Operation Blue Star: Eyewitness account of last minutes of Sant Bhindranwale

Sant Bhindranwale memorial commemorates the fight that this maverick commanded 

Chandigarh, June 5, 2022: Sant Bhindranwale Martyrs Memorial in the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex commemorates the battle that was fought on this soil from June 1 to June 6, 1984.

This was one of the most unequal battles in Sikh history. Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who commanded this battle had resolved years back to sacrifice his life for the Panth. he lived up to his commitment.

Here goes the last-minute account of that valiant commanded

Eyewitness Account of Last Minutes of Sant Bhindranwale 

The army resorted to heavy shelling and firing on the Golden Temple complex in the early morning of June 4, 1984 beginning around 4.40 am. 

The whole of Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh had been placed under curfew earlier on June 3 beginning 8 pm with no movement being allowed even in the countryside. With the communication lines having been snapped, Punjab was cut off from the rest of the country. It was an all-out war between India and her ‘own people.’

The shrine had hundreds of innocent devotees, men and women of all ages and children, at that time. Sant Bhindranwale was in the Akal Takht where he had been staying for about eight months. 

The army units had started preparing for the attack around May 27 or 28 by way of laying infrastructure like communication lines. One light machine gun each was manned by Sukhdev Singh Sukha Sipahi alias Labh Singh and Kabul Singh positioned in the two pill boxes on the front side in the basement of the Akal Takht. 

These two slits had been opened by cutting the thick marble wall of the basement. The troops entered the shrine on June 5 around 9.30 pm beginning with the main entrance on the Ghanta Ghar side and the serai area Operation Bluestar: Indira Gandhi’s Fatal Blunder 149 150 Rivers on Fire: Khalistan Struggle after heavy shelling and intense firing had started on June 4 early in the morning. 

Three attempts by them to storm the Akal Takht were neutralized by heavy firing from the basement. The troops from 10 Guards who entered from the Ghanta Ghar side suffered heavy casualties, beginning with the stairs going down to the Parikarma. The rooms on both sides had ventilators towards these stairs where militants with automatics had taken positions. 

The next major hurdle that was encountered by the army was that the Akal Takht was not in direct firing line while the two pill boxes in the basement of that building covered both sides. 

It was in front of the Akal Takht that the army suffered maximum causalities. Firing stopped at one point from both the sides as the commanders reassessed the situation. There were no manholes from which the militants would come out to attack and withdraw as was widely reported in the papers at that time. 

There are no manholes but only a small size covered floodwater drain all around in the Parikarma. As the army faced unanticipated resistance, tanks were brought into the complex around 11.30 pm on June 5.

The earlier attempt to reach the Akal Takht using an armoured personnel carrier was thwarted as it was hit in the Parikarma by a rocket launcher. 

The armoured vehicle fitted with medium machine guns was later also inducted and placed at strategic points near the Akal Takht to make a direct hit. The tanks targeted the upper portion of the Akal Takht building but firing continued from the basement.

On the other side, there could be no replenishment of men and ammunition in the Akal Takht basement. It was on June 5 that Sant Bhindranwale tried to convince AISSF chief Bhai Amrik Singh to leave the complex as his successor to carry on the struggle later.

 However, he did not agree. Several announcements were made by the administration for the pilgrims to come out and to the militants to surrender beginning on June 4 till around 4 pm and the last around 5 am on June 6 when firing was stopped for some time. 

However, the van of the public relations department making the announcements had been stationed at a distance from the main entrance. General Shabeg Singh, who monitored the posts manned by militants, started walking towards the Akal Takht as the firing stopped after some time on the first day. He was not that fortunate as he came under fire near the flag posts but managed to enter the Akal Takht. 

He was taken to the basement to Sant Bhindranwale. Sant Bhindranwale placed his head in his lap. General Shabeg Singh uttered the last words saying he was proud of the fact that he was laying down his life for the defence of Darbar Sahib. 

“Had I been killed during the Bangladesh war, that would have been immaterial. Now I am dying at the Takht created by Guru Hargobind in the complex founded by Guru Ram Das,” were his last words. Shabeg was a decorated military officer who had played a major role during the 1971 war with Pakistan that resulted in liberation of then East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh. There were a number of retired army officers who supported the armed struggle but they were not active like General Shabeg Singh.

 As per the first-hand account provided by Balwinder Singh Khojkipur, Sant Bhindranwale gathered all his associates who were at the Akal Takht around 8.30 in the morning of June 6. It was blood all over the complex. Every inch in the area between Darshani Deodi of the Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht was covered with dead bodies.

He said now it would be a hand-to-hand fight as ammunition had been exhausted and those who wanted to leave could go. No one left and all of them prayed for the last time and performed Ardas. 

The escape passage was from the back of the Akal Takht through narrow lanes. This area was later demolished in the name of beautification. Amrik was ahead when they came out of the Akal Takht from the front. He was the first to be hit. Sant Bhindranwale’s driver Gurmukh Singh was also hit. Bhai Parsa Singh, Bhai Joga Singh, Bhai Dhanna Singh and Balwinder Singh Khojkipur, all injured, were handed over by the army to the Border Security Force and taken to Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital from where they were shifted to a camp about a week later.

Khojkipur, one of his personal bodyguards, is among the survivors. Sant Bhindranwale was near the flag post when he was hit by MMG fire. Before that, he had paid his obeisance with his face towards Darbar Sahib. Khojkipur who was with him too was hit and injured in the leg. 

He had come under the range of the armoured vehicle mounted MMG stationed nearby. It was due to MMG firing that one side of Sant Bhindranwale’s head was blown away. One militant Major Singh Warring remained in hiding during combing operations and was killed when he fired at the President of India Giani Zail Singh during his visit to the shrine on June 8. 

According to the information available, Sant Bhindranwale tried to contact Pakistan over the wireless set that was with his people at the Akal Takht when the attack began. 

However, it did not work. It had never been tested ever since it was smuggled in by Baba Devinder Singh. Operation Bluestar: Indira Gandhi’s Fatal Blunder 151 152 Rivers on Fire: Khalistan Struggle Sant Bhindranwale sent a message to the Baba staying in Guru Nanak Niwas who brought along the Babbar Khalsa activist Mehal Singh. 

Mehal Singh, who had been with the Indian Air Force and conversant with the operation of such equipment, said some parts were missing. His entire strategy was based on intervention by the Pakistan army and this was his biggest miscalculation. Thus both Indira Gandhi and Sant Bhindranwale had miscalculated. While her design was his surrender, he in turn erred in depending on Pakistan’s support.  

(From Rivers on Fire: Khalistan Struggle by Jagtar Singh).