On 29th anniversary of Op Blue Star: Sequence of events preceding Operation Bluestar
Punjab and Chandigarh were formally handed over to the Army on June 2. An official announcement said, “In view of the escalating violence by terrorists in Punjab, the Governor of Punjab has asked the central government for the assistance of the Army to help in restoring law and order. The Government has accepted the Governor’s recommendation. The Army has been called in aid of the civil authority and Lt Gen Ranjit Singh Dayal, Chief of Staff, Western Command, has taken over as Adviser (Security) to the Governor of Punjab. The paramilitary forces deployed in Punjab will continue their work but under the overall command of the Army. In order to ensure coordinated action against terrorist activities, which in recent days, have extended to the Union territory of Chandigarh, the Governor of Punjab has been appointed Administrator of the Union territory of Chandigarh also, as a temporary arrangement for two months.” 8 For the record, the Army had been deployed on the recommendation of the Governor, who, a few days earlier, had very categorically assured Tohra against it. Normally, it is the district magistrate who is supposed to requisition the army. However, in this case, that formality had been done at the higher level, by the head of the state, the Governor. The army action was not confined just to the Darbar Sahib complex. Indira Gandhi came out with her final words on the situation in Punjab through her broadcast to the nation over the All India Radio in the evening of June 2. She said, “The reality that has emerged is not the adequacy or otherwise of the terms of settlement offered by the government on the various Akali Dal demands, but the fact that the agitation is now in the hands of a few who have scant regards for the unity and integrity of the country or concern for communal peace and harmony or the continued economic progress of Punjab. Every three or four months a new morcha is started, and Punjab is torn by a senseless and tragic strife. Terrorists and anti-social elements have gained the upper hand. Innocent people, Sikhs and Hindus, have been killed. There is arson, looting and sabotage. Holy shrines have been turned into shelters for criminals and murderers. Their sanctity as places of worship has been undermined. A deliberate and systematic campaign is spreading bitterness and hatred between Hindus and Sikhs. And worst of all, the unity and integrity of our motherland is being openly challenged by a few who find refuge in holy shrines”. The hint was clear about the impending action. About the Akali demands, she said, “Whenever the demands did not affect the rights of other states or where they could be fitted into a wider framework, the government had no hesitation in accepting them.” As she was advising the Akalis in her broadcast to continue the talks with an appeal to call off their proposed non-cooperation agitation, the Army was out for the decisive action. Ironically, her speech ended with the appeal: “Don’t shed blood, shed hatred.” She herself became victim of the deadly politics reinforcing the Sikhs’ belief that anyone who orders attack on Darbar Sahib does not survive. The Prime Minister got the necessary support including from the media. “Not to mince words, the war on the terrorists cannot be won so long as their leaders can continue to function from within the sanctuaries of various Gurudwaras, especially the Golden Temple in Amritsar. And the war has to be won if India has to live. This means that it is not desirable to delay for long an operation to flush out the criminals.”9 The media behaved as if the Army was to attack a foreign country. Punjab was virtually treated as a foreign land by the armed forces. Longowal and Tohra reacted to the Army deployment calling it “a terrible blow to the peaceful and the democratic agitation of the Akali Dal” and convened a meeting of the party MPs, MLAs, district unit presidents and the executive committee on June 4 to discuss the situation. They said the Akali Dal was fighting against injustice and discrimination and it would continue to do so till the end. They declared that they would face “all the atrocities, oppressions and aggressions boldly”. Tohra had gone to Amritsar to attend the June 3 meeting of the party working committee convened by Longowal to discuss, among other things, the situation arising out of the CRPF firing on the shrine complex. The only other leaders to reach Amritsar included Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. They informed Longowal that Badal had left for Uttar Pradesh. It was decided to hold the meeting on June 4. Both Dhindsa and Bhunder went back while Tohra stayed put in Amritsar. Longowal tried to contact the PM to lodge his protest over the June 1 firing but could not succeed. Tohra wrote a letter to her the same day, which was delivered to the DC. Later the DC conveyed that the letter had reached the Prime Minister. Hundreds of devotees had started gathering in the complex for the Martyrdom Day of Guru Arjan Dev on June 3. The electricity and water supply to the shrine were cut in the night and telephones disconnected. Indira Gandhi had decided to attack Darbar Sahib on the Martyrdom Day of Guru Arjan Dev, whose peaceful sacrifice is unparalleled in the history of the region. President Giani Zail Singh put off his 10-day visit to Himachal Pradesh. Earlier, the PM had a discussion with him, their longest meeting ever since Giani Zail Singh had been elected the President. The Akali Dal, on June 3, rejected PM’s appeal to call off the non-cooperation agitation while describing her broadcast as a distortion of facts. The Morcha Dictator made it clear that there was no change in the party programme. He demanded that his party should also be allowed to broadcast its views on the All India Radio for the same amount of time as the PM. In Delhi, the situation in Punjab was reviewed at a high-level meeting that was attended by Krishnaswamy Rao Sahib, Alexander, security adviser to the Prime Minister R.N. Kao, Wali and Prem Kumar. On June 3, Punjab and Chandigarh were placed under 36-hour curfew from 8 pm onwards and all train and bus services were suspended. The curfew was extended later. Not only the movement of private vehicles including trucks, cars, jeeps, mobikes, but animal and hand driven carts and bicycles were also banned. Communication links with Punjab were snapped. The telephones in the entire city of Amritsar went dead, including those of the district police chief and except that of the DC and the local Intelligence Bureau chief. Publication of newspapers in the region was suspended in view of the curfew. The Chandigarh administration issued a notification banning media coverage of the Akali agitation and operations of the security forces for two months on the logic of maintaining communal harmony and public order. The government in Punjab had already issued this notification the previous night. Due to the censorship, people in Punjab started depending upon Radio Lahore and the BBC. Wali said in Delhi on June 4 that the militants hiding in religious places would be served with the notice to come out and surrender. The Army had been assigned the task of restoring complete normalcy in the state. The action to be taken was to be decided by the Army commander in consultation with the local authorities. As per Tohra’s deposition in the Supreme Court, he went to the sarovar in the early morning of June 4. It was at that time that heavy firing started targeting the complex. He returned to his room in the Teja Singh Samundari Hall. Longowal, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Abinashi Singh, Bhan Singh, Darshan Singh Issapur, Nachhattar Singh and Jagir Singh had also gathered there. The firing continued incessantly. Tanks and armoured vehicles entered the shrine on June 5 through Gate No 2 on the langar side. The Army men came out of the armoured personnel carriers and entered Guru Ram Das Serai where pilgrims were staying. They started breaking the doors of the rooms and lobbing hand grenades without any warning. A large number of devotees died. Medical aid was refused to the injured. Tohra also said that he saw Army personnel looting and setting the Sikh reference library on fire from the SGPC office complex where his room was located. It was after the imposition of curfew that Tohra had a meeting with Sant Bhindranwale who advised him to leave the complex and go abroad to undertake political work to carry forward the Sikh struggle. He assured that his escape would be managed by his supporters. However, Tohra said Sant Bhindranwale would be the best suited for the purpose and he should escape. Sant Bhindranwale refused. (Jagtar Singh in his book Khalistan Struggle- A Non-movement)