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On 13th April 1977, head
of Naqli Nirankaris named Gurbachan
led a procession in Amritsar. Earlier
he had declared that "If Guru Gobind
Singh can make five beloved one's.,
he will make seven stars" . Naqli
Nirankaris are strongly associated with
Arya Samajis and other such organization
which came out of need to reform Hinduism,
from its age old superstitions and rituals.,
but these movements instead of targeting
common Hindu individuals spearheaded
their movement against Sikhism. Arya
Samajis and Naqli Nirankaris wanted
Sikhs to start shaving and to drop their
individuality and assimilate into Hinduism
(or their form of Hinduism with rituals
like "Havan"). So on this
occasion of Vasakhi, Gurbachan Nirankari
led a procession in Amritsar. Bhindrenwale
at this time was a small time preacher,
who would visit villages and preach
to youngsters to adopt Sikh practices.
Akhand Kirtani Jatha with its leaders
set out from Akal Takht to stop Gurbachan
Nirankari for his act of "Creating
five stars". Gurbachan and his
armed accomplice fired at these Akalis
and one by 13 Akalis were killed.
After this incident, Bhindrenwale's
reputation as a fierce emerging Sikh
leader rose tremendously in Sikh political
circles. From 1977 until 1983, Bhindrenwale
led his agitation against Arya Samajis
and other fanatic Hindu organizations
who were working against Sikh and ncept
of Punjabiat as well as many Sikhs who
opposed him for his fanatical views.
Many of his followers were young rural
Sikhs, who had been disappointed with
state and central government due to
unemployment, poverty and other problems.
After 3-4 years of trial, Gurbachan
of Nirankari sect was acquitted by Indian
court, even though more then 10 person
testified against him in court, it was
clearly evident that there were political
heavy weights behind him as well as
behind Bhindrenwale.
Till 1983 about 500-1000 persons were
killed all over Punjab by armed brigades
of young motor cycle driving terrorists
who would suddenly appear and with one
burst of machine gun kill 10-15 people.
Prominent Arya samaji leaders and news
paper publishers of Hind Samachar group
like Lala Jagat Narain was killed by
unidentified persons and Government
of India implicated Bhindrenwale and
arrested him at Chowk Mehta in 1982,
but he was released in two days. Then,
in later half of 1982 he moved to Golden
temple complex where he setup his headquarters
in Guru Ram Das Sarai. In 1984 he moved
to Akal Takht. Indira Gandhi and government
of India declared president rule in
Punjab and deployed 4 division of Army
through out Punjab, in a desperate attempt
to flush out Bhindrenwale and his accomplice
from Golden Temple complex. Then it
all started, I quote from much accomplished
book called "Amritsar Mrs. Gandhi's
Last battle", by Mark Tully and
Satish Jacob "At Seven o'Clock
on the evening of 5th June, tanks of
the 16th Cavalry Regiment of the Indian
army started moving up to the Golden
Temple complex. They passed Jalianwala
Bagh, the enclosed garden where General
Dyer massacred nearly 400 people. That
massacre dealt a mortal blow to Britain's
hopes of continuing to rule India and
was one of the most inspirations of
the freedom movement. When Mrs. Gandhi
was told that Operation Blue Star had
started,she must have wondered whether
it would provide the decisive inspiration
for the Sikh independence movement,
a movement whch at that time had very
little support outside Bhindrenwale's
entourage and small groups of Sikhs
living in Britain, Canada and the United
States. Major-General Brar was leading
a mixed bag of troops, representative
of the widespread recruiting pattern
of the modern Indian army, which has
broken with British tradition of limiting
recruitment to certain 'martial castes'.
There were Dogras and Kumaonis from
the foothills of the Himalayas, India's
northern border. There were Rajputs,
the desert warriors from Rajasthan.
There were Madrasis from Tamil Nadu,
one of the most southern states. There
were Biharis from the tribes of central
India, and there were some Sikhs. Major
Brar had joined Maratha Light infantry
30 years ago in 1954 as a lieutenant.
He had fought in Bangladesh under Lieutenant-General
Jagjit Singh Aurora, the Sikh general
who was most outspoken critic of the
Operation Blue Star."
Bhindrenwale and his group had moved
to Akal Takht, the highest seat of Sikh
authority few weeks before Army attack.
He had been criticized for this act
as he became the only person after Guru
Hargobind to live in Akal Takht. He
was obviously spearheading the last
showdown with Indian army and had knowledge
that sooner or later Army would attack
and he himself wanted to go down in
Sikh history as a martyr and not deserter
or negotiator as other Akalis political
leaders. He had support of Major General
Shabeg Singh, unofficial hero of Bangladesh
war., as well as thousands of rural
Sikh youth.
Brar's superior officer was Lt-General
Krishnaswamy Sunderji, who asked his
chief staff Officer, Lt-General Ranjit
Singh Dayal, to draw up the plans for
Operation Blue Star. Dayal, like Brar
was a Sikh, but he had not shaved his
beard or cut his hair, and still wore
a turban. Dayal was also an infantry
soldier, having served in the Ist Battalion,
the Parachute Regiment, which was to
spearhead the attack on the Golden Temple
Complex. During the 1965 war with Pakistan,
Dayal became legend by capturing a pass
which had previously been thought to
be impregnable, and blocking off one
of the most important routes from Pakistan-Controlled
Kashmir into Indian state of Jammu and
Kashmir. A frontal assault was impossible
and so Lt-General Dayal climbed up the
mountains towering over Haji Pir pass
and came down on top of the Pakistanis.
Dayal, Sundarji and Brar drew up at
twofold plan. The essence of this plan
was to separate the hostel complex from
the Temple complex so that the hostels
could be evacuated without becoming
involved in the main battle. To achieve
the prime objective to get Bhindrenwale
out of the temple complex they had planned
a commando operations. Commandos were
to be supported by infantry, Tanks were
only to be used as platforms for machine
guns to neutralize fire on troops approaching
the Golden Temple complex, and to cover
the Temple exits in case anyone tried
to escape. Armored personnel carriers
were to be positioned on the road separating
the hostels from the Temple complex
to keep the two potential battle fields
apart.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Copyright © Mark Tully and Satish
Jacob "Mrs Gandhi's Last Battle
pages 155-160"
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