GOVERNMENTS COWER AS BHINDRANWALE RE-EMERGES

NEW DELHI: The pro-Khalistan protests that paralysed Jammu, killed one youth in police firing, and had the Bharatiya Janata Party-Peoples Democratic Party government in the state blinking rapidly is a major assertion after decades for the separate state of Khalistan. Young Sikh youths clashed directly with the police, refusing to budge for three days, with the Army barely managing to control the region until the government caved in and allowed the Sikhs to honour slain separatist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale ceremonially.

The BJP that is normally loud in its attack on terrorism and separatism, mincing no words when it comes to Kashmir, is silent now about the loud assertion on the Jammu streets by Sikh youth who held the forces at bay until they were allowed to honour Bhindranwale. The young man who was killed in police firing was cremated amidst pro-Khalistan slogans, while the Indian state now under the rule of the BJP stood by helplessly. Bhindranwale’s nephew Daljit Singh attended the funeral amongst hundreds of mourners who made no secret of their support for a separate Sikh homeland.

Bhindranwale emerged in the form of tentative literature a few years after Operation Bluestar, in Amritsar. Slowly the industry has grown with CD’s of his speeches, T-shirts embossed with his image, and separatist literature being sold openly across Punjab and now even neighbouring states like Jammu and Kashmir. The leader who held sway over the Golden Temple in Amritsar was killed in ‘Operation Bluestar” by the Indian Army under the Indira Gandhi government. In the 1990’s the Bhindranwale cult was built slowly, with Sikhs in the US and the UK in particular active on this front. In UK Sikhs started observing his death anniversary every year with a big demonstration, with last years march through Hyde Park being the largest in a long while. The organisers gave the figure as 25,000.

The authorities have been noticing the big boost in Bhindranwale support but while intelligence agencies had been sounding the alarm for a while now, successive governments at the centre did not want to get involved for fear of the consequences on the vote bank in Punjab. As a senior official had told this writer at that time, “the government (UPA1) knows it all, but they don’t want to tackle this at all.” He shrugged when asked why the ostrich like approach, but clearly the governments have been kept informed but have remained silent on this issue.

The protests in Jammu after the government tried to remove Bhindranwale posters,is a clear turn in the curve. The support for the Sikh separatist leader is now more widespread than ever before, more open and clearly more aggressive. The defensiveness associated with Bhindranwale supporters has been replaced by a strong assertiveness with youth openly wearing his T shirts and pasting his posters in Jammu.

The Jammu protest could well be the first open beginning of a movement for a separate state. This has been support by Sikh groups in Punjab, with those opposed maintaining silence and taking care not to speak out against the pro-Bhindranwale young men at this stage. Instead Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Avtar Singh Makkar has blamed the police for the violence in which the youth was killed, and for hurting Sikh sentiments. He has written to Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to take action against the cops responsible for the youth’s death, saying “the situation may get out of control if the guilty cops are not arrested.”

A youth body calling itself the Sikh Youth Federation (Bhindranwale) has been active for a while now issuing statements and taking on organisations like the Shiv Sena. It might be recalled that the original Sikh Youth Federation led by Amrik Singh and Harminder Singh Sandhu had spearheaded the Khalistan movement in the 1980’s, being the political and the armed wing supporting Bhindrawale at the time. Shiv Sena has been issuing statements against Bhindranwale and has been warned repeatedly by the Students Federation leaders now to desist with the warning, “we will not tolerate any type of disrespect of Sikh martyrs by the goons of Shiv sena and they will be answered according to the circumstances.” In fact recently when Shiv Sena members got the police to file a court case against Sikh activist Manvinder Singh Giaspura in Ludhiana for printing Bhindranwale’s photographs on T-shirts, a group of Sikh youth wearing the offending T-shirts arrived in court in open defiance.

Senior Vice President of the organization, Bhai Ranjit Singh Sultanwind said earlier, “We respect all religions but if anyone would try to instigate our religious sentiments by disrespecting our martyrs, they would have to face great loss.” Interestingly the BJP in Punjab has maintained a stoic silence, being a mute witness to the growing support for Bhindranwale and Khalistan in the state. Sections of the Akali Dal are supportive, and officially there has been no opposition from the state government to these activities. Unofficially officials at the centre have been maintaining that the Akali Dal posturing has helped the separatists gain ground in Punjab.

Interestingly, an online petition urgeing US President Barack Obama to raise the issues of what is described as the “Sikh Genocide in November 1984” and the labeling of " Sikhs as Hindus under Article 25(b)" and "Sikh Genocide in November 1984" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi gathered over 1.10 lakh signatures. This is more than the 100,000 signatures mandatory for a petition to the White House. The petition was supported by the Akal Takht Jathedar which gave it a major fillip. However, this was before the US Presidents visit to India, but as far as official information goes he did not raise the issue.

The Khalistan call from the border state of Jammu and Kashmir has not elicited an official response from New Delhi that seems to be keen on pushing this issue under the covers. The Sikh agitation, if it spreads,will overturn the BJP’s focus on Kashmir separatism, besides posing a major challenge to the government. However, if no action is taken this will be seen as a major victory by the youth with the support for Khalistan and Bhindranwale acquiring the potential of turning into a movement.