June 1984 was an intensely war-like assault on Darbar Sahib, with the systematic killing of thousands of lives by the rampaging Indian army.  It formed the first of a two-part part genocidal strike on the Panjaabi-Sikhs over 1984. The second strike in November 1984.  Part I saw a raging bombardment and destruction of Akal Takht Sahib, the genocide of its people and an attempt to terrorise into submission the people of Panjaab, argues British activist-writer Jagdeesh Singh.

IN 1984, THE INTRINSICALLY BRAVE, EAGER AND REVOLUTIONARY SIKHS  had escalated an expanding movement for full autonomy and self-determination. This Sikh-driven, national Panjaabi self-determination movement symbolised peoples’ resistance and peoples’ power against the oversized, overpowering draconian Indian state.

The In­dian state, tired and fed up of the sus­tained Pan­jaabi-Sikh re­sis­tance to its su­per­im­pos­ing state power (so op­pres­sively and bru­tally dis­played on par­ti­tioned East Pan­jaab since 1947), took to fi­nally launch­ing its state-or­ches­trated hate cam­paign against the ‘sep­a­ratist’ and ‘ter­ror­ist’ threat of the Sikhs, and then the connected hammer blow of a mam­moth mil­i­tary on­slaught and crack­down on Dar­bar Sahib and en­tire Pan­jaab in June 1984. This was In­di­a’s fi­nal so­lu­tion of the bur­geon­ing Pan­jaabi-Sikh prob­lem.

The Indian state with its dogma of Hindu majoritarian-Indian supremacy, ‘territorial unity and integrity’ and Indianisation and Hinduisation; launched its genocidal military war on defenceless Panjaab, in the attack code-named ‘Operation Bluestar’, with 150,000 Indian army troops and tanks, helicopter gunships and other deadly military hardware. There was total lock-down on Panjaab for an entire month, with all journalists and telecommunication contact, banned and shut down.

Panjaab was turned into one mammoth war zone and concentration camp, with the Indian establishment deciding to deliver its deadly, devastating blow to the aspirational, buoyant Sikhs of Panjaab who were a beacon of freedom, self-determination, radical reform, change and break-up of the concentrated, centralised Indian state power.

Brigadier Onkar Goraya (Retd) who formed part of the India army’s assault, has set out his useful eye-witness version of the military action on Darbar Sahib in his book, Operation Bluestar and After -An Eyewitness Account (2013). In it, he makes many revealing admissions, which do no credit to the Indian Army nor the Indian government. He states in the Preface, that “I am not obliged to mask the unsavoury acts committed by members of the security forces including Army.” He adds that the reason for his 30-year delay in publishing this book was “In the beginning, the army uniform forced me to stay mum.”

The ag­i­tat­ing Sikhs were led and en­er­gised by the brave­heart Bhai Jar­nail Singh Bhin­dran­wale (1947-1984), bear­ing his rus­tic in­dige­nous Pan­jaabi sim­plic­ity and qual­i­ties com­bined with the im­pas­sioned Sikh ethics and im­pulses. “He was self­less and spoke his mind with­out fear,” says Brig Onkar Goraya in Op­er­a­tion Blues­tar, 2013, page 10).

“The Army did succeed as expected of it, but only through an overkill.”

Brigadier Onkar S. Goraya

Saint-Soldier Bhindranwale demonstrated to the frustrated and embittered Indian establishment, made up of its usual core Brahmin-Hindu-Bania personalities; that the Panjaabi nation inspired and infused by the Guru-Sikh spirit were ready to fight on in courageous defiance against the pounding attacks of police intimidation, violence and killings that the Indian state was inflicting on them.

The Indian state, as now fully proven from secret document disclosures, had been planning and preparing to militarily attack Amritsar (the epicentre and symbolic heart-beat of the movement) and its central Panjaab-Sikh national shrine, for over a year in advance. Bhai Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had come to learn of this surreptitious plan and warned of the dire and devastating consequences of Indian police or military invading Darbar Sahib in his multiple impassioned speeches which echoed across its environs.

When the Indian attack and siege came at the very point of Guru Arjan’s Jee annual Shaheedi-martyrdom gathering, initial, with Indian troops having already been stationed in Amritsar since January 1984 in readiness and there was mass mobilization of Indian army troops at the end of May 1984 into Panjaab. It was no less than a war, a mil­i­tary oc­cu­pa­tion, and to­tal phys­i­cal sub­ju­ga­tion.

Brigadier Goraya of the Indian Army comments: “The Govt’s decision to seal and isolate the whole of Punjab was not only justified, it was a paramount necessity to avert a general uprising by the Sikh masses all over Punjab.” (Operation Bluestar – An Eyewitness Account, 2013, page 38).Its entire bor­ders were sealed and de­c­la­ra­tion of full cur­few on its peo­ple.

The Sikh fighters within Darbar Sahib fought back vigorously against the de­crepit In­dian troops. It was Indian foot soldiers pitted against solid li­ons. With their hearts, minds and some weapons, Bhin­dran­wale and his 100 plus fel­low com­bat­ants, against 15,000 In­dian troops, tanks and he­li­copter gun­ships; fought from 1st to 7th June 2020 in an in­tense armed and hand-to-hand bat­tle.

As cited by Brigadier Onkar Goraya, there is a re­port of a re­main­ing sin­gle Sikh fighter, sur­viv­ing up to 8th June 1984, who fired upon the ar­riv­ing In­dian Pres­i­dent and his en­tourage as he en­tered the Har­mandir Sahib com­plex (‘Op­er­a­tion Blues­tar and Af­ter – An Eye­wit­ness Ac­count’, 2013, page 101)

General Shabeg Singh led and co-ordinated the Sikh resistance, as well as laying down his life in the process with his comrades. “He performed this task with utmost professional skill, says Brigadier Goraya, (Operation Bluestar, 2013, page 21.)

The BBC London filmed Kuldip Brar, the devious Indian general tasked with leading the military assault, on 7th June 1984, as he boasted to the world media that he had wiped out the ‘terrorists’ and ‘militants’. As he began to speak on camera, his words were vividly disrupted by the powerful and pounding firing of surviving Sikh fighters who were displaying their unsubdued final stand. Brar was visibly shaken by this unexpected upsurge.

The indiscriminate, horrific and callous slaughter of thousands of civilian Panjaabi men, women and children, by the Indian troops, amounts to a crime against humanity. Added to this was the burning and looting down of the National Sikh Reference Library as a deliberate action at the behest of the Indian army commanders. It took place on 7th June 1984, following the Indian army’s final destructive tank assault on 6th June 1984 on Akaal Takht Sahib where Jarnail Singh and his last band of fighters were positioned. The burning down of the national library, its treasured content and the removal of thousands of cherished manuscripts and documents which remain wholly withheld by the Indian state to this day.

Having done with Amritsar, India turned to part two of Operation Bluestar, which was a merciless and predatory sweep across 42 other Gurdwaras and through each and every village of East Panjaab, code-named Operation Woodrose.  It was no less than a war, a military occupation, and total physical subjugation.

The classic and historical resistance of the brave and committed against the foot soldiers of an oppressive Indian state is unique and his­tory making. It was a dis­play of courage over mil­i­tary hard­ware. Spirit over num­bers. Pas­sion and pur­pose over cold, cal­cu­lated mil­i­tary pur­pose. Not a sin­gle one of the Sikh com­bat­ants sur­ren­dered..

The June 1984 monumental slaughter and destruction and even prior to that, will one day be properly and fully exposed to the world. It stands as one of modern history’s most gruesome unrecognised genocides, committed by a state intent on subduing and crushing a people into submission. It was the first part of India’s final solution of the Panjaab and Sikh question.

The classic and historical resistance of the brave and committed against the foot soldiers of an oppressive Indian state is history-making. It was a display of courage over military hardware. Spirit over numbers. Passion and purpose over cold, calculated military purpose. Not a single one of the Sikh combatants surrendered.

Brigadier Onkar Goraya in his confessional book says, “The Army did succeed as expected of it, but only through an overkill.” (Operation Bluestar -An Eyewitness Account, Brigadier Onkar Goraya, 2013, page 2).

The days of 1-7 June 1984 are gloriously enshrined in the hearts of millions of proud Panjaabis inside and across the world. Glorious history was made as a mighty alien army came to kill, destroy and subdue. As the simple, hardy people of Panjaab, inspired by their Gurus, heroes and enduring spirit fought back.

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his few hundred comrades within the sacred bastion of the sovereign and independent spirit of Panjaab fought like tigers, conscious of their role and eagerly waiting for the moment of glorious death. Their martyrdom continues to inspire us to continue the struggle.