All eyes will be on the Golden Temple in Amritsar on June 6, the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar, when the Army stormed the complex of the Harmandir Sahib, Sikhism’s holiest shrine, to evict a group of militants led by separatist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in 1984.
Although the situation is tense at this time every year, with radicals putting up a show of strength and the government looking the other way to avoid a clash – though there have been minor skirmishes over the last two years – this anniversary holds a special significance and seems to be keeping security forces on edge.
Security forces on Wednesday held flag marches in parts of the city and attempts are being made to detain leaders who may cause trouble that day.
What’s different this year
The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (which has an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state) is trying to strengthen its panthic credentials with an eye on the Assembly polls next year. It is battling anti-incumbency after a decade-long rule and is facing a three-way fight with the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party.
In addition, the party has witnessed major setbacks with regard to its core constituency in the last few months. It is against this backdrop that Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, also the president of the Akali Dal, last month made his first visit to the Operation Bluestar Memorial, dedicated to Bhindranwale and “all the martyrs of 1984”, in the Golden Temple complex.
The party had found itself on the backfoot in October when the Sikh clergy, appointed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee responsible for the upkeep of Sikh shrines, had pardoned Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, chief of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect. The committee is controlled by the Akali Dal. This decision caused great resentment among a section of Sikhs who had been accusing the Dera Sacha Sauda Chief of apostasy by impersonating Guru Gobind Singh. The protests led the clergy to subsequently reverse its decision.
However, in the aftermath of this, a series of acts of sacrilege – widely believed to be engineered by a section of radicals – including the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib, were reported in various parts of the state, resulted in widespread outrage among the Sikh community.
Taking advantage of this atmosphere of resentment against the Akali Dal, radical groups called a Sarbat Khalsa (a traditional congregation of Sikhs where crucial issues pertaining to the community are taken) in November.
The wide participation in the congregation, which marked the coming together of members of the community who were unhappy with the government, caused the Akali Dal much concern.
Most of the participants were there more because of their displeasure with the government over the incidents of the preceding months rather than as a sign of support for the radical agenda of Khalistan.
Even so, the radical leaders seized the day and appointed new jatedhars, or head priests, at all the Takhts – the highest temporal seats of faith – in Punjab to replace those who had taken the decision to pardon Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Only the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is authorised to appoint head priests, but the radicals appointed former hardliners in these positions, as a symbolic gesture.
The committee later rejected the decisions taken at the Sarbat Khalsa.
At the forthcoming anniversary of Operation Bluestar, some of the so-called new head priests named at the Sarbat Khasla may attempt to address the congregation in the Golden Temple complex, which is traditionally addressed by the Akal Takht head priest.
On edge
It is this that is giving nightmares to the Akali Dal and security forces. The Akali Dal wants the anniversary to pass without incident, while the hardliners are planning to bring the focus back to the alleged atrocities committed before and during Operation Bluestar.
The crackdown in 1984, which had led to the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh guards and the subsequent anti-Sikh riots, is an unhealed wound and every year at this time, emotions run high.
The emergence of a new Sikh religious leader, Ranjit Singh Dhandrianwale, who on May 17 was allegedly attacked by supporters of Harnam Singh Dhuma, the chief of the Damdami Taksal educational institution, could also cast a shadow on the anniversary event.
Further, the Akali Dal is reportedly threatened by Dhandrianwale’s rising star as a preacher.
It’s still unclear whether he will be visiting the Golden Temple on June 6, but the Akalis are keeping their fingers crossed that he doesn’t.
With the radicals upping the ante this time around and the Akali Dal determined to retain and strengthen its core constituency, a pitched battle is on the cards.