The free world is grateful to the authors of “Oppression in Punjab” for bringing some of the truth regarding state terrorism against Sikhs in India to the attention of the world.
This book was originally published by Citizens for Democracy in September 1984. The authoritarian Indian government, afraid of the truth regarding rape torture and massacre by government forces during and after the invasion of the Golden Temple reaching the people, promptly banned the publication, arrested the publisher, and confiscated all available copies.
However, thanks to the courage of those who care for human rights, copies of the book reached the United States. We have reprinted the book in its original form without attempting to correct the numerous typographic errors. The only addition is a glossary of terms and abbreviations used in the report.
Citizens for Democracy, while correctly pointing out the relentless state oppression, have not been fair to the late Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in referring to “his extremists”, describing his historic arrest on September 20, 1981 at Chowk Mehta where the police killed 18 innocent Sikhs, as “mock arrest”, and mentioning his “role in inciting violence”. Because of the almost universal attempt to use him as a scapegoat, we feel it is necessary to comment on the sordid chain of events.
The lawlessness in Punjab was orchestrated by the government. It is now known that several attacks on innocent Hindus and prominent political leaders as well as incidents of desecration of temples were organized by the ruling party itself to fan communal passions in order to gain political advantage. However, to justify the actions it was contemplating against the Sikhs, the government ascribed all crime in the state to Sant Bhindranwale who was a virtual prisoner in the 72-acre Golden Temple complex.
The fake “encounters” and torture before the invasion of the Golden Temple, the atrocities during the invasion, the ruthless repression following it, and the massacres after Mrs. Gandhi’s death constitute a sequence of tragedies planned and perpetrated by a fascist government against its own people. The invasion was not a response of last resort to terrorist threat but had been planned 30 months earlier and had been rehearsed on a replica of the Temple. The events leading upto the invasion and the ferocity of repression directed at “Amritdhari” (confirmed; see footnote on page 9 of the book) Sikhs leave no doubt that the intention was to destroy Sikhism as an organized religion. A Home Ministry memorandum in 1981 declared Sikh religion to be inherently separatist.
Mrs. Gandhi escalated the persecution of Sikhs after her electoral victory in 1980. She was determined to teach this vigorous religious community, which had strongly protested the national emergency she had declared in 1975, a lesson. Never again would they launch agitations against her corrupt and unjust government. Therefore, when the Sikhs launched their agitation in 1982, hundreds of young men were tortured to death and reported killed in faked “encounters”. Thousands were sent home from police interrogations as cripples. Some Sikh women were stripped and paraded in the streets and raped at police stations by police officials. To top it all the victims were referred to as “terrorists” in government reports and the press.
Sant Bhindranwale, unused to political trickery, presumed the atrocities were being committed by over-zealous officials. He appealed to various authorities including senior administration officials, ministers in the state government, the courts, and leaders in the central government. He spoke with people from the media. He did not get redress. No one in the national leadership or the press took notice of these complaints. Instead of curbing police terror, the government started the false propaganda that Sikhs, and particularly Sant Bhindranwale, were engaging in subversive activities, were demanding a separate state, were jeopardizing India’s unity, and were an undesirable group bent upon mischief. Sant Bhindranwale repeatedly declared he was neither for nor against the creation of Khalistan. The late Sant Harchand Singh Longowal told Kuldip Nayar, during an interview in jail, that Sant Bhindranwale refused to announce the creation of Khalistan even as late as 5 June 1984 and asked the persons who had made the suggestion to talk to Sant Longowal about such matters. Many Sikhs believe the government had set up paid agents to demand a separate state in order to malign the Sikh community.
Mrs. Gandhi’s government deliberately set the Hindu community against the Sikh. Whenever a Hindu died a violent death, without any evidence, the government was in a hurry to announce that the killers were Sikhs. The intention was to scare the Hindus, pretend to be their protector and then, with sympathy from them, massacre the Sikhs.
Having control of radio and television and sympathy from a docile press, the government was able to get the Indian public to accept the big lie. The Sikh point of view never reached the people. The most patriotic community in India which had provided the greatest sacrifices for the achievement as well as preservation of the country’s freedom, had suffered the most due to the partition of the country in 1947, and had participated most significantly in the economic growth of the region was suddenly labeled anti-national and therefore deserving of humiliation.
The ruling political party set up organizations to promote division within the Sikh religion, encouraged insult and abuse of leaders and founders of the faith, and interfered in religious matters. To preserve their identity, the Sikhs agitated for increased state autonomy, constitutional amendment to recognize their religion as separate from Hindu, and certain territorial and river-water rights. The government treated their peaceful protest as sedition; demand for recognition of their religion as secessionism; confirmation in their religion as separatism, wearing of the external symbols of their religion as extremism, and bearing of arms a requirement for all “Amritdhari” Sikhs as terrorism and armed insurrection. Sant Bhindranwale carried weapons and required his companions to do the same. However, he constantly reminded the Sikhs of the vital restraint on use of weapons i.e., that a Sikh is forbidden use of arms for personal gain or to hurt innocent people. The Sikh word for the sword is “kirpan” which literally means “merciful”. Sikh weapons are used only in support of the oppressed. Extremist Hindu groups demanded Sant Bhindranwale’s arrest simply on the grounds that he was “soing around with his armed companions addressing gatherings in Punjab villages”. A massive propaganda was launched to brand him and all devout Sikhs as separatists, extremists, secessionists, and terrorists in order to legitimize the state terrorism unleashed against this hardworking and law-abiding community. The predominantly Hindu press went along with the government. Typical of this support was Gobind Thukral’s comment in India Today of September 30, 1983: “The coming months will show how many Sikhs share this extreme view.” The “extreme” view referred to was the factual statement by Surjit Singh Barnala (the “moderate” Sikh leader who is currently the Chief Minister of Punjab) : “We are not Hindus. Hence we must have a separate personal law.”
Sant Bhindranwale had no part in the violence in Punjab except as a victim. He tried to warn the Sikhs of the government’s real intentions advising them to be prepared. He urged Sikhs to give up use of intoxicants, pray regularly, seek confirmation in their faith by “taking Amrit”, and to be ready to fight oppression. The extremist Hindus and the government could not tolerate this and wanted him silenced. Shekhar Gupta, writing in India Today of December 31, 1983 referred to Sant Bhindranwale as “a man condemned by the country’s Parliament with near unanimity for two full days, stalked by assassins and wanted by the police who are under increasing pressure to arrest him”. A senior officer in Chandigarh, the state capital, is quoted in the same report as saying: “It’s really shocking that we have so little against him while we keep blaming him for all sorts of things.” It is wrong to speak of Sant Bhindranwale’s “politics of religion”. He had no ambition to public office and repeatedly declared he would never be a candidate for any such position. His only demand was that Sikhs be treated as equal citizens in India. He wanted the torture and murder of Sikh young men stopped. The politics of religion has been played with disastrous results by the coalition of the Indian government and the Indian press.
Sant Bhindranwale was a devout Sikh, seeking light from the scriptures of his religion and telling others of his faith to do the same. True to his frequently expressed sentiment he lived with dignity and self-respect and died for the faith. He stood for peace and amity. There is no evidence to show that he ever carried out or endorsed any harm or hurt to any innocent person. As an example of his concern for amity one may recall a headline in the daily Ajit, in August 1983. Sant Bhindranwale had advised Sikhs not to shout pro-Khalistan slogans because it hurt the feelings of many people and it was a sin for a Sikh to do anything which hurt anyone. His respect for all religions led him to provide financial support for prosecution of miscreants who had burnt a copy of the Ramayana, a Hindu holy book. He even helped build a Hindu temple in the jail where he was briefly incarcerated. Of course, whenever the government or militant Hindu organizations threatened harm to Sikhs, Sant Bhindranwale warned them of the consequences of playing with fire.
Sant Bhindranwale’s eloquent exposition of fundamentals of the Sikh faith led to a significant religious revival. Contrary to the steady erosion that had gone on for thirty-five years, Sikhs in large numbers returned to the fundamental values of prayer, honest labor and sharing the fruits of their labor. Thousands sought confirmation in their faith. The government regarded this resurgence as organized revolt.
Sant Bhindranwale was a “saint-soldier” who stood for truth, amity, justice, and the practice of religion. He achieved martyrdom defending the holiest shrine of his faith, vastly outnumbered, vastly outgunned, supported by a motley group of a few (estimates vary from 50 to 250) untrained young men armed with an assortment of obsolete weapons. His only crime was that he practiced his religion and spoke up against persecution.
The report gives a detailed account of gross and widespread violation of human rights of Sikhs. We invite the reader to find out the gruesome reality of being a Sikh in India.
Sikh Religious and Educational Trust
P.O. Box 292612, Columbus, Ohio 43229 January 1986,
