Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale
I was a baby when Punjab was going through great turmoil. Upto this day, I believe along with many fellow Punjabis, whether Hindus or Sikhs, that Indira Gandhi was to blame for placing Sant Bhindrawale against the Akalis. Congress has been wrongly believed to be a Hindu Government by many gullible Sikhs & I reckon also Sant Bhindrawale himself believed the same. He later on found out himself that he had been placed at the Akal Takht for the sole destruction of the Sikh political body - the main player of this game was Indira herself who wanted a puppet ( Sant Bhindrawale ) to control Punjab for the benefit of Congress & its dirty political games.
So much happened in Punjab prior to Bhindrawale becoming a 'Sant' - many murders of innocent Punjabis - both Hindus & Sikhs - countrysides saw massacres of Hindus being singled out on buses by goons posing as 'Sikhs' & vice verse - goons who would pose as Hindus would single out innocent Sikhs & murder them. The Congress Government & its media would blame both the Sikhs as well as the Hindus of Punjab for these gruesome murders & killings. Over 20,000 men & boys - Sikhs & Hindus - disappeared through the many police swipes which were made under the orders of Indira Gandhi.
This would remain as one of the ugliest chapters of Indian political history - the other is the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus - again orchestrated by Congress in 1990. Both occurred under the Congress only.
Sant Bhindrawale was no doubt the 'Frankestein' placed at the heart of Punjab politics by Indira Gandhi as her agent at Amritsar. Later on, it seems Bhindrawale while studying all the Guru Banis at Shri Harmandirji (Golden temple) actually grew enlightened about the bad karma he had accumulated by wanting to destroy the sanctity of Shri Harimandirji. And he truly did become a Sant. He certainly had some role or hand behind several shootings as well as murders of a few well known names in the Police & army prior to entering the Darbar Sahib. The only problem with Santji was that he played straight into the 'minority card' of Them & Us - Sikhs & Hindus. The divide between two brothers born of the same mother was to begin through Sant Bhindrawale's speeches. He was wrongly portrayed as the 'Ayatollah of India' by the Pseudo-secular media of India, which is by the way, no friend of the Hindus either. I believe there is another side to the story of this episode, despite many rumours & claims about Bhindrawale being a terrorist. I have always believed that Sant Bhindrawale's side of story is far far more nearer the truth than the version given to us by the anti-Sikh/ anti-Hindu Congress which is in fact a Muslim appeasing party - one that has successfully planted the seeds of hatred between Sikhs & Hindus - or lets just put it simply shall we? - between the two brothers belonging to the same Sanatan heritage.
I have never supported a Khalistan to be made out of Indian soil & somehow some of Sant Bhindrawale's views are also very extremist by setting Sikhs apart from Hindus. His many followers are actually going against the teachings of our great Gurus - were they to come back to Earth to witness the present Khalistani set up & the SGPC which is totally anti Gurmat I'm absolutely sure they would be so shocked as well as disappointed the way in which Sanatan Sikhi has become so polluted. The Gurus were pro-Bharat Mata & never spoke of starting up a new 'religion' called Sikhism - nor did they advocate a Khalistan. They fought for Hindu Dharam which they too belonged to & so strongly believed in.
Always referring to Sikhs being 'slaves' & wanting to end 'Sikh slavery', this was an obvious ploy of Bhindrawale to separate Sikhs from their Hindu brothers. Not a genuine campaign on his part, but Sant Bhindrawale saw to it that Sikhi became a minority religion of India & gave it the minority politics. He truly allowed himself to be used in the Congress political game & his hatred for Hindus was also very obvious from his many speeches. It may be he considered Indira a devout Hindu which she truly wasn't - and that gave him a reason to hate all Hindus of India. The truth is which many Sikhs do not understand is that Indira never was a Hindu - not in her lifestyle, her upbringing, her married life & not to forget her anti-India & anti-Hindu poilitics.
Khalistan was a British separatist plan which was later on nurtured by Pakistan, who has never forgiven its defeat in Bangladesh thanks to the Sikhs in the Indian army. But there was some sincerity in the man Bhindrawale himself which has never stopped me from questioning about this whole Punjab episode. No doubts that Bhindrawale & his men were fully armed with weapons smuggled in from across the borders from Pakistan - they were a bunch of anti-nationals & anti-Sanatan Dharmis but the term terrorist is bit too harsh compared to the Islamic terror outfits of Lashkar - e - Toyabaan or Mujahedeen.
Here are some videos of Santji speaking openly to Swami Vishnu & a very rare dialogue. I will let you readers decide for yourselves after watching these videos - was Santji really a terrorist? Or was it that he became a pawn for Indira through her dictatorial political games? And yes, there is no doubt, Bhindrawale too became hungry for power at the Akal Takht as time progressed.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3