(Sant Jamail Singh Bhindranwale — Man and His Mission) M. S. Sidhu
Whereas all religions fascinate me, ritualism repels me; whereas I revere holiness and holy places, I consider mortals trading in the name of God and assuming high sounding exalted titles as fraudulent parasites who flourish through the art of exploiting the gullible ignorant. I have an instinctive dislike for all such self-appointed brokers of the Almighty. So jealous am I of Singular relationship with the Lord that I consider every other factor or force as extraneous and irrelevant. Yet the devotional swell of the divine hymns enraptures me to that state of liberated ecstasy which is the most cherished dream of every inspired mystic.
It was this frame of mind that for quite some time resisted the suggestion of meeting Sant Bhindranwale despite the persistence of my very close friends. They kept telling me that the experience of meeting him would be worthwhile and that I won’t ever regret it. Then came the call for the intellectuals’ convention. I was also invited. Sant Bhindrnwale came to address it with all the paraphernalia of his armed guards. A tall stately man in midthirties with a flowing dark beard touched with a stray gray here and there. He was dressed in a loose white robe that reached a little above his ankles. A pistol and a sword dangled from his sides. Held majestically in his right hand dazzled a steel arrow — the symbol of the sovereignty of DamDami Taksal.
I heard him speak. His voice was vibrant and resonant with an unusual and unmistakable tenor of its own. His vocabulary had typical rural flavor. Words were strangely suggestive of the religious folklore.
There was no emotionalism, no _ verbal jugglery, no demagoguery, but pure and simple logic the cold professional logic of an experienced lawyer. His words flowed in measured accents creating an instant rapport with the listener.
He invariably rounded off his argument with a question a question that both strengthened his point as well as exposed the irrationality of the opponent. He would substantiate his argument with a disquieting quote from the “Bani.” He would place incidents and events in historical perspective and draw conclusions. So unique was his manner and approach that he forced admiration upon you.
Down to earth with not even a remote hint of the unearthly, he appeared to revel in an unusual aura of his own a man with a rare sense of history, a man draped in divinity, a man with vision, wisdom, faith, truthfulness, courage and love. In short a totally liberated man.
I have yet to come across someone with such hypnotic personality and disarming affection. Yet he was subjected to a systematic and sinister campaign of vilification and projected as a heartless Frankenstein wedded to the cult of violence. Curiously but sadly the calculated distortion of his personality was encouraged and abetted by some of the political stalwarts from his own community.
In an age fiercely materialistic and ferociously cannibalistic where humane affections and altruistic propensities have come to mean primitive and stupid, where truth and justice bleed upon the crucifix of greed and lust, how anachronistic sounds the selfless sacrifice of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale!
When objective historians would sift the trutt from the dust and smoke screen so viciously cast around his essentially saintly personality, the world at large will necessarily marvel at the ex. quite manner in which this inwardly inspired man followed in letter and spirit the path ordained by his master, Guru Gobind Singh. Sant Jarnail Singh’s name will stand out in any reckoning as_ singularly unique among the galaxy of the great Guru’s illustrious disciples. He had a profound study and _ understanding of the Bani and appeared to have learnt the entire Adi Granth by heart. To drive home his point he would effortlessly and with perfect ease quote extensively from the sacred ‘Bani’ and refer to the deeds and precepts of the ten Gurus. He would speak for hours together interpreting a line and sometimes even a single word from the Sikh scriptures.
I distinctly remember each of my many meetings with him, but the last meeting on May 22, 1984 has left an indelible impression upon my heart and mind. The whole scene comes poignantly alive before my eyes at the slightest reference or reminder, as if restructured by a magic lantern. It was a hot day. The crowd on the top story of the Langar Sahib (Community kitchen) building was fairly large. He was there with his usual enigmatic grin, holding his court people had started bringing their suits and problems to him. He was dispensing justice with perfect equanimity, even though all around ominous shadows were looming large. Paramilitary forces were increasingly mounting the pressure through reinforcement of their arsenal with still deadlier and more sophisticated weapons as well as through calculated acts of provocation.
In retrospect the gigantic fraud so shamelessly perpetrated by the Central Government stands thoroughly exposed. The pall of falsehood so mischievously woven to paint a grim and revolting picture has been shred to the last sinful thread by the succeeding events. Truth has forced its way out of the labored and cunningly contrived atmosphere of violence. The drama artfully enacted by the congress government surpasses in finesse and horror the worst of Machiavillian tragedies in the whole range of World history.
Hitler’s designs to exterminate Jews appear naive and crude against Indira Gandhi’s meticulously planned strategy of annihilating or assimilating the Sikhs. Whereas Hitler could only rave and stamp his foot, she could shed tears, weep and wail, fling and flirt like an adept siren.
The exaggerated accounts of arson, loot and murder, the congress engineered massacre of innocent bus travelers and a simultaneous orchestration of wild charges through Govt. sponsored T.V., All India Radio, press and platform were all aimed at finally destroying the Akal Takht the most sacred seat of Sikh religion that combines in itself both temporal and spiritual authority.
Since a word from Akal Takht is both a commandment and a law for each Sikh, Indira Gandhi wanted to prove that there was a “higher” and more “powerful” authority in Delhi, and Sikhs must either slavishly submit to that authority or suffer the brutalities of a brainwashed army.
It was cleverly drilled into the minds of the armed personnel, particularly Sikh officers and Jawans. That the Golden Temple had been seized and captured by the dacoits and must be liberated from the control of unclean, bloodthirsty separatists who were hell-bent upon dividing the country. Day in and day out such baseless but motivated propaganda was blared from every conceivable organ of the Government and Arya Samaj controlled media.
Now there have come to light authentic and irrefutable facts that beyond any doubt prove that military exercises to invade the Golden Temple were undertaken as early as January 1983 at Takenpur B.S.F. Academy in Madhya Pradesh, when not a single act of violence had taken place in the whole of Punjab except the well-known police encounters in which hundreds of innocent young men were brutally murdered, ironically, by the police. These young men were tortured using all the third degree methods in order to make them say that Sant Jarnail Singh was inciting them for armed revolt and distributing weapons. On their refusal to falsely implicate the Sant, they were killed. A familiar version of the usual police story of the encounter would appear in the papers the next day. Some so called “encounters” were independently investigated by teams of lawyers who declared them as false and fabricated bullshit. The Government itself had resorted to a systematic policy of terrorism a kind of State gangsterism was let loose and the blame was conveniently passed on to Sant Jarnail Singh. The purpose was to defame the Sikh agitation and create an impression in the popular imagination that the agitation was no longer for the demands put forward by the Akali Dal but for driving the Hindus out of Punjab and for establishing Khalistan a separate sovereign state like that of Pakistan. All this was done to camouflage the sinister conspiracy of destroying the Akal Takht the symbol of Sikh sovereignty. This conspiracy evidently was hatched immediately after the agitation was launched in July 1982.
Akali Dal was demanding only the restoration of their legal and constitutional rights that were illegally plundered by the central Govt. and the booty was divided between Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan. The central Government kept on following a policy of premeditated prevarication in their halfhearted negotiations. It had a different solution in mind and was determinedly working in that direction.
All violence except a few retaliatory acts was the handiwork of either the congress party men or of the State police. The blame was invariably shifted on to Sant Jarnail Singh.
A popular joke of the time fully illustrates the truth. It was said that if Mrs. Gandhi were to slip in her bathroom she would instantly declare that Sant Bhindranwale was responsible for it. Well, I must come back to our last meeting with him. As we (Maj. Gen. J. S. Bhullar, Prof. Sarup Singh and myself) approached him, he received us with extreme warmth and affection and asked us to go to his improvised personal enclosure at the back of the makeshift audience hall, and instructed a Sewadar to serve us langar. (Community lunch). We retreated to the enclosure. The Sewadar brought the food. We had just finished with it when Sant Ji joined us. We had a detailed discussion and exchange of notes over almost every aspect of the agitation as also over the various proposals of the Government that certain emissaries had brought to us. Sant Ji minced no words in declaring to us that the power drunk Indira was not at all serious and that Sikhs will have to greatly suffer and make tremendous sacrifices in order to get their due. Since our plan to visit England, America and Canada had been outlined in consultation with him, he suddenly asked us as to when we were leaving for our foreign mission. We informed him that all formalities had been completed and the seats were booked for May 31, 1984. From here onwards I would like to record the conversation in 1st person.
Sant Ji: “For how long would you be away from India?”
Gen Bhullar: ‘For about two and a half months. We have to go to England, America and Canada and if we spent three weeks in each country it would mean more than two months.”
After a palpable pause and with a strange glint in his eyes said Sant Ji: “By the time you return, the picture that you see here won’t be the same. All would be to psyturvy. Map of Punjab won’t be the same. Perhaps I won’t also be there.” (holding my hand and drawing the General close to him). “Do not grieve after me, do not mourn for me.”
Gen Bhullar: “In that case, we won’t go. We will stay here with you.”
Sant Ji: “No, you must go. You won’t be able to do much here as repression will be let loose in Punjab. Your work now is outside, for I feel that it is the Sikhs living abroad who will keep the torch of freedom alight.”
Myself: “What do you mean by, ‘do not grieve after me.’ Do you realize that after a long time Sikh panth has got a true and dedicated leader and it cannot afford to be left in the lurch again.”
Sant Ji: “The face of the Sikh Panth is besmeared with blemishes of betrayals by leaders. I have to wash the stigma of 36 years of deceitful compromises and it can be done only with my blood. I have to sacrifice myself. I have no choice but to die for the cause. Therefore, do not grieve after me.”
(The foreboding repetition was too overwhelming for us particularly for Gen. Bhullar and Prof. Sarup Singh. Tears swelled in their eyes and the emotions Recollecting I tried to remonstrate.
Myself: “Sant Ji, today Sikh nation is feeling regenerated and is in top spirits, you have kindled afresh the dying fervor and injected a new hope in the nation. Without you, it would again relapse into its old despondency and frustration, and selfish leaders will again stalk shamelessly over the stage and freely barter away the prize interests of the nation for their small, narrow gains.”
Sant Ji: “Nation won’t relapse into frustrations; rather it would assert its rights with renewed vigour.”
Persisting I _ said, “After the defeat of the Sikhs at the British hands, Shah Mohamad wrote, ‘But for the Maharaja, the victorious Sikh Army was vanquished.’ Your absence from the scene I am afraid, may result in the repetition of history.”
Sant Ji: “When the severed head was being cremated in Anandpur Sahib and the body in Delhi, do you know what an eight year old child, standing a little away from the burning pyre, was thinking.”
As we made no comment he continued, “He was thinking of the supreme sacrifices ahead, for only through sacrifices flows in the radiant light of freedom. Panth will have no dearth of leaders. Presently the honor and the lost glory of the Panth have to be redeemed. It can be done only through sacrifice.
Gen Bhullar: Let us not talk of dying, let us talk of continuing the struggle. In the event of an attack on the Golden Temple, I can arrange to evacuate you. I’ll personally supervise the operation and transfer you to a safe place.
Sant Ji: I am the chief of the same Dam Dami Taksal which has the distinction of having illustrious Baba Deep Singh as its chief. When Golden Temple was being desecrated by Ahmad Shah Abdali’s forces, Baba Deep Singh came from a distance with his committed force of valiant men to redeem the Temple from unclean hands and fighting laid down his life. How can I, who is occupying his seat (chair), sitting within the Golden Temple, run away when it is attacked by the enemy. No, General Sahib, no, a thousand times no. I will die fighting to protect the sanctity of this foremost Sikh Temple. Please don’t ever think of evacuating me. You are my close friends; at least you people should understand me.
Myself: Even though, my persistence may irritate you but there is what we call strategic retreat. It is not running away but just being politic, being wisely expedient.
Sant Ji: I have no use of strategies or politicking. I follow only what is true. My politics is the politics of truth.
Prof. Sarup Singh: Excuse my saying so, if Guru Gobind Singh could leave the fort at Anandpur Sahib and allow himself to be declared as ‘Uch Ka Pir’ in order to gain time to reinforce his resources and forces, why can’t you leave the Temple for the same reason?
Sant Ji: Don’t compare me to my beloved Lord. I am not even worth the dust that is sanctified by the touch of my Guru’s feet. I am his very, very, humble disciple. I will only do what my duty is, what my conscience tells me. I won’t desert the holy temple.
Prof. Sarup Singh: Even if five ‘pyaras’ order you?
Sant Ji: Are you sure you can find just one who will measure up to the stature of Guru’s pyaras? Still, I will see when such an order comes.
Gen. Bhullar: We can’t change your mind, however hard we may try.
Sant Ji: (smiling) You friends can, and you know it.
Gen Bhullar: What is your instruction for us now?
Sant Ji: Go and complete your mission.
Gen Bhullar: What message do we convey to the Sikhs abroad?
Sant Ji: Tell them that Sikhs in Punjab are slaves. We have to get rid of this curse of slavery. Sikhs had first raised the banner of freedom when they formed the Gaddar Party on the American soil. They fought and died for India’s freedom. India is free today but Sikhs continue to be slaves. Tell the Sikhs to raise the same banner again. We have great hopes on them. Since the discussions continued for over three hours, sangat outside was getting a little restive. Thousands were waiting to hear their beloved Sant and seek direction and guidance from him.
Ironically, the mentor and hope of millions who was engaged in the noble task of administering Amrit (Baptism) and explaining the divine message of the Gurus as contained in the Sacred Bani, was branded a terrorist and a monster.
Goebbles technique of re peating a lie ad in finite looks infantile and immature as compared to Mrs Gandhi’s perfected art of crying wolf, wolf, to deceive the world. No civilized nation or person can ever believe that an elected Govt. professing faith in freedom and democracy would stoop so low as to paint a saint worse than a devil, and destroy them. Most sacred temple of a virile minority just to cash the bloated majority votes at the hosting. Interestingly even though Sikhs constitute less than 2% of India’s population their role in the struggle for independence is dazzlingly spectacular. Out of 121 persons hanged for revolutionary activities 93 were Sikhs, out of 2,646 convicted for life, 2,140 were Sikhs. 80% of the total sacrifices were made by this much maligned 2% minority. For Sikhs freedom is an article of faith; whereas for the majority community of India it is an accidental windfall of the circumstances. Like a jackal that had stumbled against a lion’s kill and proclaimed that he was stronger than the lion, the majority community is foolishly duping itself and thus inevitably drifting towards its own doom.
In an age fiercely materialistic and ferociously cannibalistic where humane affections and altruistic propensities have come to mean primitive and stupid, where truth and justice bleed upon the crucifix of greed and just, how anachronistic sounds the selfless sacrifice of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindran wale!
There was no emotionalism, no verbal jugglery, no demagoguery, but pure and simple. logic the cold’ professional logic of an experienced lawyer. His words flowed in measured accents creating an instant rapport with the listener.
Hitler’s designs to: exterminate Jews appear naive and crude against Indira Gandhi’s” meticulously pained strategy of annihilating or assimilating the Sikhs. Whereas Hitler could only rave and stamp his foot, she could shed tears, weep and wail, fling and flirt like an adept siren.
cages assesses Since a word from Akal Takht is both a commandment and a law for each Sikh, Indira Gandhi wanted to prove that there was a “higher” and more “powerful” authority in Delhi, and Sikhs must either slavishly submit to that authority or suffer the brutalities of a brainwashed army.
All violence except a few retaliatory acts, was the handiwork of either the congress party men or of the State police. The blame was invariably shifted on to Sant Jarnail Singh.
Ironically, the mentor and hope of millions who was engaged in the noble task of administering Amrit (Baptism) and explaining the divine message of the Gurus as contained in the Sacred Bani, was branded a terrorist and a monster.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 7, 1985
