Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (born 1947, Rodey [or Rode], India—died June 6, 1984, Amritsar) was a Sikh religious leader and political revolutionary whose violent campaign for autonomy for a Sikh state in Punjab and armed occupation of the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) complex in Amritsar led to Operation Blue Star, a deadly confrontation with the Indian military, in 1984.

Early life and political rise

Jarnail Singh was born into a Sikh peasant family in Rodey (Rode), a village near Faridkot in what is now southwestern Punjab state, India. He attended a residential Sikh seminary (taksal) in the village of Bhindran (near Sangrur), where students were trained to become granthis (custodians of the gurdwaras [Sikh places of worship]), preachers, and ragis (singers of Sikh sacred hymns). The chief of the Bhindran taksal, Sant Gurbachan Singh, was widely revered. After his death in 1969, one of his followers, Sant Kartar Singh, moved to Mehta, in northwestern Punjab about 25 miles (40 km) east of Amritsar, and established a new Sikh seminary there called the Damdami Taksaal. Jarnail Singh accompanied him and succeeded him as head of the seminary after his death in 1977. At some point he took the name Bhindranwale (in reference to the village Bhindran).

Bhindranwale was known for his charisma as well as his knowledge of the scripture and history of Sikhism. He gained prominence in the Sikh community because of his forceful opposition to the reform-minded Nirankari sect, with whom mainstream Khalsa Sikhs increasingly clashed. In 1978 on Baisakhi Day—which celebrates Guru Gobind Singh’s establishment of the Khalsa—Bhindranwale sent a group of armed Sikhs to a Nirankari gathering that resulted in a confrontation in which 15 people died. The event brought Bhindranwale increased attention and led to the establishment of the militant Dal Khalsa group. Bhindranwale spoke passionately in favor of a fundamentalist version of Sikhism and against Hindu dominance in independent India. He was asked by Zail Singh of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party), who later became the president of India, to align with them in their effort to break the hold on rank-and-file Sikhs of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD; Supreme Akali Party). Bhindranwale obliged, but in the process he became increasingly aware of the role he might play in Sikh history. By setting himself as an example, Bhindranwale hoped to restore the Sikh community to its traditions of bravery and martyrdom. He argued against the SAD’s policy of peacefully negotiating its demands with the central government in New Delhi, insisting that political power in the Punjab was a Sikh right, not a gift of the Delhi regime. Bhindranwale succeeded in convincing a large number of rural Sikhs that the politics of the SAD were humiliating for them.

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Bhindranwale was not as vocal as others in the Sikh political world at the time about an independent Khalistan. He would often say: “I am neither for independence nor against it, but if I am offered it I will not refuse it.” He was far more concerned with bringing about the demands for greater Sikh political autonomy proposed by the SAD in the 1973 Anandpur Sahib Resolution. The SAD was willing to negotiate with the union government on these demands, but Bhindranwale wanted them to be implemented in full with no negotiation.

Move to the Golden Temple

In September 1981 Bhindranwale was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the murder of Lala Jagat Narain, a prominent Hindu newspaper editor who had frequently spoken out against Sikhs and Bhindranwale in particular. He was soon set free for lack of evidence, but his perceived triumph over the government quickly made him into a hero—as he said: “The government has done more for me in one week than I could have achieved in years.” The situation in Punjab devolved into communal violence between Sikhs and Hindus. In April 1982 heads and other parts of dead cows—animals sacred to Hindus—were found thrown into Hindu temples, and the militant, Bhindranwale-associated Dal Khalsa group claimed responsibility. In July 1982 Amrik Singh, Bhindranwale’s right-hand man and son of his guru, was arrested; Bhindranwale was infuriated but concerned that he might also be in danger, so he took up residence in a hostel near the Golden Temple that, although not officially on religious ground, was close enough that the union government might hesitate to violate it through police action.

Sikh agitation and union government reactions pushed many Sikhs from the relatively moderate SAD to the extreme Bhindranwale camp. Parliament discussed arresting Bhindranwale. Seeking refuge from potential arrest, and in open conflict with the more moderate Akali Dal leader Harchand Singh Longowal, who also resided in the Golden Temple complex, by the end of 1983 Bhindranwale petitioned the religious authorities to allow him to live in and run his operation from the Akal Takht—the center of religious and political authority in Sikhism.

Death in Operation Blue Star

Seemingly safe inside the Akal Takht, Bhindranwale gathered a considerable following of like-minded Sikhs and stockpiled weapons. He refused to negotiate with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who sought to quell the growing unrest in Punjab, and referred to her reproachfully as “brahmin woman” or “pandit’s daughter,” highlighting her Hindu heritage. The communal tension grew more dire as Bhindranwale’s forces eliminated their enemies with seeming impunity. In early June 1984 Gandhi ordered the implementation of Operation Blue Star, a deadly confrontation in which Indian troops surrounded and attacked the Golden Temple complex to dislodge Bhindranwale and his followers.

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After midnight on June 6 a full assault of the temple ensued, including heavy gunfire and tanks firing shells that destroyed the Akal Takht. Reports of the total number killed in the assault vary. More than 80 soldiers and at least hundreds of pilgrims caught in the crossfire were confirmed dead, according to government officials. Sikh sources, however, suggest that the number of soldiers and civilians killed may have been in the thousands. Bhindranwale was found dead, with multiple bullet wounds, in the basement of the ruined Akal Takht, although his exact cause of death remained unknown. The deaths of Bhindranwale, his associates, and pilgrims in the Golden Temple during the attack gave the Khalistan movement its first martyrs.