Blue Star and the Golden Temple

Bhindranwale was able to get away with wrongdoings because in the eyes of the Congress leadership in Delhi, Punjab had a Sikh problem since Independence’

- M Rajivlochan

DID Indira Gandhi promote Khalistan, as has been suggested by the trailer of Kangana Ranaut's latest film? The simple answer is 'no'. Indira Gandhi never promoted Khalistan in any way. She never even imagined that Sikhs were a separate nation or an ethnic group because they were not.

What about Indira Gandhi's relationship with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale? There is nothing on record as yet to suggest that she had any direct contact with him. Bhindranwale on his part had only contempt for Indira Gandhi. In his speeches he would derogatorily refer to her as 'Bamani', a contemptuous reference to her caste.

The names of Sanjay Gandhi, Giani Zail Singh and Kamal Nath crop up frequently as those who helped Bhindranwale grow. The name of Darbara Singh, who became chief minister of Punjab for a brief while, is mentioned as the man who ensured that no coercive action would be taken against Bhindranwale even when he openly indulged in wrongdoing.

Bhindranwale was able to get away with wrongdoings because, as Buta Singh-a close confidante of Rajiv Gandhiexplained in a seminar in Delhi in August 1994, in the eyes of the Congress leadership in Delhi, Punjab had a Sikh problem since Independence. The proceedings of the seminar were published almost verbatim by Mani Shankar Aiyar.

The solution envisaged for what was perceived as the Sikh problem of Punjab, first by Jawaharlal Nehru and then by Indira Gandhi, was to be indulgent towards those making communal demands, those who insisted that Sikhs were an oppressed minority that needed to be mollycoddled. When Partap Singh Kairon, a former Akali leader who joined the Congress because he thought the Akali Dal was veering to the communal side, refused to accept such an estimation of life in Punjab, Nehru chided him.