Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale: Saint or Extremist?


‘As per Indian government (READ Indira Gandhi) Operation BLUE STAR had a mission, a mission to eliminate a deadly terrorist who with his sub-ordinates took shelter and had control of the Golden Temple in Amritsar’.
Sant Bhindrawale as he was popularly known used to preach about the Sikh religion basically to the youth of Punjab. The immense popularity in Punjab made him the Saint as he was religious preacher and asked the Sikh people to abandon bad habits like consumption of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. He used to teach the youth about the essence of pure Sikhism and asked them not to trim their beard and study the holy scriptures of their religion.
Bhindrawale became the head of the Damdami Taksal, a religious school in Moga,Punjab after Kartar Singh Khalsa died in a road accident in 1977. According to a 1984 TIME magazine article, Bhindranwale's popularity, power and presence reached such a peak that he overthrew the authority of the Shiromani Akali Dal, a Punajb based Sikh political party.
The extreme amount of power that he had lead to the violent incidents in Punjab with the killings of Hindus and the killing of many leaders of whom Bhindrawale opposed. Bhindrawale was arrested following the death of Lala Jagat Narain, the editor of Punjab Kesri. The event saw violent outburst from the followers of Bhindrawale and after a 25 days in the custody he was released and became a hero for his supporters.
He shifted his base to Akal Takth and made it his fortress with armed men all around.
After numerous violent episodes, Bhindrawale posed a threat to all the political parties of Punjab and the country which baffled the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. She ordered Operation BLUE STAR which had a mission, a mission to eliminate a deadly terrorist who with his sub-ordinates took shelter and had control of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
June 6,1984 was the day when Jairnal Singh Brar or Sant Bhindrawale was killed in Operation BLUE STAR and  with him died hundreds of pilgrims who
were present at Golden Temple. With this died a man who was a Saint for the Sikh people of Punjab and a terrorist as per the Indian government.
There is still a myth about his death, some say he is still alive and as per Lt.Gen.Kuldeep Singh Brar, head of Blue Star, the dead body of Bhindrawale was identified by police, several agencies and even by his brother and some other accomplices.
Some people consider him as a Saint and regard him as a Martyr and some believe he was a terrorist.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

karl marx said "we should see a person in the context of the contemporary political, social and economic situation".. thats one reason why we can never hate any historical/political figure. Hitler also did it for his people..or atleast claimed so. so did Jarnail singh. For us, he may be a terrorist. but for his people, he was a semi-divine person.. a saint.

tatva said...

the ideology of marx can never be accepted in a country like India which is democratic.
and yes there have been leaders who worked for their people and for their rights but if he indulges in practices which results in murders and atrocities on others then he should not be treated as a saint. i am not saying that Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale was a terrorist, but he definitely was an extremist to the government and a saint to his people and followers.