SIKH SEPARATIST MOVEMENT

Frustrations over discrimination among Sikhs led to the creation of a Sikh militancy in the 1970s that demanded a separate and autonomous Sikh state, Khalistan, within or separate from India. . The Indian government didn’t want the Punjab — the breadbasket of India — to break away from India.. Using a argument similar to that used later in Kashmir, the Indian government argued that if the Sikhs were allowed to have their own state then other ethnic and religious groups would also want autonomy, potentially fracturing India into a bunch of small states like the Balkans.

For more than 20 years, the Punjab was the site of a conflict between Sikh militants and the Indian government, with moderates from both sides caught in the deadly crossfire. The movement to secede from India and create a separate, sovereign Khalistan was likely not supported by most Punjabis. The movement, allegedly supported by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency, reached its peak in the mid-1980s under Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. However, it gradually lost popular support as it hindered the economy, became increasingly militant and created violence and chaos throughout the Punjab. [Source: D. O. Lodrick, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life”, Cengage Learning, 2009 *]

The conflict between Sikhs and the Indian government left thousands of Punjabis dead. mostly in the late 1980s. After the raid on the Golden Temple, violence escalated. Sikh separatists blew up crowded trains and school buses, stage terrorist attacks and attacked Punjabi Hindus. They received some funding from Sikhs living abroad. The Indian leader Indira Gandhi tried to divide the Sikh separatists by supporting one militant faction in a political battle with another.

The conflict hurt the economy. Trains going into the Punjab were canceled. After the Gandhi assassination there was a great deal of debate within the Sikh community about tactics and ideology. The Sikh separatist movement ended as much from pressure within the Sikh community as outside it. The conflicted in the early 1990s with the Indian government cracking down hard on separatists while holding elections in 1992. A new state government helped defeat the separatists and restore Punjab’s position as the “breadbasket of India.”

History of the Sikh Separatist Movement

The existence of the Khalsa creates a potential division within the Sikh community between those who have undergone the baptism ceremony and those who practice the system laid down in the Guru Granth Sahib but who do not adopt the distinctive life-style of the Khalsa. Among the latter is a sect of believers founded by Baba Dayal (d. 1853) named the Nirankaris, who concentrate on the formless quality of God and his revelation purely through the guru and the Guru Granth Sahib , and who accept the existence of a living, enlightened teacher as essential for spiritual development. The dominant tendency among the Sikhs since the late nineteenth century has been to stress the importance of the Khalsa and its outward signs. [Source: Library of Congress]

Sikh groups known as Singh Sabhas emerged in the late 1800s. Emphasizing their differences from South Hindus in matters of theology, rituals, social customs and politics, they led a nonviolent campaign in the early 1920s that gave the Sikhs control over Sikh temples that had formally been managed by Hindus. Since 1925, the Sikh Gurdwara Protection Committee — which emerged from the Singh Sabhas movement — has overseen Sikh shrines and played a prominent role in Sikh politics.

At the time of the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, there were some who called for the creation of a Sikh homeland, to be called Sikhistan or Khalistan, but this suggestion received no official support. However, the desire to create a majority Sikh state in Indian Punjab encouraged the Akali Dal — a religious movement originally founded in 1920 that developed into a political a Sikh political party — to agitate for a Punjabi-speaking state as part of the Indian Union, which was achieved in 1966 through the separation of Sikh-majority Punjab from Hindu-majority Haryana. [Source: Arvind-Pal S. Mandair, “Encyclopedia of India”, Thomson Gale, 2006 ~]

Drawing on the Sikh tradition of political agitation and militarism in the late 1970s and early 1980s — when an increasingly Hindu-dominated India viewed Sikh demands for improving Punjab's economic resources with hostility — resulted in a violent confrontation between the central government of India, led by Indira Gandhi, and groups of Sikh militants. ~

Politics Behind the Sikh Separatist Movement

The confrontation in Punjab began in 1973 when the Akali Dal issued the Anandpur Sahib Resolution calling for the establishment of a "Sikh Autonomous Region" with its own constitution. It also called for the transfer of Chandigarh, a union territory, to Punjab as the state's capital — -promised by the central government in 1970 — and demanded that the central government establish a more favorable allocation of river waters used for irrigation. A particular concern was the shared distribution of water from the Beas and Sutlej rivers with neighboring Haryana. [Source: Library of Congress]

The Akali Dal further demanded changes involving greater symbolic recognition of Sikhism. These demands included the recognition of Amritsar, the site of the Sikhs' Golden Temple, as a holy city; exemption from antihijacking regulations to enable Sikhs flying on Indian airlines to wear their kirpan (ceremonial saber); and the passage of the All-India Gurdwara Act to place the management of all gurdwaras in the country under a single administration.

Akali Dal members were engaged in a heated competition with the Congress (I) over control of the Punjab assembly. It was in this context that the Congress (I) found it advantageous to encourage Sikh fundamentalism. Giani Zail Singh, who was the Congress (I) chief minister in Punjab from 1972 to 1977 and minister of home affairs in the central government from 1980 to 1982, developed links with the fiery Sikh militant Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. By encouraging Bhindranwale, the Congress (I) hoped to reap advantage from sowing division in the already fractious Akali Dal. However, what may have been good for the interests of the Congress (I) turned out to be bad for the country.

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

The leader of the Sikh separatist movement was Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a charismatic preacher who wore a blue turban tied in the old tradition way, had powerful hands, a droopy left eyelid and crooked yellowish teeth. He often carried a arrow in his hand which symbolized his religious authority. During his inflammatory and virulent speeches, he accused Hindus of injustice and described how police tortured Sikhs by cutting open their legs and pouring salt in their wounds. He demanded that Punjab be made a Sikh state called Khalistan. It was hard to imagine this happening since the Punjab grew two thirds of India's grain.

Bhindranwale led a movement called Damdami Taksal to create an independent state of Khalistan. . He first made a name for himself when he led a procession and one of his followers cut off the arm of Hindu shopkeeper. A battle between Sikhs broke out that left 12 Orthodox Sikhs and three reformed Sikhs dead . Photographs of the dead, some with their faces shot away, were adorned with marigolds and put on display, and their deaths were blamed on Hindus.

The centralization of Sikh power into the Central Gurdwara Management Committee and the Akali Dal, which have explicitly narrow administrative goals and the often faction-ridden politics that dominates the institutions made it possible for Bhindranwale, head of a training institution, to stand forth as a leading authority on the direction of Sikhism; initiate reforms of personal morality; participate in the persecution of Nirankaris; and take effective control of the holiest Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, in the early 1980s (See Below).

Problems between Sikhs and the Indian government escalated in the small village of Dheru in 1981 when two Bhindranwale followers, who were also fugitives, were cornered by authorities and escaped after shooting two policemen dead. Later Bhindranwale was arrested after a gun battle for his involvement with the murder of the police. That same day three Sikhs on motorcycles shot into a crowd of Hindu's, killing four.

Crackdown by India Government on the Sikh Separatist Movement

The movement led to counter-terrorism operations by the Indian Army and the Punjab Police, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent Sikhs, according to Human Rights Watch. Politicians and leaders were assassinated, terrorism disrupted the lives of common people, and hundreds, if not thousands, of Sikhs were murdered.

Indira Gandhi began to involve the Indian armed forces in resolving violent domestic conflicts between 1980 and 1984. In May 1984, Sikh extremists occupied the Golden Temple in Amritsar, converting it into a haven for militants. Gandhi responded in early June when she launched Operation Bluestar, which killed and wounded hundreds of soldiers, insurgents, and civilians.

Golden Temple in Amritsar

Assault on the Sikh's Golden Temple

After Bhindranwale was released for lack of evidence he holed himself up in a sacred building next to the Golden Temple, Sikhdom's holiest site, in Amritsar, with perhaps a thousand supporters armed with AK-47s, mortars and rockets. While he was in the temple one of his militants was killed by a woman. Bhindranwale boasted the death would be avenged in less than 24 hours. Soon after the body of the woman was found with her breasts and genitals burned and her arms and legs crushed. An accomplice of hers was found sliced in seven different pieces. [Source: "The Villagers" by Richard Critchfield, Anchor Books]

By the spring of 1984, Bhindranwale and his followers had taken over the Akal Takht (Throne of the Eternal God) shrine facing the Golden Temple and transformed it into a headquarters and armory for Sikh militants. Events culminated in June 1984, when Prime Minister Gandhi ordered India's army to launch its deadly Operation Bluestar, sending tanks into Amritsar's Golden Temple to remove Sikh militants

On June 5, 1984, some 4,000 Indian soldiers took up positions around the 72-acre Golden Temple. Inside the temple were 1,000 Sikh pilgrims and separatist armed with rifles, grenades and anti-tank rockets, positioned behind sandbags, brick and steel. Infantrymen stormed the temple and were greeted with a barrage of automatic weapon, mortar and rocket fire. Pinned inside the temple, the Sikh commander of the Indian forces, called upon tanks to back him up, a move he didn't want to make out of fear of damaging the temple.

Indian soldiers and Sikh militants exchanged mortar and machine gun fire. Seven Indian tanks shelled the temple’s three story tower where Bhindranwale was thought to be hiding out. The bloody three-day siege, almost destroyed the Akal Takht and damages the Golden Temple Between 500 and 2,000 civilians, Sikh militants, pilgrims and Indian soldiers were killed and many of the Sikh's holiest scriptures, some handwritten by the ten Gurus themselves, had been reduced to ashes. Bhindranwale was found dead with one eye open and one eye closed. Sikhs viewed the attack as desecration of the sacred Golden Temple.

In February 1984 Margaret Thatcher sent an officer of the Special Air Service (SAS) — a special forces unit of the British Army — to advise the Indian government on expelling Sikh militants from the Golden Temple. This was four months before Indian army launched Operation Blue Star. The role of the British government in the assault on Sikhism’s holiest place remains a secret. “The name of the SAS officer has never been released. Despite Sikh demands for an investigation many key files remain sealed. [Source: Ben MacIntyre, The Times, August 5 2017]

Assassination of Indira Gandhi

On November 12, 1984, five months after the raid on the Golden Temple and shortly after predicting her own death, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her trusted Sikh bodyguards at her home shortly before she was supposed to be interviewed by Peter Ustinov, who later said, "We were in the garden at 8:30...the mike was in place and we were all ready. I told the press secretary we were ready and he went to fetch her." The bodyguards apparently committed the murder in revenge for the assault on the Golden Temple. They were reportedly given a "black warrant," or execution order, by Sikh militant leaders.

At 9:08 in the morning, as she was walking to the interview, Beant Singh, a Sikh police subinspector, drew his revolver and fired three times. Satwatwant Singh, the constable at the gate to her house, opened fire with a machine gun and pumped 30 bullets in her crumpled body. Beant Singh raised his hands and said, "I have done what I have to do. Now do what you have to do." He was shot dead. His accomplice was later tried and hanged. Mrs. Gandhi was driven in a white Ambassador to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where she was pronounced dead on arrival. She had been hit by at least 20 bullets. [Source: "The Villagers" by Richard Critchfield, Anchor Books]

Few tears were shed. The cremation of Indira Gandhi was broadcast around the world. After witnessing her cremation presided over by her son Rajiv, one visiting dignitary asked him, "Could you really do that to your mother?"

Riots After Indira Gandhi's Assassination

More than 5,000 innocent Sikhs were killed that November 1984 in riots that followed the assassination. In some cases mobs were incited by local Congress party leaders. The massacre resulted in 3,000 Sikhs being killed in Delhi alone.

The news of Indira Gandhi's assassination plunged New Delhi and other parts of India into anti-Sikh riots for several days; several thousand Sikhs were killed. After Gandhi's son, Rajiv Gandhi, was sworn in as prime minister he called for "maximum restraint" but his statement "When a giant tree falls, the earth shakes" was seen by some as tacit authorization the anti-Sikh violence. On the night after Gandhi's assassination, the streets were quiet but the next night Hindu mobs rampaged through Sikh neighborhoods, chanting "blood for blood." Sikhs were pulled off buses and trains and butchered and set on fire with tires over their heads. Black smoke hung in the air from all the Sikh trucks, taxis and temples set on fire.

Senior officials in Gandhi's party were charged with leading the disturbances. One local politician directed a mob to burn a row of Sikh houses, leaving one owned by a party supporter untouched. The new president of India was nearly killed when a mob attacked his limousine because it was driven by a Sikh. One Hindu man armed with an iron stake told Time, "You know how I feel. I want to kill Sikhs. I want to see Sikh blood on the streets." Other Hindus hid their Sikh neighbor from the mobs.

The worst sectarian violence since 1947, lasted for 11 days, with most of the killing taking place during the first three days. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed, and 3,000 to 10,000 people, mostly Sikh men and boys, died in the violence. Sikh men that survived had their beards burned off and the turbans desecrated. Only a handful of the rioters, murderers and leaders were arrested and fewer were convicted on any crimes. Many of the widows and children of the murdered men lived together in crowded apartment blocks in the neighborhood of Tilak Nagar in Delhi.

Violence in the 1980s After the Golden Temple Attack

The conflicts reinforced the sense of Sikh identity, but also to stimulate the exodus of Sikhs to Europe, North America and East Africa, thereby augmenting the already large Sikh diaspora. The Sikh diaspora in turn provided a lot of money and support for the Sikh separatist movement. But after the bombing of Air India Flight 182 by alleged attack by Sikh separatists — which claimed the lives of 329 passengers and crashed into the Irish Sea in 1985 — support for Khalistan lessened considerably. [Source: D. O. Lodrick, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life”, Cengage Learning, 2009 *]

Later terrorist activities in Punjab, carried out in the name of Sikhism, were performed by a wide range of organizations claiming to represent an authoritative vision of the nature and direction of the community as a whole. Violence escalated throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s as young Sikh militants, supported by Sikhs of the diaspora, revived the demand for a separate Sikh Khalistan.

In many cases, activist groups became undisciplined or were taken over by criminals. Armed robbery, extortion, and murder became a way of life. Police actions also became more repressive. The residents of Punjab were caught in a vise of indiscriminate militant and police violence.

Between 1984 and the early 1990s an average of about 5,000 people died every year in Sikh-related violence in the Punjab and there were estimated to be a hundred different armed terrorist bands in the Punjab. Thousands of innocent Hindus and Sikhs were killed by extremists of both religions. Trains were attacked, and people were shot after being pulled from buses. In 1987, 32 Hindus were pulled out of a bus and shot, near Lalru in Punjab by Sikh militants. According to Human Rights Watch, "In the beginning of the 1980s, Sikh separatists in Punjab committed serious human rights abuses, including the massacre of civilians, attacks upon non-Sikhs in the state, and indiscriminate bomb attacks in crowded places."

Efforts to Resolve the Sikh Separatist Issue

Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded his mother Indira Gandhi as India's prime minister, attempted to bring peace to the Punjab but was unsuccessful. Rajiv Gandhi attempted to put an end to the crisis by signing an agreement with Akali Dal moderate Harchand Singh Longowal in August 1985. The Gandhi-Longowal Accord acquiesced to many Akali Dal demands and called for elections to put an end to central government control over the state government through President's Rule, which had been in effect since October 1983. Although the accord was criticized by Sikh activists as being a sellout, it apparently had widespread support, as evidenced by the public's defiance of the militants' call for a boycott of the ensuing elections and the mandate given to Akali Dal moderates to form a new government. Public support for the Akali Dal government, however, was soon undermined by Rajiv Gandhi's failure to fulfill his commitments, such as the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab, as enunciated in the Gandhi-Longowal Accord. With the failure to implement the accord, the popularity of the Akali Dal state government led by Surjit Singh Barnala declined, and its internal divisions grew. As a result, its efforts to combat the militants' increasing violence became ineffective. In May 1987, the Punjab assembly was dissolved and replaced with President's Rule. [Source: Library of Congress *]

After an unprecedented five years of President's Rule, the central government gambled by holding elections for Parliament and the state legislative assembly in February 1992. Most Akali Dal groups and militants called for a boycott of the poll, and the election turnout was a record low of 20 percent. Not surprisingly, the Congress (I) emerged victorious, winning twelve of thirteen seats in Parliament and control over the state government. After the elections, the police and paramilitary forces under the leadership of K.P.S. Gill scored a series of successes in infiltrating activist groups and capturing or killing their members. Popular participation in the conventional political process increased; voter turnout for municipal elections in September 1992 and gram panchayats in January 1993 exceeded 70 percent. Although violence diminished during 1993 and 1994, the sources of many of the tensions remained, and resentments among the Sikhs continue to simmer in the mid-1990s.*

The Congress Party gave the police chief of the state, K. P. S. Gill, a free hand to quell the insurgency. He was criticized by many. His ruthless methods severely weakened the insurgency movemen but his reign was also regarded as one of the bloodiest in the country's history. Perhaps thousands of innocent people were killed in fake encounters or were disappeared. According to several reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the Punjab police were accused of crimes including rape and torture of women and children. [Source: D. O. Lodrick, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life”, Cengage Learning, 2009]

In the 1990s and 2000s life in the Punjab slowly returned to normal. Sikhs and Hindus have lived side by side for almost 500 years, presumably just got tired of all the violence. In 2004 Manmohan Singh (1932–) became the first Sikh prime minister in the history of India. Since then the level of Sikh separatist violence has appeared to go way down. A lasting solution to the Punjab problem requires Sikhs to recognize that no Indian government could ever grant independence to such a strategically important region, and for the Indian government to address legitimate grievances of the Sikhs.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: “World Religions“ edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions“ edited by R.C. Zaehner (Barnes & Noble Books, 1959); “Encyclopedia of the World Cultures: Volume 3 South Asia” edited by David Levinson (G.K. Hall & Company, New York, 1994); “The Creators “ by Daniel Boorstin; National Geographic, the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Times of London, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated December 2023