Beginning with this article, Babushahi.com would bring to its readers the developments leading to Operation Bluestar in June 1984. The same has been compiled by Jagtar Singh in his book Khalistan Struggle: A non-movement who was an eye witness to the situation as The Indian Express staffer covering Punjab. Heere is an account of the secret meetings the Akali leaders had with the centre before the army action. Secret Meetings The Akali leaders had altogether nine secret meetings with the government at the Centre since the launch of the Morcha till Operation Bluestar. Two rounds of talks were held at 27, Safdarjung, on November 16 and 17 1982 by Badal, Balwant Singh, Ravi Inder Singh and R.S. Bhatia with Union Ministers including R. Venkataraman, P.C. Sethi and Shiv Shankar. Also present were Congress MP Amarinder Singh and bureaucrats P.C. Alexander and T. N. Chaturvedi. Another meeting was organized at the same venue on January 17, 1983. The participants on the Akali side included Badal, Tohra and Ravi Inder Singh while the Congress side was represented by Rajiv Gandhi, Amarinder Singh, Krishnaswami Rao Sahib and P.C. Alexander. These very Akali leaders had another meeting with the same set of people on January 24, 1984. Tohra, Barnala, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia and Randhir Singh Cheema explored the possibility of resolving the Punjab tangle with Narasimha Rao in Chandigarh on March 27. The meeting was also attended by Rao Sahib, Alexander and Home Secretary M.M.K. Wali. This was followed by a meeting between Badal and Narasimha Rao in Delhi the very next day with the same set of officers also present. Narasimha Rao returned to Chandigarh on March 29 to meet Tohra, Badal, Barnala and other leaders he had met earlier. This time, Special Home Secretary Prem Kumar was also there. In one of these meetings, the Centre tried to give the impression that Chandigarh could be transferred to Punjab and the issue of the rest of the Punjabi-speaking areas be entrusted to a commission. This was subject to the settlement of the river waters dispute. One of the Akali leaders proposed that the Centre should allocate one MAF additional water to Punjab rather than going in for a tribunal. Held at Alexander’s residence, the meeting was also attended by Balwant Singh, Amarinder Singh, Ravi Inder Singh, Narasimha Rao, Shiv Shanker and T.N. Chaturvedi. According to one of the participants, the Prime Minister seemed to be favourably inclined to this suggestion. An aircraft was kept ready to fly the Akali leaders to Amritsar. The understanding was to make the announcement of acceptance of demands and the withdrawal of the Morcha simultaneously, by the government in Delhi and by the Akalis in Amritsar. However, that Akali leader again changed his mind on the river waters issue in favour of the tribunal. Surjeet was also invited to the venue of the meeting. The plane never took off as the final word never came from the Prime Minister. After waiting for a long time, when Indira Gandhi was contacted, it was conveyed that the parleys were off. In between, Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, who was camping in Delhi, had got wind of the proceedings of the meeting and called on Indira Gandhi. The talks appeared to have been sabotaged. However, Bhajan Lal could not have dictated a powerful leader like Gandhi and the decision against settlement was part of her own calculations. Some more meetings were held prior to Operation Bluestar. Chandigarh Airport’s lounge was the venue of one such meeting on April 21. The central team including Narasimha Rao and Mukherjee along with a team of officers was there to interact with Tohra, Badal, Barnala, Ramoowalia and Cheema. This was followed by another meeting at a guest house in New Delhi on April 26. This meeting with Narasimha Rao, Mukherjee and Shiv Shankar was attended by Tohra, Badal and Barnala. At one of the secret meetings as deposed by Tohra, Badal was to be brought from Tihar Jail (where he was lodged in early 1984) to Burail Jail where both Tohra and Barnala were detained. Narasimha Rao and Alexander were to attend that meeting on behalf of the government. However, Badal could not be brought to the venue of this secret meeting for some reasons. The emissaries of Indira Gandhi discussed the proposal to divide Chandigarh with the two Akali leaders. Very sorry, Madam does not agree In the January 24, 1984 meeting at New Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi sought views of Tohra as to what should be done. Tohra shot back saying that the Centre had linked the Punjab problem to the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. His apprehension was that the Congress would play the Hindu card and that the elections to the Delhi Municipal Corporation were just an experiment in this regard. The second experiment had been done in Jammu and Kashmir. Tohra gave the example of Indira Gandhi addressing public meetings at Gurdaspur and Batala in Punjab during Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections to give the impression that she was fighting against Khalistanis while projecting herself as a saviour of the Hindus. Tohra said that under the given situation, he did not expect any solution. It was at this point that Rajiv Gandhi, unconsciously, hinted at the future plans regarding Punjab. He said that in case Congress was determined to play the Hindu card, then Hindus would be the happiest if Army was sent into the Darbar Sahib complex. Tohra reacted by saying his doubts had been confirmed as that exactly was the design. Rajiv Gandhi vehemently denied any such move. He gave the impression that come what may, the Army would not enter Darbar Sahib. Within a few days, Tohra’s worst fears came true. The Akali leaders had their last meeting with the Centre on May 26. The Akalis were represented by Tohra, Badal and Barnala, and the government’s representatives included Narsimha Rao, Mukherjee and Shiv Shankar. The Akali leaders were air lifted from Chandigarh and taken to a guest house at R.K. Puram in Delhi. The formula discussed included the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab within eight days, setting up of a commission for the left-out Punjabi-speaking areas, referring the river water dispute to the Supreme Court and the Anandpur Sahib Resolution to a commission. The Akali leadership proposed that the adjudication of the river waters dispute by the Supreme Court should be within the framework of the established riparian principles. The Akali leaders also pressed for declaration of Punjabi as second language in neighbouring Haryana and Delhi and enactment of the All India Gurdwara Legislation. Shiv Shankar wanted assurance on behalf of Sant Bhindranwale of which Tohra took the responsibility. The Akali leaders also suggested that Haryana could be given some areas from Uttar Pradesh in case the Centre had any apprehensions on that score. The meeting continued for more than four hours. It was for the first time that negotiators from the government had not raised many objections to the Akalis’s suggestions. The negotiators from the government side said they would meet them again after consulting the Prime Minister. It was around 4.30 in the evening when they returned and said, “Very sorry. Madam does not agree.” Indira Gandhi had rejected the formula. Operation Bluestar was on. Tohra shared the contents of these meetings years later. After these meetings, the SGPC chief conveyed to Longowal that the government was not serious. Both the leaders were convinced that it was a subterfuge to gain time for the Army action and that the PM’s intentions were mala fide. He also shared that the Army had prepared a model of the Darbar Sahib complex at Chakrata near Dehradun to train the commandoes. On June 2, Longowal instructed Tohra to call a party meeting to discuss the situation. It is significant that the Prime Minister did not have any direct interaction with the top Akali leadership after April 5, 1982. Of course, Tohra was approached by Buta Singh and Darbara Singh sometime in 1983 for secret talks with Indira. Buta Singh had met Tohra at the dera of Baba Harbans Singh near Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi. Tohra was of the view that it would not be possible to keep meeting with the PM a secret. The meeting could materialize only if Longowal gave him clearance. Later, Darbara Singh met him at night at the official residence of Tohra in Delhi. He also made the similar offer. Tohra again gave the same reply that the direction for the meeting should come from Longowal as meeting Indira Gandhi in secret would be suicidal. Giani Gurdit Singh also met him with the offer to arrange his meeting with Giani Zail Singh. Governor Requisitions Army It was Tohra’s meeting with Governor B.D. Pande that generated a lot of controversy and it was after this meeting that he was accused of giving a green signal for the Army action. Here is Tohra’s own version. He had suggested to Badal to meet the Governor with the demand to lift ban on the AISSF. However, later he himself sought an appointment and the meeting lasted about 45 minutes. Pande put the pre-condition of an incident-free week for accepting the demand. Suddenly, Tohra told the Governor that it seemed he was not taking him seriously. It was at this stage that Tohra expressed his apprehension of the Army attack. The Governor was categorical in saying that as long as he was in the office, Army action could be ruled out. This was later conveyed by him to Longowal as well as Sant Bhindranwale. Sant Bhindranwale’s opinion, expressed in the presence of Major General Shabeg Singh, was that maintaining peace was not under his control. At the same time, he told Tohra not to worry about the ban saying that the government would be forced to lift it within 24 hours the day the Taksal decided on it. His meeting with Sant Bhindranwale lasted about half an hour. Amrik Singh, who was also present, said it would be seen as to how Tohra succeeds in getting the ban lifted. The SGPC chief said it was all in his hands. Despite the opposition to the Army action expressed by the Governor, Tohra continued to be apprehensive. The security forces assessed the strength of the militants and position of the fortifications inside the Darbar Sahib complex in the heaviest ever exchange of fire on June 1 lasting more than five hours. The Akali Dal and the SGPC lodged strong protests with President Giani Zail Singh and the Governor against the firing. Curfew was imposed in the walled areas of the city. Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kirpal Singh and Darbar Sahib Head Priest Giani Sahib Singh reacted to the firing saying it was a “challenge to the Khalsa Panth and the Sikh organisations”. They appealed to the Sikh masses to give a befitting reply to the paramilitary forces for violating the sanctity of Darbar Sahib complex.7 In the views of the SGPC chief, this firing was the beginning of assault on the shrine complex. Repeated attempts from Chandigarh to establish telephonic contact with Sant Bhindranwale late in the evening that day did not succeed despite efforts by the men in the telephone exchange who were also curious to know as to what was happening in Amritsar as the lines to the Darbar Sahib complex were not getting through. Jagtarsingh201@gmail.com Mobile: 9779711201