364 incidents of violence took place; of these 22 occured in the first two days of June although the army had already taken positions in the Punjab on the 31st of May; even out of the incidents 90% were of frivolous nature hence of no significance; after Indra Gandhi gave the first order (which was posponed) to attack Darbar Sahib, incidents of violence increased with high speed so that attack on Darbar Sahib may be justified. Thus the activities of the Third Agency and political manouvering of Indira Gandhi outwitted not only hazy minde Akalis but also the Hindus and the other political Parties. Indira Gandhi never disclosed her hidden aims. Indira Gandhi Government kept on repeating that Armed Forces will not enter Golden Temple complex.[4]</p><p></p><p> Indira Gandhi had made complete preparations for attack on Darbar Sahib but as a drama she continued having dialogue with the Akalis; she had performed this ‘drama’ several times earlier too; during Tri-Party Talks ‘thre times in six months an agreement was reached and three times she backed out’; she again backed out when Swaran Singh tried to mediate; she uses dilly-dallying tactics when the ‘Punjabi Group’[5] came up with a ‘formula’ in April 1984; in fact ‘Mrs Gandhi had other intentions’;[6] even Ravinder Singh Ravi, a professor of Punjabi University, tried to mediate; his efforts too met with an alike treatment; none of them knew that Indira Gandhi was just playing drama of negotiations, she had already planned to attack Darbar Sahib and cash the Sikh Card to capture a big junk of Hindu votes.[7]</p><p> The last drama of show of negotiations witht he Akalis was played from March to May 1984; the Akali leaders met the Government delegations on the 27th, 28th and 29th of March, on the 21st of April and on the 26th of May,[8] the last meeting took place on the 27th of May 1984;[9] in the final meeting an agreement was reached with the Akalis and they were told that the same will be ‘announced after getting approval from Madam’; in fact this was just a drama because on that day (the 27th of May) orders had already been issued to the Indian Army to proceed towards Amritsar (an advance party of the Indian Army had taken positions around Darbar Sahib on the 30th of May).</p><p></p><p> On one hand Indira Gandhi had dispatched orders on the other hand a message was sent to the Akalis that ‘Madam’ had not approved the agreement; at this the Akalis announced that if their demand were not accepted by the 2nd of June 1984, they will launch a Non-cooperation Movement from the 3rd of June; however, every one knew that the Akalis won’t launch any new Movement, the will just continue holding demonstrations and rallies and court arrests.</p><p> </p><p>Preparation for Ground to Attack Darbar Sahib</p><p> Before finally attacking Darbar Sahib, Indira Gandhi had prepared ground; a mutual distrust had already been created between the Sikhs and the Hindus; the Sikhs were been projected as anti Hindu, killers of Hindus, as well as separatist, Khalistanis, anti-nationalists, ‘agents of Pakistan’, traitors, extremists (attvaadi), fundamentalist, fanatics etc. The Government media, the A.I.R., T.V. were presenting the Sikhs as the ‘Sikh terrorists’; and this hate-propaganda was so aggressive that not only the B.J.P.[10] but even the other non-communal Opposition Parties, including both Communist Parties, were vied each other in condemning and denigerating Sikhs and demanding a military action against Bhindranwala particularly and Darbar Sahib generally; Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Chowdgry Charan Singh, Shiv Sena, Hindu Suraksha Samiti, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Brigade, Vishav Hindu Prishad, Arya Samaj all spoke in the same language; they wer so ignorant that they could not read the mind of the notorious woman; it is surprising that Harkishan Surjeet (of the C.P.M.), too sailed in th same boat in spite of the fact that he himself had been a part and parcel of negotiating team and he knew that it was Indira Gandhi who was the real culprit as she did not want a political solution and she had ‘other intentions.’</p><p>Army takes over the reigns of the Punjab</p><p></p><p> Indira Gandhi issued orders for attack on Darbar Sahib under the code name of ‘Operation Blue Star’; on the 27th of May 1984 the troops left for Amritsar by rail, road and even by air; five Corps of Army (the 1st, the 2nd, the 10th, the 11th, and the 15th) had reached the Punjab on the 30th of May and the Army was still on the move. On the 31st of May, a meeting of the operating generals was held at Chandimandir (near Chandigarh) at the headquarters of ‘Core 2’ unit of the Indian Army; it was attended by officers of the Army, Airforce and Navy which included Lt. General K. Sunderji, K.S. Brar, R.S. Dyal and others; Sunderji had been Commander of a regiment in the Indo-Pak War of 1965, R.S. Dyal had been a Major of a Parachute Regiment in the same War. This meeting discussed and planned to attack and occupy Darbar Sahib in just 24 hours; the whole ‘action’ was broadly divided into two parts: attack on Darbar Sahib (under code ‘Operation Blue Star’) and sealing of border between India and Pakistan (‘Operation Wood Rose’); operation of the sealing of the border was assigned to 11 Core Unit, Lt. General K. Gauri Shankar was the chief of this ‘Operation’.</p><p></p><p> The advanced unit of commandos had already taken positions around Darbar Sahib, right in the evening of the 30th of May. Although secret agents and the intelligence network of the Government had already given almost complete picture of the inside of the Darbar Sahib Complex but still, on the 1st of June, Major General K. S. Brar, Captain Jasbir Raina, Lt. Colonol K. S. Randhawa, Brigadier D. V. Rao and Colonol Fernandes (who had reached Amritsar early in the morning of the 1st of June) went to the Darbar Sahib in plain clothes and had a round of the whole of the Complex to assess fortification.</p><p></p><p> On the 1st of June 1984, the C.R.P.F. and the B.S.F. which had taken positions on all the tall buildings around Darbar Sahib since long,[11] suddenly they began firing at Darbar Sahib without giving an warning; it was, in fact, an attempt to provoke the miltants to retaliate, which would have given a chance to the Indian Army to assess which weapons did they have, what was the standard of their strength, where were their posts from which they could have attacked the Army. On the other hand, the militants too understood the strategy of the Indian Army hence they did not show any reaction. This firing continued for more than five hours (12.40 noon to 7 p.m.), killing 8 Sikh devotees including a woman and a child) and wounding more than 25;[12] the central building of Darbar Sahib itself had been hit by bullets where there were at leats 34 bulet marks.[13]When the firing was going on, Harchand Singh Longowal, President of Akali Dal, tried to contact Zail Singh, the President of India, but in spite of making several telephone calls, Zail Singh could not be reached; all the time Zail’s Secretary kept on saying that he was not available; in fact Zail was avoiding[14] because he knew about all the plan of the attack on Darbar Sahib and the firing of the 1st of June was a part of that. However, Longowal succeeded in contacting B.D. Pandey, the Governor of the Punjab, who confessed tha he won’t be able to do anything because ‘the orders were coming straight from New Delhi'.[15]This action was repeated on the 2nd of June 1984 when 32 bullets hit the building of Akal Takht from its backside; here too the army wanted to test the reactions of the Sikh miltants in order to know their positions from where they would be firing in situation of attack by the Army.</p><p> </p><p>Preparations by the Sikh militants</p><p> The conspiracy to attack Darbar Sahib had been chalked out in the summer of 1983 and this planning had been leaked out to General Subeg Singh; he discussed the same with Baba Jarnail Singh; at first the latter resolved to leave Darbar Sahib and offer his arrest (as he had done in Chowk Mehta on the 20th of September 1981) in order to Save Darbar Sahib from military attack but then Subeg Singh told him that the conspiracy to attack was not simply due to him and rather it was with an intention to ‘teach a lesson to the Sikhs’; at this Baba Jarnail Singh decided that the Indian Army should also ‘be taught a lesson’ and the Indian Army should be given a fight like that of the 1st of December 1764 when 30 Sikhs fought against 30000 Durrani and Baloch soldiers. After this, General Subeg Singh began making preparations for combating the invading Indian forces. General Subeg Singh was an expert of guerrilla war; he had achieved great success in 1971 when the Indian Army fought a guerrilla war against the Pakistani Army in the East Bengal (now Bangla Desh); hence he knew how to stop advances of the enemy forces; thus he planned to give such a fight to the Indian Army that would be known as the greatest battle of resistance in the history of the world. But, Bhindranwala had just a few Sikh youth, most of them had never touched even a gun; but all of them were ready to sacrifice their lives for preserving the honour of Darbar Sahib and the Sikh Panth (and they proved what Geneal Subeg Singh said; the battle of Darbar Sahib is ‘the greatest battle of resistance in the history of the world’).</p><p> </p><p>Indira Gandhi’s broadcast from the A.I.R.:</p><p> Though Indira Gandhi had ordered attack on Darbar Sahib but she was scared; right from the 27th of May 1984, when she had signed final orders, she had been nerovous, her behavious had turned queer, her voice choked all these days; during this period she had called a closed-door meeting of Congress activists from all over India, and, on the 2nd of June 1984, “when she walked up to the platform she appeared to be limping; her shoulders were hunched; she looked dishevelled; her face was drawn; she choked as she spoke; it looked like if someone in her family had died”.[16]</p><p></p><p> A few hours later, in the ate hours of the evening of the 2nd of June, Indira Gandhi made an unscheduled broadcast from the A.I.R.; in her broadcast she blamed the Akalis for not having reached agreement (which was a lie as it was she who backed out at least three times); she stated that she had accepted all the demands of the Akalis i.e. sale of tobacco, liquor and meat had been banned in demarcated area in the walled city of Amritsar (this too was gossip), consulations were being made for an All India Gurdwara Act (this was just a gossip), a Tribunal headed by a Supreme Court Judge was being constituted to decide distribution of water dispute (the Akalis had demanded that the case hoould be decided by the Supreme Court and not a Tribunal, but, she did not trust the Court), a Commission was being appointed to decide the issue of Chandigarh, Abohar, Fazilka and other Punjabi or Hindi speaking areas (this too was a lie), Sarkaria Commission has been appointed to submit its report on Centre-State relations. She said that the Government had accepted their demands but they are raising fresh demands all the time (this too was a lie), and, they have announced launching of a non cooperation Movement from the 3rd of June. In the end she played another drama by saying: ‘Even at this late hour, I appeal to the Akali leaders to call off their threatened agitation and accept the framework of peaceful settlement which we have offered. She ended her speech with the words ‘Dont shed blood, shed hatred’; it was like Devil giving sermons because when she was speaking from the A.I.R. the Indian Army had already taken positions around Darbar Sahib three days earlier to that and had also surrounded more than 70 Gurdwaras.; and it (Indian Army) was ready to play with ‘blood’ and dissipate and practice ‘hatred’. Commenting upon this Kuldip Nayyar onserved: ‘How could she first order military operation and then suggest negotiations? And even if the Akalis were ready to talk, how could hey contact her, all the telephones had been cut off.’[17] (Bold letters are mine – author).</p><p> </p><p>[1] ‘Operation Blue Star’ has been reckoned as one of the 10 Political Disgraces of India: 1. Emergency (June 1975- January 77). 2. Operation Blue Star (June 1984). 3. Bofors Scandal (1987-96). 4. Demolition of Babri Mosque (December 1992). 5. JMM Bribery Case (July 1997). 6. Fodder Scam (January 1996). 7. Hijacking of an Indian Airliner to Kandhar (Decemebr 1999). 8. Arms Bribery Case in volving Bangaru Laxman BJP chief etc (March 2001). 9. Gujrat Riots (February-March 2002). 10. Surviving No Confidence Motion (July 2008); for details see article, of the same name, by Gunjeet K. Sra in India Today, dated 29.12.2008</p><p>[2] Malhotra, Inder, Indira Gandhi: A Political Biograph, has also refrrered to this.</p><p>[3] Nayyar, Kuldip and Khushwant Singh, Tragedy of Punjab, p. 56.</p><p>[4] A. R. Darshi, op. cit, p. 100.</p><p>[5] The ‘Punjabi Group’ comprised of Kuldip Nayyar, Air Marshal Arjan Singh, Lt General Jagjit Singh Arora, I.K. Gujral, Pran Chopra, Gurcharan Singh etc.</p><p>[6] Samiuddin Adiba, The Punjab Crisis: Challenge and Response (Delhi 1985), pp. 644-45.</p><p>[7] Ibid, p. 682.</p><p>[8] These meetings had been attended, from Akali side, by Badal, Tohra, Ravi Inder Singh, Balwant Singh, Surjeet barnala, Balwant Ramuwalia etc.</p><p>[9] Earlier too, on the 16th and the 17th of November 1982, then on the 17th and 24th of January 1983 too, meetings had been held between the Akalis and the Government delegations.</p><p>[10] L.K. Advani, in his autobiographical work, published in 2008, have openly confessed that it was he, and his Party B.J.P., which pressed upon Indira Gandhi to attack Darbar Sahib. When this book was published, all the Sikhs condemned Advani, but Manjit Singh G.K. (president of the Delhi Akali Dal, Badal group) went to the residence of Advani on the 13th of April 2008, and presented him with a robe of honour (for instigating Indira Gandhi to attack Darbar Sahib).</p><p>[11] According to Harminder Kaur and Mark Tully, the order for this fire had been given by K.S. Brar (Harminder Kaur, op. cit., p. 7, Tully, Mark, op. cit., p. 145), also see the ‘official account’ (which is full of lies) by Kuldeep Brar, Operation Blue Star.</p><p>[12] Citizens for Democracy, Oppression in Punjab (Delhi 1984), p. 57.</p><p>[13] Oppression in Punjab, p. 58, Tully, Mark, op. cit., p. 145. Later, these marks were shown by the international media including the Pakistani TV (In Khabarnama of the 3rd of June 1984.). Later these signs were removed by the S.G.P.C. when Tohra was President and Manjit Singh Calcutta was the Secretary.</p><p>[14] Harminder Kaur, op. cit., p. 8.</p><p>[15] Ibid.</p><p>[16] Tully, Mark, op. cit, p. 142. On the other hand, a fanatic Hindu journalist Prem Bhatia (editor The Tribune Chandigarh) playing as cheap sychopant, wrote that when he saw her in the first week of July 1984 ‘she looked five years younger’ (The Tribune, dated 8.7.1984); such was the mentality of sychopants of Indira Gandhi and the fanatic Hindus; the same Bhatia, in the issue dated 7.6.1984, descrived attack on Darbar Sahib as ‘a neat operation’ in spte of the fact that nothing was yet known as to what had happened there at Darbar Sahib or in 72 other Gurdwras in the rest of the Punjab.</p><p>[17] Nayyar, op. cit., P. 91</p><p></p><p><strong>*Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer National Professor of Sikh History</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="spnadmin, post: 147372, member: 35"] Published in Sikhs: Past & Present. [I]It is from my book 'SIKH HISTORY in 10 volumes' (from vol 7); Available from: Singh Brothers Amritsar (and also from leading book shops at Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh 3 of the 10 volumes were published in September 2010, vol 4 to 7 will be released in August 2011 and 8 to 10 will be published in December 2011. For more details read the book[/I] [B]Attack on Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht (part 1)[/B] Indira Gandhi had since long been planning for an attack on Darbar Sahib; first, in the summer of 1983 she first asked Lt General S. K. Sinha, then vice-chief of the Indian Army to prepare a position paper for an assault on Darbar Sahib; but, when he strongly advised her against taking such a step;[1] as a result he was transferred to Army Headquarters; later, he chose to seek pre-mature retirement. Now Arun Shridhar Vaidya was appointed the Chief of Army with Lt. General Krishna Swamy Sunderji (General Officer Commander in chief of the Western Command) as vice Chief. In September 1983, Indira Gandhi asked Vaidya and Sunderji to to prepare a position paper; it was ready by the end of December 1983; Indira Gandhi studied it for two weeks and, on the Indian Army Day, on the 15th of January 1984, she gave final instructions to General Sunderji to be prepared for attack.[2] In the third week of January 1984, a commando force of 600 soldiers was selected from different units of the Indian Army; they were sent to make rehe{censored}als for an assault on Darbar Sahib complex, and, for this purpose a life size replica of the Darbar Sahib complex was built in the hills of Chakrata (near Dehradun), about 240 kilometres from Delhi. In January 1984, after accomplishment of the mission of practice of mock attack on Darbar Sahib complex, Indira Gandhi was briefed about the completion of the preparations for attack; between February and May 1984 Indira Gandhi alerted the Army three times but each time she vetoed the invasion; ‘a case of nerves’ as per a senior aide.[3] As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Third Agency had escalated violence in the Punjab in order to justify attack on Darbar Sahib; in 1981 there occurred just 28 incidents of violence in the Punjab, in 1982 the number was just 33; in 1983 when the Third Agency began its action for final round the number rose to 138 but after this when the Commandos had completed their mock battle in Chakrata hill, number of incidents of violence began rising and just in five month (from the 27th of January to the 2nd of June 1984) 364 incidents of violence took place; of these 22 occured in the first two days of June although the army had already taken positions in the Punjab on the 31st of May; even out of the incidents 90% were of frivolous nature hence of no significance; after Indra Gandhi gave the first order (which was posponed) to attack Darbar Sahib, incidents of violence increased with high speed so that attack on Darbar Sahib may be justified. Thus the activities of the Third Agency and political manouvering of Indira Gandhi outwitted not only hazy minde Akalis but also the Hindus and the other political Parties. Indira Gandhi never disclosed her hidden aims. Indira Gandhi Government kept on repeating that Armed Forces will not enter Golden Temple complex.[4] Indira Gandhi had made complete preparations for attack on Darbar Sahib but as a drama she continued having dialogue with the Akalis; she had performed this ‘drama’ several times earlier too; during Tri-Party Talks ‘thre times in six months an agreement was reached and three times she backed out’; she again backed out when Swaran Singh tried to mediate; she uses dilly-dallying tactics when the ‘Punjabi Group’[5] came up with a ‘formula’ in April 1984; in fact ‘Mrs Gandhi had other intentions’;[6] even Ravinder Singh Ravi, a professor of Punjabi University, tried to mediate; his efforts too met with an alike treatment; none of them knew that Indira Gandhi was just playing drama of negotiations, she had already planned to attack Darbar Sahib and cash the Sikh Card to capture a big junk of Hindu votes.[7] The last drama of show of negotiations witht he Akalis was played from March to May 1984; the Akali leaders met the Government delegations on the 27th, 28th and 29th of March, on the 21st of April and on the 26th of May,[8] the last meeting took place on the 27th of May 1984;[9] in the final meeting an agreement was reached with the Akalis and they were told that the same will be ‘announced after getting approval from Madam’; in fact this was just a drama because on that day (the 27th of May) orders had already been issued to the Indian Army to proceed towards Amritsar (an advance party of the Indian Army had taken positions around Darbar Sahib on the 30th of May). On one hand Indira Gandhi had dispatched orders on the other hand a message was sent to the Akalis that ‘Madam’ had not approved the agreement; at this the Akalis announced that if their demand were not accepted by the 2nd of June 1984, they will launch a Non-cooperation Movement from the 3rd of June; however, every one knew that the Akalis won’t launch any new Movement, the will just continue holding demonstrations and rallies and court arrests. Preparation for Ground to Attack Darbar Sahib Before finally attacking Darbar Sahib, Indira Gandhi had prepared ground; a mutual distrust had already been created between the Sikhs and the Hindus; the Sikhs were been projected as anti Hindu, killers of Hindus, as well as separatist, Khalistanis, anti-nationalists, ‘agents of Pakistan’, traitors, extremists (attvaadi), fundamentalist, fanatics etc. The Government media, the A.I.R., T.V. were presenting the Sikhs as the ‘Sikh terrorists’; and this hate-propaganda was so aggressive that not only the B.J.P.[10] but even the other non-communal Opposition Parties, including both Communist Parties, were vied each other in condemning and denigerating Sikhs and demanding a military action against Bhindranwala particularly and Darbar Sahib generally; Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Chowdgry Charan Singh, Shiv Sena, Hindu Suraksha Samiti, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Brigade, Vishav Hindu Prishad, Arya Samaj all spoke in the same language; they wer so ignorant that they could not read the mind of the notorious woman; it is surprising that Harkishan Surjeet (of the C.P.M.), too sailed in th same boat in spite of the fact that he himself had been a part and parcel of negotiating team and he knew that it was Indira Gandhi who was the real culprit as she did not want a political solution and she had ‘other intentions.’ Army takes over the reigns of the Punjab Indira Gandhi issued orders for attack on Darbar Sahib under the code name of ‘Operation Blue Star’; on the 27th of May 1984 the troops left for Amritsar by rail, road and even by air; five Corps of Army (the 1st, the 2nd, the 10th, the 11th, and the 15th) had reached the Punjab on the 30th of May and the Army was still on the move. On the 31st of May, a meeting of the operating generals was held at Chandimandir (near Chandigarh) at the headquarters of ‘Core 2’ unit of the Indian Army; it was attended by officers of the Army, Airforce and Navy which included Lt. General K. Sunderji, K.S. Brar, R.S. Dyal and others; Sunderji had been Commander of a regiment in the Indo-Pak War of 1965, R.S. Dyal had been a Major of a Parachute Regiment in the same War. This meeting discussed and planned to attack and occupy Darbar Sahib in just 24 hours; the whole ‘action’ was broadly divided into two parts: attack on Darbar Sahib (under code ‘Operation Blue Star’) and sealing of border between India and Pakistan (‘Operation Wood Rose’); operation of the sealing of the border was assigned to 11 Core Unit, Lt. General K. Gauri Shankar was the chief of this ‘Operation’. The advanced unit of commandos had already taken positions around Darbar Sahib, right in the evening of the 30th of May. Although secret agents and the intelligence network of the Government had already given almost complete picture of the inside of the Darbar Sahib Complex but still, on the 1st of June, Major General K. S. Brar, Captain Jasbir Raina, Lt. Colonol K. S. Randhawa, Brigadier D. V. Rao and Colonol Fernandes (who had reached Amritsar early in the morning of the 1st of June) went to the Darbar Sahib in plain clothes and had a round of the whole of the Complex to assess fortification. On the 1st of June 1984, the C.R.P.F. and the B.S.F. which had taken positions on all the tall buildings around Darbar Sahib since long,[11] suddenly they began firing at Darbar Sahib without giving an warning; it was, in fact, an attempt to provoke the miltants to retaliate, which would have given a chance to the Indian Army to assess which weapons did they have, what was the standard of their strength, where were their posts from which they could have attacked the Army. On the other hand, the militants too understood the strategy of the Indian Army hence they did not show any reaction. This firing continued for more than five hours (12.40 noon to 7 p.m.), killing 8 Sikh devotees including a woman and a child) and wounding more than 25;[12] the central building of Darbar Sahib itself had been hit by bullets where there were at leats 34 bulet marks.[13]When the firing was going on, Harchand Singh Longowal, President of Akali Dal, tried to contact Zail Singh, the President of India, but in spite of making several telephone calls, Zail Singh could not be reached; all the time Zail’s Secretary kept on saying that he was not available; in fact Zail was avoiding[14] because he knew about all the plan of the attack on Darbar Sahib and the firing of the 1st of June was a part of that. However, Longowal succeeded in contacting B.D. Pandey, the Governor of the Punjab, who confessed tha he won’t be able to do anything because ‘the orders were coming straight from New Delhi'.[15]This action was repeated on the 2nd of June 1984 when 32 bullets hit the building of Akal Takht from its backside; here too the army wanted to test the reactions of the Sikh miltants in order to know their positions from where they would be firing in situation of attack by the Army. Preparations by the Sikh militants The conspiracy to attack Darbar Sahib had been chalked out in the summer of 1983 and this planning had been leaked out to General Subeg Singh; he discussed the same with Baba Jarnail Singh; at first the latter resolved to leave Darbar Sahib and offer his arrest (as he had done in Chowk Mehta on the 20th of September 1981) in order to Save Darbar Sahib from military attack but then Subeg Singh told him that the conspiracy to attack was not simply due to him and rather it was with an intention to ‘teach a lesson to the Sikhs’; at this Baba Jarnail Singh decided that the Indian Army should also ‘be taught a lesson’ and the Indian Army should be given a fight like that of the 1st of December 1764 when 30 Sikhs fought against 30000 Durrani and Baloch soldiers. After this, General Subeg Singh began making preparations for combating the invading Indian forces. General Subeg Singh was an expert of guerrilla war; he had achieved great success in 1971 when the Indian Army fought a guerrilla war against the Pakistani Army in the East Bengal (now Bangla Desh); hence he knew how to stop advances of the enemy forces; thus he planned to give such a fight to the Indian Army that would be known as the greatest battle of resistance in the history of the world. But, Bhindranwala had just a few Sikh youth, most of them had never touched even a gun; but all of them were ready to sacrifice their lives for preserving the honour of Darbar Sahib and the Sikh Panth (and they proved what Geneal Subeg Singh said; the battle of Darbar Sahib is ‘the greatest battle of resistance in the history of the world’). Indira Gandhi’s broadcast from the A.I.R.: Though Indira Gandhi had ordered attack on Darbar Sahib but she was scared; right from the 27th of May 1984, when she had signed final orders, she had been nerovous, her behavious had turned queer, her voice choked all these days; during this period she had called a closed-door meeting of Congress activists from all over India, and, on the 2nd of June 1984, “when she walked up to the platform she appeared to be limping; her shoulders were hunched; she looked dishevelled; her face was drawn; she choked as she spoke; it looked like if someone in her family had died”.[16] A few hours later, in the ate hours of the evening of the 2nd of June, Indira Gandhi made an unscheduled broadcast from the A.I.R.; in her broadcast she blamed the Akalis for not having reached agreement (which was a lie as it was she who backed out at least three times); she stated that she had accepted all the demands of the Akalis i.e. sale of tobacco, liquor and meat had been banned in demarcated area in the walled city of Amritsar (this too was gossip), consulations were being made for an All India Gurdwara Act (this was just a gossip), a Tribunal headed by a Supreme Court Judge was being constituted to decide distribution of water dispute (the Akalis had demanded that the case hoould be decided by the Supreme Court and not a Tribunal, but, she did not trust the Court), a Commission was being appointed to decide the issue of Chandigarh, Abohar, Fazilka and other Punjabi or Hindi speaking areas (this too was a lie), Sarkaria Commission has been appointed to submit its report on Centre-State relations. She said that the Government had accepted their demands but they are raising fresh demands all the time (this too was a lie), and, they have announced launching of a non cooperation Movement from the 3rd of June. In the end she played another drama by saying: ‘Even at this late hour, I appeal to the Akali leaders to call off their threatened agitation and accept the framework of peaceful settlement which we have offered. She ended her speech with the words ‘Dont shed blood, shed hatred’; it was like Devil giving sermons because when she was speaking from the A.I.R. the Indian Army had already taken positions around Darbar Sahib three days earlier to that and had also surrounded more than 70 Gurdwaras.; and it (Indian Army) was ready to play with ‘blood’ and dissipate and practice ‘hatred’. Commenting upon this Kuldip Nayyar onserved: ‘How could she first order military operation and then suggest negotiations? And even if the Akalis were ready to talk, how could hey contact her, all the telephones had been cut off.’[17] (Bold letters are mine – author). [1] ‘Operation Blue Star’ has been reckoned as one of the 10 Political Disgraces of India: 1. Emergency (June 1975- January 77). 2. Operation Blue Star (June 1984). 3. Bofors Scandal (1987-96). 4. Demolition of Babri Mosque (December 1992). 5. JMM Bribery Case (July 1997). 6. Fodder Scam (January 1996). 7. Hijacking of an Indian Airliner to Kandhar (Decemebr 1999). 8. Arms Bribery Case in volving Bangaru Laxman BJP chief etc (March 2001). 9. Gujrat Riots (February-March 2002). 10. Surviving No Confidence Motion (July 2008); for details see article, of the same name, by Gunjeet K. Sra in India Today, dated 29.12.2008 [2] Malhotra, Inder, Indira Gandhi: A Political Biograph, has also refrrered to this. [3] Nayyar, Kuldip and Khushwant Singh, Tragedy of Punjab, p. 56. [4] A. R. Darshi, op. cit, p. 100. [5] The ‘Punjabi Group’ comprised of Kuldip Nayyar, Air Marshal Arjan Singh, Lt General Jagjit Singh Arora, I.K. Gujral, Pran Chopra, Gurcharan Singh etc. [6] Samiuddin Adiba, The Punjab Crisis: Challenge and Response (Delhi 1985), pp. 644-45. [7] Ibid, p. 682. [8] These meetings had been attended, from Akali side, by Badal, Tohra, Ravi Inder Singh, Balwant Singh, Surjeet barnala, Balwant Ramuwalia etc. [9] Earlier too, on the 16th and the 17th of November 1982, then on the 17th and 24th of January 1983 too, meetings had been held between the Akalis and the Government delegations. [10] L.K. Advani, in his autobiographical work, published in 2008, have openly confessed that it was he, and his Party B.J.P., which pressed upon Indira Gandhi to attack Darbar Sahib. When this book was published, all the Sikhs condemned Advani, but Manjit Singh G.K. (president of the Delhi Akali Dal, Badal group) went to the residence of Advani on the 13th of April 2008, and presented him with a robe of honour (for instigating Indira Gandhi to attack Darbar Sahib). [11] According to Harminder Kaur and Mark Tully, the order for this fire had been given by K.S. Brar (Harminder Kaur, op. cit., p. 7, Tully, Mark, op. cit., p. 145), also see the ‘official account’ (which is full of lies) by Kuldeep Brar, Operation Blue Star. [12] Citizens for Democracy, Oppression in Punjab (Delhi 1984), p. 57. [13] Oppression in Punjab, p. 58, Tully, Mark, op. cit., p. 145. Later, these marks were shown by the international media including the Pakistani TV (In Khabarnama of the 3rd of June 1984.). Later these signs were removed by the S.G.P.C. when Tohra was President and Manjit Singh Calcutta was the Secretary. [14] Harminder Kaur, op. cit., p. 8. [15] Ibid. [16] Tully, Mark, op. cit, p. 142. On the other hand, a fanatic Hindu journalist Prem Bhatia (editor The Tribune Chandigarh) playing as cheap sychopant, wrote that when he saw her in the first week of July 1984 ‘she looked five years younger’ (The Tribune, dated 8.7.1984); such was the mentality of sychopants of Indira Gandhi and the fanatic Hindus; the same Bhatia, in the issue dated 7.6.1984, descrived attack on Darbar Sahib as ‘a neat operation’ in spte of the fact that nothing was yet known as to what had happened there at Darbar Sahib or in 72 other Gurdwras in the rest of the Punjab. [17] Nayyar, op. cit., P. 91 [B]*Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer National Professor of Sikh History[/B] [/QUOTE]
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