That was the reason why Army, at any cost, had to decide to finish this operation within one to two days In 1955, the Police first time enters the Golden Temple when it entered in 1984, it was the second time Nehru ji promised to give a separate Sikh state which would be about the size of the Sikh Empire He promised but betrayed on it.
Punjab Khalistan Movement Explained
In August 1982, an Indian plane was hijacked And here, enters one such guy because of whom Punjab politics will change 360 degrees. On 29 September 2022, Amritpal Singh enters India Sajjan Kumar, who was held responsible by CBI He was given a party ticket in 1991 If Chandigarh goes to Punjab, then Haryana’s Hindus will not vote for you, and you will lose Haryana too.
And because of this, Golden Temple was damaged even more Thousands of Sikhs were killed, More than hundred Gurudwaras were burned in Delhi A report was made, titled as Anandpur Sahib Resolution Whenever there are elections in Punjab, whenever farmers protest in Punjab, whenever any issue, raised in Punjab Why around the media, Khalistan’s name begins to surface.
Operation Bluestar happened in 1984, But why is the Bhindranwale’s reference is given till the date? and before we discuss the Amritpal Singh case we have to understand the real reasons behind this all You know the story in bits and pieces, but not the actual reason for why this is happening Those things are not as simple as it looks.
All of this started in the year 1823, this map that you are looking at, this is the map of the Sikh empire that was ruled by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It should be noted that till Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled the Sikh empire Britishers did nothing. No attack happened. But as soon as Maharaja Ranjit Singh died And the Sikh empire got weaker Britishers attacked and captured Sikh Empire Those Britishers added this Haryana part in the Sikh Empire Earlier Haryana wasn’t therein Sikh Empire.
Now all the details I’m providing will begin to look relevant as we go ahead in this. So… Britishers, when they captured the Sikh Empire, sent the kids of Raja Ranjit Singh to Britain, for education. So that the British don’t face any problem in future to control the Sikh Empire. And therefore now there was no one to lead the Sikh Empire or represented it.
And thus the priests of the local Gurudwara became the heads that controlled it Now The Sikh as a community didn’t like this thing much, so in 1920, the community started out the Akali movement. The moment created pressure on the Britishers that the priests of Gurudwara cannot control them anymore. And further, the pressure raised so much that a 175-member committee called ‘Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee was formed This name of SGPC is that you hear around in the news, was formed for this reason. SGPC regulated the gurdwaras and it still does so.
Its president is still elected in a proper election. Since then SGPC has been the front face of Sikh community and Akali Dal and SGPC have worked in close proximity since then, till now. Sikh Empire was a very powerful and influential empire of that time. The British Army had them ruled, but Sikhs used to believe that the rule is temporarily on them They will further be removed, and there will be again a rule by Sikh Empire.
Partition and Independent Sikh State But this belief was shaken first in 1929 when Motilal Nehru began the movement of Purna Swaraj, in which it stated that – There will be an independent Indian nation, where people will be voting and democracy will follow. And the Sikhs were still under this impression that when independence will come a Sikh empire would be given back to them.
If you open the old Scriptures, you see there ‘Raj Karega Khalsa’ So hearing about this Purna Swaraj, the Sikh community wasn’t much happy. In 1946, means one year before independence, when the idea was surfacing that the Britishers were to go, and the Sikh leaders raised the point that the Britishers had deceived Sikhs, they had captured Punjab from them.
And now they are going, so they should give Punjab back to the Sikhs. But things were not that simple anymore, British said that whatever was there before, does not matter. the most important factor will be about numbers. That means: who got a larger portion of the population. There happened a census in 1941, and in Punjab there were 53% Muslims, 30% Hindus, and only 15% were Sikhs, so overall, In the population of India, they were only 1% On this front, Sikhs were at a heavy disadvantage.
Because of this, Sikhs were trapped in a complicated situation They knew that if the issue was about numbers, then Sikhs were far lesser then the Hindus and Muslims So the Sikhs favored the idea of a United India, They said, Okay! We have no problem and we will be united together in one India. They were under the impression of getting a specific state However, because Muslims were higher in numbers, so when the Britishers were leaving Muslims brought the partition idea.
Of this partition idea, the Sikh community wasn’t any happy. For they knew in Punjab too, Muslims were higher in numbers, so there had to be a partition of Punjab too. So Sikh community said that we have no problem with a united India, But if India goes through the partition, then we too want a separate Sikh Nation.
For else, the Muslims get Pakistan and Hindus get Hindustan, what do we get? So Shiromani Akali Dal passed a Resolution at that time in which they asked for Sikhistan But this demand of Sikhistan was for if there was a partition otherwise, they had no problem in staying with India. But then in same 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru told to Sikhs again, reassuring them “The brave Sikh of Punjab are entitled to special consideration, and I do not see any wrong with it.
If there is a specific area in the north where Sikhs can live with their freedom. There are different opinions over this statement As if Nehru Ji assured Sikhs to separate state sized as Sikh Empire and he betrayed them. However, there happens partition, and in this a part of Punjab goes to Pakistan other part stays in India.
The Sikh community of Punjab was spread all over Punjab in small parts. so whatever scheme that partition could take place, The Sikh community was always to be divided. there was no solution available for that But the Sikh community did not want to be divided. But partition happened, and the part that goes to Pakistan was 62% of Punjab.
It was 55% of its population. In this process, around 150 historical Sikh shrines of Sikh, and their richest lands, and more than half of their population was trapped in Pakistan. The Sikhs who were there in Pakistan during the time of partition, had to leave their houses, lands and property and come to India.
Those who were not even willing to come also had to come because of the violence The largest harm that happened to any community during the partition was to the Sikhs. But the Sikh community revived itself in a very short period When many Sikhs came from Pakistan then the Sikhs that were in minority in Punjab were now a majority.
And therefore the idea that Sikhs should have their own state beginning to look possible again Although this dream wasn’t going to be easy There were things that Sikhs were not happy about. In the book by Khushwant Singh, titled ‘A History of the Sikhs’ he writes that the road transport, which was absolutely the monopoly of Sikhs, was nationalized in Kolkata too, bus and taxi services were controlled by Sikh There, Bengali refugees coming from East Pakistan was given preferences.
Also in arm forces the Sikhs had a culture to serve in high numbers So even in Army selection, the preference of Sikhs was lowered, though every state had such changes, but about those things The Sikh community was disappointed It wanted its own separate state. Punjabi Suba Movement For a while the government gave a separate state to Sikhs.
Patiala and East Punjab State Union PEPSU, they call it. It is believed that due to the rising power of Akali Dal this was taken back by Congress And after this in 1956 Indian government brought state reorganization act 1956 in which there was that the basis of language the states will be divided India was divided in many Subas Because India is a secular country so because of religion or caste, the states could not be formed It would not be correct as well, So on the basis of language it happened, This way Telugu speaking people got Andhra Pradesh.
Marathi-speaking people got Maharashtra and Sikh begin to see that other than Haryana the whole of Punjab has the language of Punjabi Mostly the literature too is written in Gurmukhi script, So you please take Haryana into Hindi-speaking state and give us Punjab state and make Punjabi as the official speaking language but the government rejected the demand completely.
And from there things begin to go awry gradually Khalistan was not till now in the picture and it will come now. Now the leader of the Akali Dal Master Tara Singh said that now it is going too much and we are getting discriminated and we will not tolerate that In Punjab based upon These few Sikhs and Hindus had small riots.
Master Tara Singh said that Sikh religion will be saved only if there is a Sikh state and from there he started the Punjabi Suba movement This movement began to grow so fast that government banned speaking of the word Punjabi Suba as a slogan and 12,000 Akalis were arrested. In the year 1955, first-time police entered Golden Temple.
When it went in 1984, it was the second time which we will come to, later. From 1960 to 1965, many movements happened, Master Tara Singh set on Amaran Anshan Akalis were arrested now or never moment happened, and many other such things happened but in 1965 when India Pakistan war happened the Sikh community supported Indian government.
Stopping all the moments they stood along with the Indian government and during this war Sikh soldiers played a very important role that created a very important realization about Sikh people in public consciousness In 1966 the points of the Sikh community was agreed and Punjab was divided and three states were made out of it. Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh but in it Chandigarh became complicated again Chandigarh had 55% of the Hindi speaking people Center government had made Chandigarh, a union territory It said that it will be shared by both states.
About this Sikh community was not at all happy Because in Anandpur Sahib Resolution too, there is some talk about Chandigarh, that we will talk ahead. So now while all those things were going on, Punjab had become a separate state now Now the first election take place in Punjab. Akali Dal fights the election and it wins the election but it does not complete its five after that, it wins again but again the government collapses within a few days The Contending Strategies of the Congress Party Till 1997 still those guys could not complete their term.
The people of Punjab were making them win but they could not complete their tenure and this fault was given to congress that they make a change in the ministry or influence the ministers to bring the government down so that congress remains influential in Punjab as a stronghold Let’s understand with an example, Laxman Singh Gill won from Akali Dal and Akali Dal made him education minister but he rebelled against them and joined congress and 13 MLAs along with him brought the government down because of such cases the blame was going to congress Akali Dal had the problem that be it the issue of Chandigarh or the water of the river or the Quota in the army, on all those issues people of Punjab was creating a pressure while Akalis were unable to understand why they cannot run On the other hand in all of the country they were seen as weak to rule.
They got the greatest shock in 1972 when they even lost the election against congress and the CM of Punjab was now Gyani Jail Singh who later became president too Anandpur Sahib Resolution Now looking at all those situations, Akali Dal re-thought in 1973 and did multiple meetings A committee of 12 specific people was created, this meeting was to discuss all the issues of Punjab from the beginning to end like bringing Chandigarh back to Punjab the water of Punjab should be given to Punjab the influence of the central government should be limited.
Of all those issues there was created a report which was named Anandpur Sahib Resolution its first draft was made by Sardar Kapur Singh in English and it was described to Sant Fateh Singh who wasn’t affluent in English. He approved it by listening verbally. In 1973 it was not any famous or focused upon by the public.
But in August 1977 Gyani Ajmer Singh, the secretary of Akali Dal He created a new version, which became popular around. It was a little different then the original resolution You can call it the updated version. And over the version of this Anadpur Sahib The resolution, there was much controversy over it.
Even today there is much controversy around it. Actually within Akali Dal too, there were many groups When some leaders used to feel fallen behind, or felt getting lesser importance, then he will create an extreme version and promote it. It became a sure formula to get popular in a short time Khalistanis too interpreted it as if it is demanding a separate nation not of a separate state.
Anandpur Sahib Resolution had become like a weapon, that everyone used in his will. When dispute grew too much, then Sant Harchand Singh Longowal The President of Akali Dal sent copies to Indian Parliament’s both houses, and said, The authentic version of Anandpur Sahib Resolution is this one, so no one gets to misinterpret the resolution He said there is no demanding a separate nation in it and if anyone is saying so then he is saying wrong If you look, you will find that Akali Dal that created this document had never asked for a separate nation.
But Sikh community is very sensitive to its religion In their time, Britishers too could not stop Sikhs from wearing the turban They had to agree with them, while Hindus and Muslims Britishers put many restrictions. So, Inside Punjab every political party has religious politics on its agenda. Whichever party gets weaker it brings religion when congress was getting weaker after Anandpur Sahib’s resolution From congress Gyani Jail Singh, who from 1972 to 1977 was chief minister of Punjab also had realized that Akalis were using religion for politics.
So he also tried to pose that even if I am in Congress but I am more dedicated to Sikh religion than even the Akalis He began to celebrate the birthdays of Sikh gurus along with it, Punjab government celebrated the birth anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh with a huge firework Still Anandpur Sahib Resolution was getting popular in Punjab Akali Dal had got strong and later it defeated congress in the election too.
Now to deal with it, Congress needed one such face that appears more religious than the Akalis and here enters one such guy because of whom, politics of Punjab took a 360° turn Entry of Jernail Singh Bhindranwale There are many religious organizations inside Punjab that takes religion and education as their work One such organization was Damdami Taksal Now because Damdami Taksal was in Punjab’s Munga tahsil Bhindar village. So people from there are called Bhindranwale.
When the leader of then Damdami Taksal Kartar Singh Bhindranwale passed away Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale was made the leader of the taksal. Now people begin to call him Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Bhindranwale became leader and began roaming from village to village attempted to rehabilitate the addicts. He asked people not to cut their hair.
and follow the Sikh religion. He began to be popular very rapidly all around. people began to come to him from all over to have their problems and disputes solved. Now the Gyani Jail Singh and Darbara Singh told Sanjay Gandhi about Bhindranwale that he is a very popular person in Punjab If he is made the front face, Akali dal would lose its votes.
Later congress had Bhindranwale in SGPC election against the Akali Dal Bhindranwale was supported by the Center fully. Till now due to religious stuff, Bhindranwale was getting support from people But now getting government support, Bhindranwale raised his activities faster He was not getting arrest in any case till now.
but on 13 April 1978 One incident happened that made Bhindranwale more popular than Mainstream leaders. Sikh-Nirnkari Conflict Sikh and Nirankari Sikh have an ideological dispute between them Sikh has a total of 10 gurus in which Sikhs say that the last Guru Guru Gobind Singh was final after that they never considered anyone to be a guru and because in the Guru Granth Sahib the preachings of 10 Gurus are there So Sikh take them to be their Guru.
Nirankari begin to consider their leader again as a guru and there was a dispute between Sikh and the Nirankari over it. On 13 April 1978 the conflict became so big that people lost their lives. On this day Nirankari Sikh had a meeting to bring all Nirankari Sikhs together Bhindranwale said he will not let this meeting happen.
The day the meeting was to be held both the groups had a fight. 17 people lost their lives but after that too, Bhindranwale is not arrested. this encourages him very much. and in 1980 the head of the Nirankari Sikhs Baba Gurbachan Singh and his bodyguards were killed in Delhi. The name that circulated was of Bhindranwale and still there happens no arrest.
Now after this in 1981 in the whole country there happens census In a census, you are asked for your mother tongue and this is so, the issue becomes that if more and more people in Punjab claim Punjabi to be their mother language then the Punjabi language will become important and if more people speak Hindi then Hindi will become important now So Bhindranwale said to all the people that they should claim their mother-tong to be Punjabi Hindus were afraid of it, But Punjab Kesari which was a leading newspaper.
has the editor Lala Jagat Narain who said that Hindu people have nothing to fear about it and if they are asked they should call Hindi as their mother tongue. this point was repeatedly expressed in his article. And over this issue, he was shot and murdered. Now over to this, government had much pressure that that they have to arrest Bhindranwale.
or Hindu community will be angered. The government does not do that early. But when the pressure mounts much even from outside Punjab the pressure builds, then they had to do the arrest. From here begins a conflict between Bhindranwale and Congress. And Bhindranwale goes out of the control from Congress’s hand As soon as Government arrests, there begins violence in whole Punjab and 17 people lose their life the violence gets too uncontrollable that they had to release Bhindranwale to establish peace.
There was so much public support with Bhindranwale that even Akalis had to stand with him. Dharm Yudh Morcha Akali Dal begins to realize that they were supposed to talk about the Sikh religion But Bhindranwale was going ahead of them so they shook hands with him. From here, the game of Congress falls back upon it.
in 1982 and Akali Dal join together to create the Dharamyudh Morcha which had its main goal of Anandpur Sahib resolution should be implemented. They did many rallies and some went out of control. Congress at many places, ordered firing too Now in 1982, there were supposed to be Asian games in Delhi For those the responsibility was of Rajiv Gandhi.
The government wanted that there should be no disruption in that But the Dharm yudh Morcha knew that said that if they talk of Anandpur Sahib Resolution in this event, they will get global coverage. So Dharm Yudh Morcha said that they will oppose it Now, to hold those games easily in Delhi, government started to check all the Sikhs that passed through the border of Punjab and Haryana border from Delhi.
They were stopped in the middle and their families were checked. in fact many of the Sikh army people were also disrespected. about that Sikh community got very very angry that our own country is discriminating with us That anger in people was not reacted by the Akalis But Bhindranwale understood this situation, And claimed to have vengeance over this And by doing this Bhindranwale has now done something that made his name bigger than the Akalis Thus there were some groups in Akalis that did not like Bhindranwale much.
From here now his activity was much faster on 22 July 1982 there happened an attack on CM of Punjab Darbara Singh In August 1982 an Indian plane was hijacked in which 126 passengers were there Hijackers took the plane to Pakistan but Pakistan refused to allow the plane to land The plane returned to Amritsar and hijackers surrendered themselves to police After that, on 20th August, there was another plane hijacked and it was taken to Lahore Somewhere bank robberies were happening somewhere government’s weaponry was looted.
Senior police officers were killed and after that in October 1983 a bus traveling from Amritsar to Delhi was hijacked from inside it all Hindu passengers were taken out and were shot from there the situation in Punjab worsened and Punjab was taken under the President’s rule On 15 December 1983 Bhindranwale shifted his location To inside of Golden temple, at Akal Takht.
so that he remains Safe. Bhindranwale had this strong belief that there is no leader who can dare to enter Golden Temple This is the entrance. There this is Darbar Sahib And from here the Akal Takht is there This is where Bhindranwale had begun to sit He had collected many weapons and his planning was very strong because because in his support many strong and experienced people were there.
Like Retired Major General Sahbeg Singh who was training his fighters Shabeg Singh was a war hero of 1971 He had trained the fighters of Bangladesh’s Mukti Vahini He was an expert of guerrilla warfare In fact, for the contribution to the war, he was given Param Vishisht Seva Medal and Ati Vishisht Seva medal as well.
But one day before retirement he was levied with charges of corruption And was suspended, It had stopped his pension. He claimed he had done nothing wrong and later he went to court and won But he was now convinced that he was discriminated based upon religion. Other than that another retired Major General Jaswant Singh Bhullar was there training the fighters of Bhindranwale.
Operation Blue Star From here, the government and Bhindranwale was in front of each other The war was not sure. Government and Bhindranwale both were preparing for this There were a lot of weaponry collected inside the Akal Takht in frequently coming trucks. There Indira Gandhi ji had understood the situation, and tried another way.
She sent a proposal through Narsinh Rao That Anandpur Sahib Resolution could be implemented but there are some points that would not be possible This was the proposal that reached Akali Dal and through them reached Bhindranwale. Akali Dal was ready upon this proposal, But Bhindranwale rejected the proposal completely. He said that it proves that Akali Dal is greedy just to remain in power to have done all this.
After the rejection of the proposal the government was ready for combat. Army personnel begin to enter Golden Temple to trace Bhindranwale’s fighters, their activity, locations could be traced This Army operation was given to Major General Kuldip Singh Brar who was a clean-shaven Sikh officer and this operation was named Operation Bluestar from many different places of the country the tanks, mountain guns, divers and police dogs were arriving in Punjab People had got the idea that something was to happen.
But about that, the President of that time, Gyani Jail Singh who was also the Supreme Commander of the Army even he wasn’t given details of this operation. On 1 June 1984 there was set a curfew in the whole of Punjab Phone lines were closed. Army had taken over. All local and foreign news reporters were taken from the hotels and other places and put in a state bus and sent out of Amritsar but one reporter who was with Associated Press His name was Brahma Chellani He was left inside Punjab during this.
So he reported that time And that report was published in the Times of London In the reports, he said that many Sikhs were shot and more than thousands of Sikh militants were killed while the government was talking about only 600 official deaths Later Brahma was sued for misinformation and breaking the law The real battle that happened in Operation Bluestar was from 3 to 6 June It’s timing too is controversial because 3rd June is the Shaheedi celebration of Guru Arjun Dev Ji and at this day, more devotees were to come to Golden Temple.
All devotees that came to the temple were stopped by Bhindranwale and taken hostages So that army would not be able to attack Army was considering that they will easily defeat Bhindranwale, which didn’t happen so the information of intelligence proved to be wrong Those people were there with a heavy preparation along with rocket launchers anti-tank guns, snipers, and a properly trained military was operating inside This harmed Indian Army beyond expectation On the fifth of June, all those inside the Golden Temple.
were asked to surrender now in the beginning the plan was that the communication will be cut from the outside and those people will automatically surrender. The electricity of Golden Temple was cut, telephone and the drinking water supply too was cut. But meanwhile that news began to flood From all those villages thousands of Sikhs are coming towards Amritsar And they have weapons too.
Army helicopters sighted all around there were thousands of people all around the city. And this was the reason that the army had to, in any condition, finish the operation Bluestar within one or two days This is why Golden Temple was damaged even more. Army deployed anti-tank and attacked from three sides Akal Takht was also attacked and this was a major decision which came with its cost Bhindranwale’s people came out and much firing took place Bhindranwale’s people fought till the last, But at around morning four thirty.
finally retained back control of Akal Takht finally. This is a copy of the original Army plan which had the strategy of Operation Bluestar. Now Bhindranwale and his fighters were killed, but when people came to see images of the Golden Temple. People came to know that Akal Takht and Darbar Sahib too are fired at.
All the Sikhs in the world were infuriated. Operation Bluestar Aftermath Out of 8 Cantonments of Army, 4000 Sikh had rebelled They had killed their officers. And tried to reach Amritsar. Many Sikh MPs and MLAs had resigned. The situation was really very bad. Bhindrawale had died but his supporters were still there.
After that army started the second round of the operation. Army gave this operation the name Operation Wood rose One by one all villages were raided, and Sikh people were checked for weapons. Many people were angry about this, and the government arrested whole Akali leadership and imprisoned them From Sant Longewal to Prakash Singh Badal, all were in jail It created the problem that the leadership vacuum it created was taken by the militants.
1st October 1984, Army withdrew from Golden temple. But till then heavy damage is already done Many people who visited Golden temple at that time And when they saw the temple as damaged, They took an oath upon Guru Granth Sahib that the people who have done this will be killed or will be killed in this attempt of killing them.
in their hit-list President Gyani Jail Singh was there There was Indira Gandhi, his sons, and family, Many army officers and other people were there. When Indira Gandhi visited the Golden temple She was very disturbed. Indira Gandhi’s Assassination Whoever knows about the Sikh community, knew that the retaliation will happen and will be strong So with this operation those who were under the threat were given bodyguards and bullet-proof vests The most guarded place was Indira Gandhi’s house.
She was suggested by her security officers to remove the Sikh guards from her personal security But they say that Indira Gandhi felt that this will circulate the wrong message that she is against the Sikh community. On 31 October 1984 Indira Gandhi was shot by her bodyguards Beant Singh and Samant Singh with 18 bullets Sonia Gandhi immediately took Indira Gandhi to AIIMS and by two in the afternoon, she died Now because of this Hindu and Sikh tension rose very fast on 31st October in noon outside the AIIMS.
the crowd was gathering and whichever Sikhs were seen there, were beaten badly Even so that President of India Gyani Jail Singh, when he visited AIIMS, were pelted stones upon 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots From the AIIMS this crowd started reaching other areas and police did nothing to stop them in Delhi in Connaught Place the shops of the Sikhs were looted.
Then Taxi, Truck, Scooters belonging to Sikhs three-wheelers were burnt along with it DD channel was consistently showing visuals of Indira Gandhi’s dead body and along with it was Rajiv Gandhi in dejection From the background were slogans that blood will be avenged with blood As time went ahead, the crowd began to target and kill Sikhs in Delhi Thousands of Sikhs were killed in Delhi More than hundred Gurudwaras were burned, Women were dishonored, and there was widespread loot And the police took no action. Later, those who were arrested for those crimes.
1809 people were released by the government and refused to inquire by the argument that this will not be the right solution and it will make things worse. People’s Union of Civil Liberties gave a report in November 1984 Titled as Who are the guilty? In this, they explained, who was responsible for the genocide.
The names were given In it the minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government HKL Bhagat, three members of parliament Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and Dharam Kumar Shastri was mentioned along with that Delhi municipal corporations officers. 13 police officers and 198 policeman were also part of it Sajjan Kumar whom CBI considered the culprit was given the party ticket in 1991 He won by a huge margin Read this part by pausing it. This is what came in CBI and police reports.
Jagdish Tytler with the accusation of the riots was also given the ticket and he was made the union minister of civil aviation Rajiv Longowal Accord After the 1984 riots, happened elections and Rajiv Gandhi won to become the Prime Minister and as soon as he became the Prime Minister, he said that the problem of Punjab is the top priority for him He first released all Akali leaders and took them out Then along with them on 24 July 1985 he made the Rajiv Longowal Accord In which the main point was that on 26 January 1986.
Chandigarh will be transferred to Punjab Now while Bhindranwale was dead, yet he was an idea that idea was still around in some people Bhindranwale’s supporters were there in Punjab and they had no liking to the Accord that Rajiv Gandhi did They later killed Sant Longowal as well Rajiv Gandhi attempted to balance the situation, and signed this Accord promising Chandigarh to Akalis, But then CM of Haryana Bhajan Lal told Rajiv Gandhi that if Chandigarh was given to Punjab then Haryana’s Hindus will not vote for him, and you will lose Haryana too.
At this point Rajiv Gandhi understood and he basically backed from the accord He is still criticized for doing that. he supporters of Bhindranwale were still there and time to time they talked about Khalistan one by one gradually the government eliminated them Once again in the Golden Temple supporters of Bhindranwale came and sat Now another Operation Black Thunder happened but this time politicians made everything dealt with by the police.
Temple was not harmed. Black Thunder happened twice. Once in 1986, and another time in 1988 This way, Gradually supporters of Bhindrawale were eliminated. Slowly later the Sikh community was pleased like when Chandrasekhar became PM, whenever he will attend a public meeting he will begin it, with saying Waheguru ji ka Khalsa.
Waheguru ji ki fateh those slogans will begin the meeting Manmohan Singh was Sikh He was made a PM. They say that this too was about pleasing the Sikhs. Then gradually situation began to heal. Akalis and congress joined together and wiped out the extremists Some were killed, and some went abroad and from there continued to demand Khalistan In Punjab, the situation was under control Few times some voices of Khalistan were heard But those were few people and those were not so powerful Till 2015 the situation remained normal.
but after that one incident happened because of which people were inflamed again The demand of Khalistan again came ahead when on 1 June 2015 in the Faridkot district From Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village’s gurudwara had Guru Granth Sahib stolen After a few days on 25th September around the same place some posters were found In those, the Sikhs were targeted At same place, there was contempt of Guru Granth Sahib done When they disrespect Guru Granth Sahib, it is called contempt or ‘Be-adabi’
Because of this issue, again the matter of attack on the Sikh religion came to Punjab politics. A new narrative began to float that Sikh religion is being attacked again. Along with it Akalis had gotten weak so religious people began to look for political alternatives. Even outside India, a Khalistan referendum was running When Narendra Modi came to power, it was told about him He doesn’t allow the state power to remain strong, so Punjab would not be able to solve the right of the state, and the river issue.
And this point was raised by Deep Sandhu who was an actor He called this time to time and also in the farmer protest he spoke against Narendra Modi Deep Sandhu created an organization named Waris Punjab De he said this organization is about taking back the rights of Punjab from the center. And to preserve Punjabi culture But 5 days before the Punjab election on February 15, 2022 Deep Sandhu died in a road accident Entry of Dubai Returned Amritpal Singh And after this enters suddenly Amritpal Singh who was in Dubai and was in touch with Deep Sandhu but they have never met.
After the death of Deep Sandhu Amritpal Singh was announced the head of Waris Punjab De on September 2022 Now on this, the family of Deep Sandhu said that he has nothing to do with Deep Sandhu And he is forcefully capturing Waris Punjab De Meanwhile supporters of Amritpal Singh said that it was the supporters of Deep Sandhu himself who made him the head of Waris Punjab De.
On 29 September 2022, Amritpal Singh enters India And in the ancestral village of Bhindranwale, in Monga District He organizes the Dastar Bandi ceremony in which thousands of people arrived. Everyone was shocked of this huge support given to him For this much support, leaders have to do much work on the ground But someone coming from Dubai gets such support in a few months was shocking to everyone And in this ceremony, multiple times pro-Khalistan slogan were also raised.
Amritpal Singh arrived and said that Bhindranwale is his ideal. And like Bhindrawale he talked about drugs and made an issue of contempt He told Sikhs to keep their hairs and to expand their religion And said that now whoever does the contempt, He will be given neither to police, nor there will be a court case We will punish them.
On social media too Amritpal Singh is rapidly getting popular. He is reaping huge support from the young generation. On this 24th February one of his associate Toofan Singh was kidnapped by police and arrested then Amritpal Singh and his thousands of supporters came ahead.
They had swords and guns in their hands And Amritpal had put Guru Granth Sahib along with him He put it on his head so that the police cannot respond to him If police tried to take an action it would have become contempt. Police had to bow down to Amritpal’s demand and then they had to release Toofan Singh, in this incident many policemen were wounded too.
With this Ajnala incident Amritpal became very popular in Punjab The people who were looking for a bold politician, are now seeing their leader in Amritpal. Some people see Bhindranwale in Amritpal. After this incident, Amritpal got a lot of space in the media Now the issue of Khalistan is getting stronger step by step Amritpal is saying that he is demanding Khalistan in a democratic process, and with a peaceful method.
But he has not refused that there is a possibility of violent methods How long this will go is yet hidden under upcoming times. Media, however, has found its new Bhindranwale.
Please do read to it once. You will get more clarity.