June 6, 1984 will be remembered as a landmark in modern Indian history. On that date, the Indian armed forces took control of the Golden Temple complex after destroying the Akal Takht and killing Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The nation, on the whole, expressed relief. A few of us, however, expressed sorrow and felt that Operation Bluestar, as the action ‘was called, was a horrible blunder which would aggravate the problem of “terrorism” not contains it. Since then, the problem has, deed, been aggravated. New crusaders for the Sikhs have now surfaced.
To put the record straight, Ram Jethmalani the new Galahad was not one of those who had opposed Operation Bluestar. Today he may pose at as a defender of the underdog, but on June 6, 1984, he expressed satisfaction with the government’s action.
This is said not, of course, to defend the BJP in sacking Jethmalani, The BJP is wholly communal. As long as Jethmalani was defending Haji Mastaan, the alleged smuggler King, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Jaspal Singh (of the CIA espionage case), and the Sarda case murderers in Pune, the BJP was at peace with its principles. But the moment Jethmalani decided to defend the two alleged conspirators in the murder of Mrs. Gandhi, the BJP expressed great revulsion. This revulsion is due to the fact that the BJP is once again ‘wooing the vote-bank in North India which had laid the foundations for Pakistan. Besides, the BJP is now busy trying to make Khalistan inevitable. The forces behind this vote bank are actively trying to polarize Punjab. The BJP, thus, is aspiring 10 be the agent of the ‘silent terrorists! — The Hindu communalists’ — Jethmalani is merely the fly in the ointment.
The Jethmalani issue is typical of the machinations that have created the present situation in Punjab, Various actors in the drama have indulged in posturing without regard for the consequences of their histrionics, first, there was. Mrs. Gandhi, who described the Akali Dal’s 41-point economic and social demand charter as secessionist’ in an effort to win the communal Hindu yore, There was nothing separatist about these demands Then came her son, Rajiv Gandhi, who maintained that the Anandpur Sahib Resolution was antinational. There was nothing unpatriotic in this resolution —if one cared to read it, He also raised the Nadu. And ‘Raj Karega Khalsa’is roughly, the equivalent of ‘Satya meva Jayate’. And yet Sikhs were made to feel traitors for using these words 4 ‘Arguing the counterpoint on the Punjab issue, all discussions must ultimately zero in on Bhindranwale, about whom there is so much disinformation that this column is insufficient to remedy the situation. In fact, Tam writing an account of the Punjab tragedy in the form of a book in which Bhindranwale figures objectively warts and all. I hope, my book will inspire a future government to set up a special Commission to find ut the true story of what happened. My firsthand knowledge of events in Punjab also leads me to say the following about Sant Bhindranwale.
He never advocated Khalistan ‘even when the Indian army laid siege to the Golden Temple.
He was a strict moralist, totally against liquor, drugs and promiscuity. Hence, I totally disbelieve any rumors about pregnant abducted women kept as his prisoners, which were only spread to malign him.
He was a staunch anti- communist and had broken the hold of the anxieties and pro-Soviet ‘communists on the youth of Punjab.
It was Bhindranwale’s anticommunist stance that activated the Russians and the KGB lobby in Mrs. Gandhi’s camp to spread disinformation and thus discredit him. A few days before Operation Bluestar Pravda wrote the Bhindranwale had a direct telephonic link with the CIA in Langley, Virginia, the headquarters of the agency. That was untrue, but leading dailies in New Delhi published wire service reproductions of that article. Who organized this negative media blitz?
A large number of the murders committed in Punjab brought swift condemnation from him, but these were never published. Such were the man oeuvres of the government’s media mafia. In my Presence, Bhindranwale had condemned the massacre in which Hindus travelling in a bus were Segregated and shot. He sent money to the affected Hindu families. But this was never published to any newspaper. When Dr. V.N. Tiwari, MP, was shot dead in his house in Chandigarh, Bhindranwale wrote to his wife expressing his sorrow and called the murder an act of cowardice. But there was such frenzy in the country at the time that no one ‘was willing to listen. The government encouraged the rumors and disinformation, even f, who never said anywhere that there were no arms in the Golden Temple, was quoted as having said so by Rajiv Gandhi in the 1984 monsoon session of Parliament. When I challenged him to produce just ne news report from any reputable paper as proof, he was unable to do so. All this is part of the Lok Sabha proceedings which wean refer to and yet, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, wherever I went, the statement that I had never made was quoted again and again to discredit whatever else T would say about Punjab. Who arranged this publicity? The same people who finally murdered Bhindranwale?
But the communal passion unleashed after Punjab is being reflected now in the relations between Hindus and Muslims. The virulent campaigns against Syed Shahabuddin are reminiscent of the tactics used against Bhindrat wale.
Shahabuddin is, undoubtedly, a patriot, and yet he is made out to be a new Jinnah. If the present campaign against him continues, he will end up being a Jinnah out of bitterness I hold no brief for Shahabuddin, He, too, had joined Chandrashekhar in organizing my expulsion from the Janata Party in 1984. But the few years during which I worked with him convinced me that he was a true patriot with a non-communal attitude. He has some crazy ideas about the status of women, but then democracy is a free market for ideas, [hope that Shahabuddin will not be pushed by all the unfair Criticism to hasten communal polarization in the country, India can be ruled only by consensus arrived at by persuasion. We should listen and accommodate those with moral force in their voices and beware of carpet-baggers and plunderers, India gets polarized in attitudes, then we have no hope, There will be no rashtra left, much less a Hindu rastra.
The point I am trying toymakers basically this: no one is allowed to Judgean issue on its merits, every expression of personal belief is seen as part of a larger conspiracy. If Arif Mohammed Khan speaks against the Muslim Bill, he is comes anti-Muslim. Worse still, he becomes the champion of the Hi du communalists. Many Muslims would hesitate to express their Views openly for fear of being cast in that mould.
Not that this should deter people from expounding their opinions publicly. Only often, for no fault of the person concerned — it does more harm than good. And unfortunately, with accusations finding more prominence than clarifications, this state of affairs will probably continue. To repeat, the ‘only way to avoid this is to look beyond the misrepresentations and distortions to find the truth. Courtesy: IMPRINT.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 1, 1986
