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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dalvinder45" data-source="post: 225943" data-attributes="member: 26009">1984-6: Views from Other SideI had a fair idea about the operations from two points of views i.e., the Army operations within the complex and the Sikhs around the complex but wanted to know about those who hated Sant Bhindranwale and projected him as a demon. These were the local Hindus, Central Government Officials, intelligence Officials, the local police officials and certain Army personnel who had been fed with tutored information or rumours. Also important was the views of the people from other parts of Punjab to the whole operations to have a clear overall picture.I was posted in Artillery Brigade headquarters from 1973-1976 as General Staff Officer (3) as a captain. I had taken up my Post Graduate studies in English from Himachal Pradesh University. For coaching, I used to go to a coaching academy in Hall Bazaar run by Professor Sharma who was the retired Principal of a local college. He had two sons; the younger one did Post Graduate Courses in Teaching of English with me from CIEFL Hyderabad. This brought us quite close to each other. I reached their house-cum-academy walking as it was not at much of a distance. I found younger Sharma present. I told him the purpose of my visit and requested him to tell me about the attack on Darbar3 Sahib and other connected incidences.He told quite a different version from what I heard. In his view, Sant Bhindranwalle was a criminal who murdered Hindus or anyone who opposed him. He told how the bus travellers: the Hindus were segregated and murdered mercilessly and how Lala Jagat Narain was murdered in cold blood. His stories of murders were long. In fact every murder which was done in Punjab was connected to him as per his version. He was cited as sending threatening letters to the police, the executives, the editors, the correspondents, the people around and even the Akali leades and the government. This had made him fearful for his brother going to his college in Tarantaran. He himself being a chain smoker; was also against declaration of Sri Amritsar as a holy city and also told me how the Hindus held huge demonstrations lead by Luxmi Kanta Chawla against banning smoking in the city premises. He also told of women being raped at Darbar Sahib Complex and bodies thrown in to the Sarovar and outside in the drains. He mentioned: “Not a single women or a Hindu was safe in the Darbar Sahib Complex. Hindu businessmen are leaving Punjab. They had been appealing to the police, the state Government and the Central Government to either arrest or eliminate Sant Bhindranwale. It is on their hue and cry that Indira sent Army and they all welcomed Army with seats on 31 May 1984 in a very big welcome. Other members of his family also were of the same point of view. Later on some students also came up for the tuition and I shared my experiences with them and extracted their views as well. Views of Hindu students were quite opposite to the Sikh students. It showed of a greater divide between the two. This had never happened earlier to this scale where lines were clearly drawn between Hindus and Sikhs. The vague and bizarre allegations about Bhindranwale and his men too were not heard from anywhere before. This divide shocked me and I became very cautious while registering the two points of view. This needed a deep research before a conclusion was arrived at. I requested Sharmas for the old newspapers especially along with local editions which they had preserved. These old issues were of Panjab Kesri and Jagbani. I collected the bundle and thanked them before leaving. I planned to analyse and shift the truth.I reached my home near Raikot; requesting Army vehicles for the lift. Army had spread all over; at almost all key points even in the remotest areas. Checking was thorough. I could see a pain writ large on the faces of almost all the Sikhs. At my home I was told of the untold miseries faced by the Sikhs in the hands of police and Army. I was also told that on hearing of the attack how the Sikhs from remote areas started moving towards Sri Amritsar. MLA Basant Singh Khalsa from Dakha with his group crossed through the Sutlej on boats, passing through the villages on foot reached the periphery of Sri Amritsar only to be stopped by the tanks which had encircled Sri Amritsar.Every one talked of the game plan of Mrs. Gandhi to teach Sikhs a lesson. They got the information through unofficial channels i.e., Pakistan and BBC radios. They called Government Channels as ‘Sarkari channels’ and termed these as false propaganda tools against Sikhs. They however, did not know exactly what had happened. I shared with them what I saw on ground. Almost every listeners had tears in his eyes. They all were feeling helpless in the chains of injustice. They had been hurt from the inner core of their hearts. When asked about the blame of terrorism on Sant Bhindranwale, they were very critical and in one voice they said, “Bhindranwale was a saint. He did not murders; no repression, no threats. It was all planned by the government agencies. It was a long term planning done after Indira Gandhi was defeated by Janta Government where Akalis were a party to Indira Gandhi’s defeat. She had planned ever since to teach Sikhs a lesson and she has done so in this murderous attack. She used Giani Zail Singh effectively who in turn tried to use Bhindranwale, but he did not fall in his net. They used intelligence agencies to spread the mayhem and attribute this all to Sant Ji. We have been listening to San Ji’s video. No where he asked people to spfread violence or kill Hindus. In fact he was against this. He had no hand in killing Hindus. There was no FIR against him. He was interrogated in Lala Jagat Narain’s case. Since he had no involvement he was let off. Entire Punjab knew about it that a game plan of murders was being played to brow beat Akali agitation and teach Sikhs a lesson.”There were thus two different versions of the role of Sant Bhindranwale, Smt. Indira Gandhi and the Sikh trinity. I planned to analyse these two versions in detail on reaching my location.</blockquote>

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