Author Topic: Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (Read 3986 times)

Pj Sarpanch · « **on:** February 03, 2011, 08:46:37 AM »

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

Born   Jarnail Singh Brar
February 12, 1947
Rode, Faridkot, Punjab (British India)
Died   June 6, 1984 (aged 37)
Akal Takht Complex, Amritsar, Punjab (India)
Nationality   Indian
Ethnicity   Punjabi (Brar)
Occupation   Head of Damdami Taksal
Religion   Sikhism
Spouse   Bibi Pritam Kaur
Children   Ishar Singh and Inderjit Singh[1]
Parents   Joginder Singh and Nihal Kaur

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (Punjabi: ਜਰਨੈਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਭਿੰਡਰਾਂਵਾਲੇ [dʒəɾnɛl sɪ́ŋɡ pɪ̀ɳɖɾɑnʋɑɭe], born Jarnail Singh Brar[2] (Punjabi: ਜਰਨੈਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਰਾੜ)) (February 12, 1947 – June 6, 1984) was the controversial leader of the Damdami Taksal, a Sikh religious group based in India,[3] who supported implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.[4][5][6][7] He tried to spread his perceived values of Sikhism. In 1981, Bhindranwale was arrested for his suspected involvement in the murder of Jagat Narain, the proprietor of the Hind Samachar Group. He surrendered to police but was later released due to lack of evidence, however, Bhindranwale was kept on close watch by Indian police officials. Bhindranwale is more notable for his involvement in Operation Blue Star in which he and his supporters, most of them radicalized Sikhs who believed in Bhindranwale's objectives, occupied the Akal Takht complex, including the Golden Temple, in Amritsar.[8][9] He was killed by the Indian Army, who had orders from Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove all armed militants inside the temple. Since his death, Bhindranwale has remained a controversial figure in Indian history. While Sikhs highest authority Akal Takht describe him a “great martyr” of the Sikh community, who made “supreme sacrifice” for the sake of “faith”, other view him as a misguided militant.

Early life

Bhindranwale was born in the village of Rode, in the Faridkot District located in the region of Malwa (Punjab). His father, Joginder Singh, was a farmer and a local Sikh leader.[1] Jarnail Singh was the seventh of eight brothers. He was brought up as a strict vegetarian.[10] In 1965, he was enrolled by his father at the Damdami Taksal, a religious school, near Moga, Punjab, then headed by Gurbachan Singh Khalsa.[1] After a one year course in Sikh studies he returned to farming again. He continued his studies under Kartar Singh, who was the new head of the Taksal. He quickly became the favourite student of Kartar Singh.[11] Kartar Singh was fatally injured in a car accident and nominated Bhindranwale as his successor, in preference to his son Amrik Singh. Amrik Singh later became close associate of Bhindranwale.[12]
He married Pritam Kaur, daughter of Sucha Singh of Bilaspur.[1] His wife bore him two sons, Ishar and Inderjit Singh, in 1971 and 1975, respectively.[1] Pritam Kaur died of heart ailment at age 60, on September 15, 2007 in Jalandhar.[13]
Rise to popularity

In Punjab, Bhindranwale went from village to village as a missionary and asked people to live according to the rules and tenets of Sikhism. He preached to disaffected young Sikhs, encouraging them to return to the path of Khalsa by giving up vices like sex, drugs, alcohol and tobacco.[14] His focus on fighting for the Sikh cause made appealed to many young Sikhs. Due to his religious background[dubious – discuss] as a preacher, his followers formally called him Bhindranwale Mahapurkh, which meant "The Great Man from Bhindran". Bhindranwale became the new leader of the Damdami Taksal when Kartar Singh Khalsa, the successor to Gurbachan Singh Khalsa, who died in a road accident on August 16, 1977, nominated Bhindranwale.[1] Bhindranwale was formally elected at a bhog ceremony at Mehta Chowk on August 25, 1977.[1]
Bhindranwale participated in some behind-the-scenes political work. In 1979, when Bhindranwale put up forty candidates in the SGPC elections for a total of 140 seats, he won only four of the seats.[15] A year later, Bhindranwale campaigned actively for Congress in three constituencies' during the general elections.[16] Due to his lack of success in election politics, he later claimed he did not personally seek any political office. According to a 1984 Time Magazine article, Bhindranwale's popularity reached such a peak that he overthrew the authority of the Shiromani Akali Dal, a Punjab-based Sikh political party.[17] In any event, Bhindranwale did wield a great deal of power, and the political factions within Punjab could not commit any major action without considering Bhindranwale's reaction.[18]
Bhindranwale was widely perceived to be a supporter of the creation of a Sikh majority state of Khalistan. In a BBC interview, he stated that if the government agreed to the creation of such a state, he would not refuse. Other quotes attributed to Bhindranwale on Khalistan include "we are not in favour of Khalistan nor are we against it". Responding to the formation of Khalistan he is quoted as saying, "I don't oppose it nor do I support it. We are silent. However, one thing is definite that if this time the Queen of India does give it to us, we shall certainly take it. We won't reject it. We shall not repeat the mistake of 1947. As yet, we do not ask for it. It is Indira Gandhi's business and not mine, nor Longowal's, nor of any other of our leaders. It is Indira's business. Indira should tell us whether she wants to keep us in Hindostan or not. We like to live together, we like to live in India."[19] To which he added, "if the Indian Government invaded the Darbar Sahib complex, the foundation for an independent Sikh state will have been laid."[20] The BBC reported that he was daring law enforcement to react to his actions of fortifying the Golden Temple in order to bolster support.[21]
Role in the militancy

On April 13, 1978, a group of Amritdhari Sikhs of Akhand Kirtani Jatha went to protest against Nirankaris. The confrontation led to the murder of thirteen of demonstrators. The killing of the protesters disturbed many Sikhs. The Nirankari leader, Gurbachan Singh was even escorted to the safety of his home in Delhi by the Punjab police. When a criminal case was filed against him, the Baba had his case transferred to neighboring Haryana state, where he was acquitted the following year. The Punjab government of Akali Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal decided not to appeal the decision.[22] Among Sikhs there was a great frustration at this perceived sacrilege and the legal immunity of the perpetrators. This gave rise to new organizational expressions of Sikh aspirations outside the Akali party. It also created an unfortunate sentiment amongst some that if the government and judiciary would not prosecute perceived enemies of Sikhism, taking extrajudical measures could be justified.[23] The chief proponents of this attitude were the Babbar Khalsa founded by the widow, Bibi Amarjit Kaur of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha, whose husband Fauja Singh had been at the head of the march in Amritsar; the Damdami Taksal led by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who had also been in Amritsar on the day of the outrage; the Dal Khalsa, formed with the object of demanding a sovereign Sikh state; and the All India Sikh Students Federation, which was banned by the government.
When the Nirankari Baba who was allegedly responsible for the thirteen deaths in Amritsar was himself shot to death on April 24, 1980, Bhindranwale openly celebrated the development, which put him under suspicion. The FIR named nearly twenty people involved in the murder, most of whom had ties to Bhindranwale.[24] A member of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha, Ranjit Singh, surrendered and admitted to the assassination three years later, and was sentenced to serve thirteen years at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.
Lala Jagat Narain, the editor of a widely circulated paper in which he had campaigned against Punjabi being adopted as a medium of instruction in Hindu schools, urged Hindus of Punjab to reply to government census that Hindi and not Punjabi was their mother tongue and decried the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. He had also been present at the clash between the Nirankaris and the Akhand Kirtani Jatha.[25] Jarnail Singh had often spoken against him, so when the well-known editor was found killed on September 9, 1981, once again, his involvement was suspected. Two days after the assassination, police issued warrants for the arrest of Bhindranwale. A police search in Chando Kalan, a Haryana village, failed to produce an arrest. Upon seeing this, Bhidranwale publicly announced that he would surrender on September 20.[26] On September 20, 1981, Bhindranwale surrendered to the police at a function held in a Gurudwara Gurdarshan Parkash.[27] Over the next twenty-five days while Bhindranwale was held in custody, sporadic fights erupted in areas where Bhindranwale's accomplices had gathered. Bhindranwale was released on bail on October 15 as India's Home Minister, Giani Zail Singh announced in the Parliament that there was no evidence against Bhindrawale.[28] He left the Ferozepur jail a hero.[29]
Sanctuary in the Golden Temple

The law and order situation started to deteriorate. While the Akalis pressed on with their two-pronged strategy of negotiations and massive campaigns of civil disobedience directed at the Central Government, others were not so enamoured of nonviolence. Communists known as “Naxalites”, armed Sikh groups – the “Babbar Khalsa” and “Dal Khalsa (International)”, criminal gangs and the police clashed, and sometimes worked hand in hand. A covert government group known as the Third Agency was also engaged in dividing and destabilizing the Sikh movement through the use of undercover officers, paid informants and agents provocateurs.[30] Bhindranwale himself always wore a pistol belt and encouraged his followers to be armed.[31]
In July 1982, Sant Longowal invited Jarnail Singh Bindranwale to take up residence at the Golden Temple compound. He called the tough-minded Sant “our stave to beat the government.” [32] Bhindranwale subsequently took shelter with a large group of his armed followers, in the Guru Nanak Niwas (Guest house), in the precincts of the Golden Temple.[10]
Bhindranwale himself always wore a pistol belt and encouraged his followers to be armed.[31] In late July 1983, finding an increasing number of his followers arrested day by day, Bhindranwale left his base in Chowk Mehta to start a peaceful campaign for their release from the Golden Temple complex. From there, he joined his campaign to the Akali campaign for their political, economic, cultural, and religious demands.[33] In the chaos of Punjab, Bhindranwale developed a reputation as a man of principle who could settle people's problems about land, property or any other matter without needless formality or delay. The judgement would be accepted by both parties and carried out. This added to his popularity.[34]
On December 15, 1983, finding himself in danger of being arrested for threats he had made against some nationalist organizations, Jarnail Singh and his entourage moved to the holy Akal Takhat over the objections of Giani Kirpal Singh, the head priest of the place. Bhindranwale used his political connection with Gurcharan Singh Tohra, president of the Gurdwara committee and the man responsible for keeping the peace in the Golden Temple complex, to overrule the indignant head priest.[35] He fortified the temple with light machine-guns and sophisticated self-loading rifles were brought in.[24] Mark Tully and Satish Jacob wrote, "All terrorists were known by name to the shopkeepers and the householders who live in the narrow alleys surrounding the Golden Temple. ...The Punjab police must have known who they were also, but they made no attempt to arrest them. By this time Bhindranwale and his men were above the law."[36]
Death

On June 3, 1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi initiated Operation Blue Star and ordered the Indian Army to surround the Golden Temple complex to remove armed militants from the complex. Bhindranwale reportedly did not survive the operation...[37][38]
According to Lieutenant General Kuldip Singh Brar, who commanded the operation, the body of Bhindranwale was identified by a number of agencies, including the police, the Intelligence Bureau and militants in the Army's custody.[37] Bhindranwale's brother is also reported to have identified Bhindranwale's body.[39] Pictures of what appear to be Bhindranwale's body have been published in at least two widely circulated books, Tragedy of Punjab: Operation Bluestar and After and Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi's Last Battle. BBC correspondent Mark Tully also reported seeing Bhindranwale's body during his funeral.
People who maintain that he survived the operation include Dilbir Singh, the Public Relations Advisor at Guru Nanak Dev University.[38] He stated that Bhindranwale was injured on the right side of his temple. He stated, "a government doctor verified he was captured alive. He was tortured to death."[40][41] R.K. Bajaj, a correspondent for Surya magazine, claimed to have seen a photograph of Bhindranwale in custody.[42] This claim is strongly contested, especially by Bhindranwale's son who has now become a prominent figure within Sikh politics. Some within the Damdami Taksal claimed he is still alive.[3][38]
Legacy

Cynthia Keppley Mahmood wrote in Fighting for Faith and Nation: Dialogues With Sikh Militants that Bhindranwale never learned English but mastered Punjabi. He was adept at television, radio and press interviews.[43] Keppley further stated that "those who knew him personally uniformly report his general likability and ready humour as well his dedication to Sikhism".[43] The author further states that "Largely responsible for launching Sikh militancy, he is valorized by militants and demonised by enemies and the accounts from the two divergent sources seem to refer to two completely different persons."[43]
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was praised by many Sikhs as a martyr of our times,[44] but by others he was considered a militant.[3] Though famed Indian novelist, journalist and historian Khushwant Singh believed himself to be on Bhindranwale's hit list, he allowed that the Sikh preacher-become-activist genuinely made no distinction between higher and lower castes, and that he had a restored thousands of drunken or doped Sikh men, innured to porno films, to their families,[45] and that Operation Blue Star had given the movement for Khalistan its first martyr in Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.[46] In 2003, at a function arranged by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Joginder Singh Vedanti, former jathedar of the Akal Takht made a formal declaration that Bhindranwale was a "martyr" and awarded his son, Ishar Singh, a robe of honor.[47] Harbans Singh's The Encyclopedia of Sikhism describes Bhindranwale as "a phenomenal figure of modern Sikhism."[48]
Vir Sanghvi, one of India's leading political commentators said, "[Bhindranwale] remains a martyr in the eyes of many Sikhs. "[49] Bhindranwale is also criticised as being directly responsible for the instigation of Operation Blue Star after he intentionally turned the Akal Takht into a fortress.

Author Topic: Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (Read 3986 times)

Pj Sarpanch

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

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