Sikhs Mark Operation Blue Star

It is ironic that on the 40th anniversary of ‘Operation Blue Star,’ the Indian general election voting date for Panjab was 1 Jun — the same date that Indian security forces began their attack on Harimandar Sahib and Akal Takht complex (“Golden Temple complex”) in 1984. The operation took place from 1-10 Jun, during which period, this year, the election results were declared and the union cabinet swearing-in took place. India has moved on to elect a right-wing govt. – proponents of a Hindu nation – for the third time. Panjab’s scars remain unaddressed. Traditionally, Sikhs mark the Operation as ‘Ghallughara’ (genocidal campaign and resistance) anniversary on 6 Jun. This year too Sikhs assembled at the Akal Takht. Along with solemn prayers, some pro-Khalistan slogans were raised. The Dal Khalsa organized a ‘holocaust remembrance’ procession in memory of those who lost their lives during the Operation. A senior journalist who covered the events and the 1984 genocide says, ‘The operation’s security, political and even foreign policy ramifications remain possibly the most wanton of all such internal security actions conducted in post-Independence India and ones that continue to resonate in some mutated form even today.’ In Canada, during the Sikh procession in front of the Indian consulate in Vancouver, a float appeared depicting the assassination of the late PM Indira Gandhi. India will raise the issue with Canada. In the UK, the Labour party has promised to re-investigate the involvement of then British PM Margeret Thatcher in Britain's role in the Operation. Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh, said, ‘Instead of repeatedly pleading with Delhi for the political, geographical and economic rights of Panth and Panjab, there is a need to promote Sikh politics based on the concept of Khalsa’s precepts.’ 

Over three decades after a 21-year-old man was killed in a fake encounter in Tarn Taran, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court sentenced former Panjab Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Dilbagh Singh to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Gurbachan Singh to a life-term. The bench presided by Judge RK Gupta also imposed fines of $4,500 on the two convicts, said the victim’s counsel Sarabjeet Singh Verka. The victim, fruit vendor Gulshan Kumar, was abducted by a police party on 22 Jun 1993 and killed in a fake encounter on 7 Jul 1993. The police team was led by Dilbagh Singh, then DSP of Tarn Taran, as per the testimony of the victim’s father Chaman Lal. Lal further testified that his son’s body was cremated by police on 22 Jul 1993, without the knowledge of the family. In compliance with the Supreme Court of India’s orders, the CBI registered a case against Dilbagh Singh and four others on 28 Feb 1997. After the completion of the investigation, a charge sheet was filed against Dilbagh Singh, then Inspector Gurbachan Singh, then Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Arjun Singh, then ASI Devinder Singh, and then Sub Inspector Balbir Singh on 7 May 1999. Arjun, Devinder, and Balbir died during the trial. Charges were filed on 7 Feb 2000. The CBI examined 32 witnesses. Evidence showed that the accused police officers staged the murder as an encounter. As the case progressed, Chaman Lal, the chief petitioner and father of victim Gulshan Kumar, died in 2023 (SDW Vol. 1 Issue 15, Story 4).

A new report by a high-level Canadian parliamentary panel has concluded that India is the second biggest foreign threat to Canada’s democracy after China, with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau saying his govt. takes the matter of foreign interference ‘very seriously.’ The report is by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, a cross-party group of MPs and senators with top security clearances. It was submitted to the Canadian PM’s Office in May but tabled in Parliament, with redactions, this week. The report said India has ‘emerged as the second-most significant foreign interference threat to Canada’s democratic institutions and processes,’ displacing Russia. India’s ‘foreign interference efforts have slowly increased’ and extended beyond countering pro-Khalistan elements in Canada. These efforts now ‘include interfering in Canadian democratic processes and institutions, including through the targeting of Canadian politicians, ethnic media and Indo-Canadian ethnocultural communities.’ The report mentions India 44 times in its 84 pages (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 16, Story 3). There was no immediate response to the report from Indian officials. In the US, Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray answered questions on the US efforts to extradite Nikhil Gupta, an accused in the plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannu from the Czech Republic. In a bid to stall his extradition to the US, Gupta asked the Czech court to determine if he was an agent working for the Indian secret service and if he could have refused the order to kill Pannun. The court rebutted the argument saying it was absurd to consider a democracy like India would resort to such methods (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 18, Story 1).

On 9 Jun, ministers from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) govt. took their oath of office. Narendra Modi is once again the PM of India, matching India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s record three swearings-in. Unlike the earlier two terms when the BJP enjoyed majority by itself, this time they are banking on two major and many minor partners among their 11 allies. Of the 72 ministers sworn in, 43 are on their third term or more and 39 are past ministers in the union govt. 7 of them are past CMs. 34 are past Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) and 23 are past ministers at the state level. 27 leaders are from Other Backward Castes, 10 from Scheduled Castes, 5 from Scheduled Tribes, and 5 from religious minorities. The Constitution allows members of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) to become ministers, and allows unelected members to become ministers if they win a parliamentary by-election or a Rajya Sabha seat within six months. Ravneet Singh Bittu, who lost from Ludhiana, is now a Minister of State. From the opposition, only head of INC Mallikarjun Kharge attended the swearing-in. On 10 Jun, ministerial portfolios were announced. The press speculated that key allies Nitish Kumar (Janta Dal United) and Chandrababu Naidu (Telugu Desam Party) would wrangle for key posts but did not prevail. The top ministries (Home, Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Finance) went to incumbent ministers – Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, S Jaishankar and Nirmala Sitharaman, respectively.

In the recent Indian general elections, two candidates fought and won from behind bars. Amritpal Singh, the head of Waris Punjab De from Khadoor Sahib as an independent candidate in Panjab and two-time Member of Legislative Assembly Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid, as a candidate from Awami Ittehad Party’s (AIP) from Baramulla in Kashmir. While Amritpal is lodged in Dibrugarh, Assam charged under the National Security Act, Rashid who defeated former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by a margin of over 200K votes is charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and lodged in Tihar Jail, New Delhi. Neither of them has been sentenced. Like Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra, the widow of slain human rights lawyer Jaswant Singh Khalra campaigned for Amritpal, Rashid's sons Abrar and Asrar campaigned for him. Both Amritpal and Rashid won largely due to public sympathy for them. On 9 Jun, Amritpal wrote to the Panjab govt. seeking a temporary release to take oath as the MP. Now SAD, which contested against him, is asking for his release. In J&K various political parties are raising the demand to free Rashid who is the only political leader from Kashmir incarcerated for over five years following the revocation of Article 370 in 2019. While both their wins are positive for Indian democracy, the law’s concern over allowing them bail or freeing them is that as MPs, both of them will have access to a level of secret papers to which common citizens do not have access. Not freeing them will impact their ability to function as representatives of citizens of their constituencies and place a question mark on India’s democracy (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 23, Story 3).

While AAP sent three MPs from Panjab, it suffered losses in 60 of 92 assembly segments where they had won in 2022 and their vote share reduced from 42% to 26%. AAP lost in the assembly constituencies represented by eight ministers Lal Chand Kataruchak, Balkar Singh, Laljit Bhullar, Anmol Gagan Maan, Dr Baljit Kaur, Brahm Shankar Jimpa, Gurmeet Singh Khudian, and Harbhajan Singh. On 11 Jun, three AAP Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) skipped the meeting called by CM Bhagwant Mann for feedback on the elections. On 9 Jun, AAP MLA from Amritsar Central Dr Ajay Gupta spoke against the working style of the party. In his speech he said, ‘The government brutally failed on its major poll promises of eradicating corruption and drug addiction in the state,’ adding that these malpractices have been growing and have increased manifold in the last two years. In BJP, a section of leaders accused prominent party faces of deliberately staying away from Sanjay Tandon’s campaign in Chandigarh. Tandon blamed the lack of coordination between Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (BJP’s ideological parent organization) and BJP in Panjab. Meanwhile, Sheetal Angural, the AAP MLA who joined BJP did a U-turn and wanted to rejoin AAP before the election day. However, the Panjab Speaker accepted Angural’s resignation which he had delayed for two months. Now a bye-poll is scheduled for 10 Jul. SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia has asked the Minister of State from Ludhiana, Ravneet Singh Bittu to protect Panjab’s rights over Chandigarh. He cites the Union Ministry of Home Affairs memorandum of 4 Nov 1966 to assert the claim. Majithia ignores the fact that his party was in partnership with BJP for 24 years and they never raised the issue.

On 6 Jun, two days after the election results, in which Kangana Ranaut was elected Member of Parliament from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, she was passing through the Chandigarh airport, where she was escorted by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officers. At the security gate, Ranaut refused to place her purse and mobile phone in the scanner. When requested by on-duty personnel, a verbal fracas took place. Ranaut saw the name tag of one personnel and said, ‘Kaur? You are Khalistani!’ Ranaut boarded her flight, reached Delhi, and claimed she had been slapped by CISF personnel Kulwinder Kaur. A video emerged showing Kaur at the luggage console saying, ‘You said women at the Farmers Protest can be hired for Rs 100. Had you sat there for one day you would have known better. My mother was at the Protest.’ During the Farmers’ Protest 2020-21, Ranaut insulted the protesting grandmothers and used an elderly woman Mohinder Kaur’s picture in her tweet. Mohinder Kaur responded. Kulwinder was taken into custody by Panjab police but has not been arrested. Ranaut issued a statement that ended with her being concerned about the rise of ‘terrorism and violence in Panjab.’ Kulwinder comes from a family whose members have served the country in 1965, 1971, and other wars. While many knowing Ranaut’s past foul utterances cheered Kulwinder’s slap, farmers carried out solidarity rallies, and some invoked the misdemeanor in uniform. At the core of this issue is that Sikhs have huge representation in military services, but they are also human with sharp sensibilities. Public figures must not abuse the community.

On 1 Jun, a meeting of the Sikhs took place at Patna. They decided to form a seven-member body – Patna Sahib Panth Sewak Jatha (PSPSJ). Charanjeet Singh, a former general secretary of the Takht Patna Sahib Parbandhak Committee, will lead the jatha (group). PSPSJ's mandate is to seek elections to the Takht Patna Sahib Parbandhak Committee, whose term ended in July 2023. A PSPSJ statement said it would uphold the constitution of Takht Patna Sahib and decided to ‘approach the Supreme Court to ensure immediate elections to the committee.’ Takht Patna Sahib’s leadership has been in crisis for a while now. For a long time, Giani Iqbal Singh was the Jathedar (2000-2019). Charges of polygamy were raised against him and he was dismissed from his position. In 2022, he was declared Tankhaiya (guilty of religious misconduct). After him, Giani Rajinder Singh lasted a mere six months and Giani Ranjit Singh Gauhar-e-Maskeen was made the Jathedar but was also suspended in September 2022 due to allegations of attempts to establish supremacy in connivance with members of the management board. In December 2022, then-acting Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh appointed Giani Baldev Singh as the Takht Patna Sahib Jathedar, but this decision was objected to because he was supposedly not proficient in recitation of panj bani (five core compositions). The existing board members were allowed to continue till 15 Jan 2023, until the next elections, which have been delayed. This internal fracas at the Takht Patna Sahib was exploited by PM Narendra Modi who appeared in Patna, Bihar, in a Sikh turban to canvas for votes in recent elections (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 21 Story 2).

A few weeks ago, Zee Media interviewed AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. Citing  ‘objectionable content’ in the interview, Zee published only excerpts of the interview on 24 May. AAP-ruled Panjab govt. insisted the whole interview must be aired. When Zee Media refused, the Panjab govt. threatened them with the withdrawal of state advertisements which is a big source of revenue. On 3 Jun, Essel Group – which owns Zee Media – Chairman Subhash Chandra held a press conference in Delhi where he rued India’s declining position on global indices –  159/180 on Freedom of Press. It is ironic that Zee Media, which has for a decade unabashedly supported the right-wing Indian govt., is now speaking against censorship in Panjab, where for months hundreds of media accounts and citizen journalists have been censored. Meanwhile in West Panjab, Pakistan, Panjab Governor Malik Ahmad Khan signed the controversial Punjab Defamation Bill after which the provincial govt. issued a gazette notification amid concerns over press freedom. Earlier in the day, the Lahore High Court Registrar’s Office removed the objection raised against the law, declaring the petition admissible. Journalists in Panjab, Pakistan are objecting to the new law saying the law’s definitions of ‘journalist’ and ‘newspaper’ were vague, irrational, and ambiguous. According to the petition, the law provides initiation of defamation claims without any proof, which is a clear violation of Article 10-A (fair trial) of the Constitution. On 1 Jun, global press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Pakistan’s new federal and provincial authorities to address ‘an alarming deterioration in press freedom’ over recent months (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 13 Story 6).

A new book on oral testimonies of women who survived the 1984 anti-Sikh genocide in Delhi is releasing soon. The Kaurs of 1984: The Untold, Unheard Stories of Sikh Women is based on extensive research by Jammu & Kashmir-based author Sanam Sutirath Wazir and published by HarperCollins India. Wazir was formerly Campaign head of Amnesty International's Justice for the anti-Sikh massacre of 1984 campaign. Wazir has spent nine years studying Panjab and the anti-Sikh massacre. In 2015, he released his first report on the violence against Sikhs, titled Continued Injustice for the 1984 Sikh Massacre. An excerpt from the book: ‘Where were the Kaurs of 1984 while this carnage was taking place? My conversations with the survivors of the massacres reveal a grim timeline. Between 31 October 1984 and 2 November 1984, Sikh women across Delhi were either hiding or running around the national capital with their children, looking for safety. Those who were caught by the mob were either abducted or raped. Among the women I spoke to, those who had witnessed Partition told me that in their eyes, 1984 was no different from 1947 in the kind of gendered violence that broke out across the capital. Women were at the heart of crimes of revenge and communalism in 1947, and they were at the heart of similar crimes in 1984 as well. Their own families brutalized them too, by forcing them to stay silent in order to safeguard the chastity and purity of the family, thinking who would marry these girls if the truth became known.’