Indira Gandhi and the Sikhs

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The Sikh Question
Operation Blue Star
The Assassination of Indira Gandhi
The Delhi Anti-Sikh riots of 1984
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Indira Gandhi was born on 19 November 1917. Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru, a nationalist leader and the first Prime Minister of independent India. The Nehru family was a prominent family politically, and her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a nationalist leader who led India’s quest for independence from Britain. Indira Gandhi studied at various schools in India before acquiring higher education in Britain, specifically in the Somerville College in Oxford.

While in England, she met her future husband Feroze Gandhi, from whom she got the famous surname. However, Indira is not related to the famous Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in any way. She returned to India in the year 1941 and married Feroze the following year. Indira Gandhi’s political exposure began with her return to India, which coincided with her father’s stint as the first Prime Minister of India (Steinberg 756). She subsequently served her father as his personal assistant.

Inevitably, as she rubbed shoulders with many politicians and leaders whom her father interacted with on a daily basis, her exposure to politics increased. When her father passed away in 1964, she secured a seat in India’s parliament. Her status and influence further grew when she was appointed minister for Broadcasting.

Following the death of then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, and some of her political mentors, began a series of calculated maneuvers that would eventually see her assume the premiership seat in 1966. From her early days in politics, Indira Gandhi had shown a unique ability to win elections and outmaneuver opponents.

Therefore, with the help of the then president K. Kamaraj, she was eventually able to assume India’s ultimate political seat as the country’s Prime Minister. She served three consecutive terms from 1966 to1977, winning three elections and after her party’s defeat in 1977, she was able to rally her party members and followers, which saw her Congress Party win the following elections in 1980.

The Sikh Question

The Sikhs are one of India’s ethno-religious groups, primarily found in the northern Punjab province. Throughout India’s history from the earliest of times, the Sikhs and the Hindu have always co-existed peacefully. However, there had always been an underlying current advocating for a separate state for Sikhs, who viewed themselves as an exclusive ethnic entity with religious and political beliefs different from those of Hindus.

The subject of a separate state for Sikh was much debated during India’s independence talks with the Britain, but in the end, India was granted independence as one state that included Sikhs and Hindus, amongst other groups. The post independence statehood of Pakistan and Bangladesh further fuelled the separatist desire of the Sikhs.

Economically, the Sikhs were a force to reckon with at that time. Despite constituting a mere 2 % of the entire Indian population, the Sikhs’ business interests in India drove the country’s economy. The state of Punjab was the nation’s most productive province, and the produce from this province fed not only the region itself, but the entire nation of India (Mohanka 594). The Sikhs were famed for their hard work, entrepreneurial spirit, and bravery.

Having fought in some of India’s post independent wars, many Sikhs gained medals for bravery. The Sikhs’ places of worship, the gurudwaras, had community lunches that offered free food to the less fortunate members of the society. The Sikhs believed that politics and religion mix, that a political leader with a firm grounding in religion (preferably Sikh religion) was more accountable to the people and would be less likely to go contrary to the wishes of the people.

Therefore, the Sikhs believed that if they could govern themselves autonomously from India, their welfare would be even better. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution by the Akalis (Sikh religious leaders) in 1973, which presented a raft of demands to the federal Indian government, was ignored.

The demands in the resolution were aimed at bettering the welfare of Punjab residents. The inability of the federal government to acquiesce to any of the seemingly harmless demands contained in the resolution fuelled separatist fires within the Sikh community.

Operation Blue Star

The failure by the Indian federal government to implement any of the resolutions contained in the Anandpur Sahib Resolution of 16 October 1973 created an impression within the Sikh community that, the government was not necessarily interested in improving the socio-political and economic welfare of the Sikh community. In 1982, the Sikh religious and political leaders led a protest march against Indira Gandhi’s government demanding the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.

Led by the religious head of the Sikh, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the march was peaceful; the demonstrators did not engage in any acts of violence. Unfortunately, the authorities did not address any of their demands. Subsequently, the Sikhs believed they were the target of an uncaring government.

Therefore, various violent religious leaders amongst the Sikh began to quarrel amongst themselves. The disagreements over the next best course of action the Sikhs degenerated to power wars. Assassinations of various factional leaders within the Sikh community became a commonplace. Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale himself was involved in several murder schemes to eliminate rivals and secure ultimate Sikh religious and political leadership.

Additionally, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, in 1980, had made the Sikh temple at Amritsar – the Golden temple, his operating base. Indira Gandhi and the government assumed that Sant was amassing weapons in the temple with the aim of launching attacks on non-Sikhs in Punjab. Consequently, Indira Gandhi resolved to attack the temple and root out the Sikh militants.

She asked the then Army chief, S.K. Sinha, to create a plan for the operation, but Sinha refused, urging an alternative plan to combat the militants without necessarily desecrating the Golden Temple, the most revered place of worship for the Sikhs. As a result, Indira Gandhi had Sinha replaced, and a plan was developed, with Sinha’s successor, Arun Shridhar Vaidya, leading the subsequent military action. The army imposed a curfew on the state of Punjab beginning on June 5 1984.

The army then cut-off all communication lines in and out of Punjab and then disconnected electricity. By June 7, the Indian Army had seized control of the temple, and many of the Sikh militants, including Bhindranwale, died in the operation. Termed ‘Operation Blues Star’, the effects of the Indian army assault on the temple were catastrophic.

Given that the attack came at a time when many Sikhs had visited the temple on a religious pilgrim, many innocent Sikh civilians lost their lives (Singh 560). Many elderly men, women, and children died although the Indian government maintained that the independent press exaggerated the casualty figures.

There was a massive world outcry against the atrocities committed by the Indian government during the ‘Operation Blue Star’. The Sikh community in the Diaspora condemned the attacks, which gave the separatist cause a fresh impetus. Many Sikhs within the Indian army left the service, and others within the civilian population returned all the honor awards previously bestowed on them by the Indian government.

The Assassination of Indira Gandhi

Much of the blame for the resultant damage and loss of lives occasioned by the ‘Operation Blue Star’ was pinned on Indira Gandhi. The Sikh community had harbored a deep hatred for her in the aftermath of the ‘Operation Blue Star’, and on 31 October 1984, two of her elite bodyguards, who were of Sikh ethnicity – Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, shot her several times, and she died on her way to the hospital.

The two immediately surrendered themselves to the authorities and the court later found them guilty before sentencing them to death by hanging. Indira Gandhi was cremated a few days later. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, succeeded her as the new Prime Minister.

The Delhi Anti-Sikh riots of 1984

Immediately after the announcement of Indira Gandhi’s death, the entire Indian nation was at a standstill. Nevertheless, as more details concerning her death emerged, Hindus turned on Sikhs. The revelation concerning the bodyguards’ ethnicity fuelled the tribal hatred animosity. Many youths belonging to Indira Gandhi’s Congress Party attacked Sikhs indiscriminately.

The anti-Sikh riots lasted for about five days in the northern provinces of India, and were mostly concentrated in the city of Delhi, but the resultant effect on the Sikh community was devastating. According to Ansari, many of the youth who belonged to the Congress Party roamed the streets of Delhi looking for Sikhs and then bludgeoned those they found to death (63). The youths dragged many men, women, and children out of their homes before beating them to death.

All properties belonging to Sikhs, especially their homes and business premises, were vandalized and burnt. Although the government sent both the army and the police to quell the violence, the attacks continued. The police and the army were accused of watching as many innocent Sikhs died in the hands of the ruthless Congress Party youths.

By the third day, the attacks had become systematic; large groups of youth would hijack buses, descend into areas with large Sikh settlements in Delhi, and then proceed to kill the men, rape the women, and then burn the houses as the police and the army turned a blind eye. Most gurudwaras were quickly destroyed in the early days of the violence (Deol 109). Majority of the commissions tasked with investigating the violence have all concluded that the state did not put sufficient measures to prevent the attacks.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Indira Gandhi’s leadership legacy in India is beyond dispute. Many of the measures she undertook propelled India towards high economic and social standards. Under her leadership, India attained food self-sufficiency and was able to export the surplus foodstuffs. India also gained nuclear status by developing nuclear energy and weapons under Indira’s leadership.

Additionally, as the first female Prime Minister of India, she was the source of inspiration of many women in a country where women were marginalized in many areas of the society. However, her inability to co-opt the Sikh community into the mainstream Indian society will always stain her legacy. Operation Blue Star was the result of years of disagreements between her government and the Sikh community, and her subsequent assassination and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, blot an otherwise admirable legacy.

Works Cited

Ansari, Arvinder. “Permanent victims of violence: a sociological study of women victims of communal violence.” South African Review of Sociology 40.1 (2009): 62-75.

Deol, Harnik “Religion and nationalism in India: the case of the Punjab”. Psychology Press, 2000: 109-112.

Mohanka, Payal. “Religion and conflict in India: A Sikh perspective.” Round Table 94.382 (2005): 589-598.

Singh, Pritam. “The political economy of the cycles of violence and non-violence in the Sikh struggle for identity and political power: implications for Indian federalism.” Third World Quarterly 28.3 (2007): 555-570.

Steinberg, Blema. “Indira Gandhi: The Relationship between Personality Profile and Leadership Style.” Political Psychology 26.5 (2005): 755-789.

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