Though portrayed as a ‘communal riot’ that resulted from a spontaneous outburst of anger by Hindus against Sikh, all the evidence points towards a State led genocide against innocent Sikhs. Subsequently, over a period of 4 days under the gaze of world leaders who had arrived to attend Mrs Gandhis funeral, the Sikh suburbs of Delhi went up in flames and an estimated to 10,000 innocent Sikhs were massacred in Delhi alone.
On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi, the then Prime minister of India, was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards in what is viewed as an act of vengeance or vigilante justice. Tragically the events from June to October 1984 were but a precursor to a full-scale pogrom unleashed on Sikhs across India. In a period of days and weeks, tens of thousands were imprisoned, tortured, and in some instances killed-and those accused of providing shelter and food for the so-called ‘terrorists’, many simple villagers, were not spared either. The ‘official’ line was that the India was fighting a Pakistani inspired insurection leaving the government no choice but, under a state of emergency, to round up so-called terrorists and separatists who posed a threat to the integrity and sovereignty of India. Their orders were to round up amridhari (baptised) Sikh boys and men of fighting age and take them into custody. Operation Blue Star was quickly followed by stage two codenamed ‘Operation Wood Rose’, which resulted in Indian Army troops attacking another 50 historical Gurdwaras and many more in villages as they fanned across the Punjab countryside. Though we have never discovered the actual numbers of casualties, ‘official’ Government estimates are around 1000 dead, but the SGPC confirmed that 10,000 pairs of shoes remained unclaimed by pilgrims. Over a period of 4 days, large sections of the Darbar Sahib complex, the holiest shrine for the 30 million world wide Sikh community, were destroyed. The pretext to the attack was that some so-called armed terrorists were holed out in the temple. It involved a full-scale military assault on the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar Sahib, India. Sinha, a Hindu military man and the then Vice-Chief of the Indian Army, on the grounds that his job was to defend Indian citizens.
#OPERATION BLUE STAR SIKHIWIKI CODE#
Stage one code named ‘Operation Blue Star’, was led by Gen. The destroyed Akaal Takht after Operation Blue Star in 1984 Similarly, in another time and place, 30 years ago, on 6th June 1984 we witnessed the enactment of another military operation, and like D-Day, the operation involved some 150,000 troops, but with one significant difference on this occasion, the fight was not to defeat fascism, but the Indian Army invading a holy place and killing thousands of its own citizens.
Moreover, the amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions included many Sikh Regiments on the coast of France. For example, Pilot Officer Rajender Singh Sandhi and Flying Officer Jagjit Singh, both of the Royal Indian Air Force, participated in the airborne landing. Though the Sikh contribution to both the 1st and Second World Wars is widely recognised, what is less known is the Sikh involvement in these two operations. In fact, Bhupinder Singh in his book How Europe Is Indebted To The Sikhs – World War II, the Royal Indian Air Force and Sikh pilots were involved some of who who have memorials in the United Kingdom at Smaads in Runnymede. Stage two, codenamed ‘Operation Overlord’ represented the allied penetration into Western Europe leading the rapid liberation of France and eventually defeat of Hitler and the 3rd Reich. Stage one on 6th June 1944, called ‘Operation Neptune’, involved the largest sea born invasion in human history which involved 10,000 boats and ships landing 150,000 troops in one day. There were two stages to the Allied assault. On the beaches of Normandy in France, war veterans, locals and politicians gathered to commemorate the allied invasion of France, the D Day landings that took place 70 years ago on 6th June 1944 in Nazi-occupied Europe. Two significant events in modern Sikh history have recently been commemorated.
Sikhs march into Paris, France during World War 2
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