Operation Bluestar and Ghallughara

#5

"Operation Bluestar" and "Ghallughara". Two different terms for the same episode - the Army action on the Golden Temple in June 1984. Two different meanings give to the same unprecedented event. "Operation Bluestar" in the Government's term, connoting a necessary military operation to flush out terrorists and recover arms from the Golden Temple, the implication being that it was an unavoidable cleansing act of purification. Where as "Ghallughara" is how the Sikhs of Punjab remember the episode, connoting aggression, massacre and religious persecution. The unmistakable allusion is to the killing in Punjab of tens of thousands of Sikhs by the Afgan raider, Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1762, after which the word "Ghallughara" was coined to become an integral part of the Punjabi folklore.

The contrast between "Operation Bluestar" and "Ghallughara" as two different perceptions of the same reality is symptomatic of the wide gap between the official version and the people's recollections of what really happened at the Golden Temple when the army attacked it in June 1984. 

**TWO LIONS AWAKEN**

Bhai Beant Singh Malowan went to see some of his relatives. Kehar Singh was his uncle. Beant Singh was in a state of shame, mixed with anger and depression. He asked, "Uncle ji, will Waheguru send a Sukha Singh and Mehtab Singh to avenge this sin of desecration of Sri Darbar Sahib?"

While handing him a book on Baba Jarnail Singh Bindranwale, his uncle replied, "Do not greive, if you have love of Sikhi, then learn that giving your head, and taking a head for Sikhi are equal. After all, someone has to be the son of Sukha Singh and Mehtab Singh. They took Khande ki Pahul Amrit from Sahib Siri Guru Gobind Singh, went and took the head of Massa Rangar to stop the desecration of Siri Darbar Sahib thus became legends in Sikh History. We need to remember them, and become like them."

These words from his uncle were like a spear in his heart. Now Bhai Beant Singh was looking for a companion who would sacrifice all to avenge the action on Siri Darbar Sahib. Eventually Beant Singh's eye fell on Satwant Singh, who was in Indira Gandhi`s protection force with him. When he carefully approached Satwant Singh, the young Singh responded "Elder brother, for this sacred task, not only this life, but even if I have to sacrifice several lives, I would to kill a brutal murderer like Indira Gandhi!"

**THEY BEGIN THEIR TASK**

Satwant Singh always had the late shift, and Beant Singh the early shift [Indira Gandhi`s protection wing]. They had to work out a way to both be on duty together. On 31st October, Satwant Singh faked a stomach bug, and swapped duties with another guard. Now they had to decide how to do the task. They decided that the best time was when Indira Gandhi was taking her daily walk. On the morning of 31st October, 1984 at 9am, as Indira Gandhi walked from her house to her office at Safardajung Road, Bhai Beant Singh shot her 5 times with his service revolver. Bhai Satwant Singh at the same time lifted his Thompson Stengun and shot 28 bullets. Seeing Indira Gandhi fall, all of her PA`s and ministers ran for their lives. The Indo-Tibetian Border Police commandos, who also guarded the grounds would not come close. Both Singhs shouted "Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal!!".

The Singhs shouted, "We have done what we needed to, now you can do what you have to." Then both placed their weapons on the floor. Only then did the other guards come and arrest them. Both Singhs were taken to a room, and waited for a senior officer to interrogate them. While waiting, the commandos started swearing at the Singhs. Not tolerating this, Bhai Satwant Singh slapped the commando and a struggle ensued in which Satwant singh grabbed the commandos handgun. The other commandos started shooting at the Singhs. Bhai Beant Singh died there from gunshot wounds. Bhai Satwant Singh was seriously injured.

On the arrival of a senior officer, Bhai Satwant Singh was taken to the hospital. The officers wanted to know who else was part of the conspiracy. They did not know that these Singhs had acted alone because of the attack on Siri Darbar Sahib, Siri Akal Thakht Sahib, and 40 Gurdwaras, the Sikh genocide of Singhs, singhnians, children and elders, and inspired by the legend of 6th June 1740, when Sukha Singh and Mehtab Singh took revenge on Massa Rangar.

The Government had saved Bhai Satwant Singh's life but intentionally did not remove one bullet which was lodged near his spine which continuously caused him great pain. Despite this and other interrogation tortures, Satwant Singh always maintained that there was no conspiracy, and that the two had acted alone. He said, "This is our Khalsa tradition to avenge those who try to desecrate our holy places. We were happy to take this task. The Sikh Nation will be proud of us."

**THE COURT STATEMENT OF SATWANT SINGH**

Every court in the land, only gave the sentence that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had wanted. Before the Supreme Court, Bhai Satwant Singh made a statement. He said, "Let any part of my body, after my Shaheedi, be removed and donated to anyone in need. However, if you need my eyes, let the authorities tell my parents. I have no hatred for any Hindu, Muslim, Christian, neither hatred for any religion. After my Shaheedi, let no Sikh throw any rock at any Hindu. I am not in favor of any retaliation or bloodshed over my Shaheedi. If we do create bloodshed, then there is no difference between us and Rajiv Gandhi. I am proud of the task that I did! I do ardas in front of Waheguru ! If I am blessed with a human life, then give me a death of the brave when I am hanged. Forget one life, if I could I would give up a thousand lives to kill dushts like Indira Gandhi, and laugh as I become Shaheed by hanging...."

CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY: SECTION 120 A, IPC

#4

"O conspiracy,

Sham'st thou to show thy dang'rous brow by night,

When evils are most free?"

[William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar (1599), Act II, scene 1, line 76]

##CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY: SECTION 120 A, IPC##

"When two or more persons agree to do, or cause to be done,-

(1) an illegal act, or

(2) an act which is not illegal by illegal means, such an agreement is designated a criminal conspiracy:

Provided that no agreement except an agreement to commit an offence shall amount to a criminal conspiracy unless some act besides the agreement is done by one or more parties to such agreement in pursuance thereof."

PUNISHMENT: 120 B

Max-Death 

Min-2years

**Controversial Cases under Criminal Conspiracy**

1. Mahatama Gandhi assassination[Post 2 and 3]

2. Indira Gandhi assassination

3. Rajiv Gandhi assassination

WHY I KILLED GANDHI--- Nathuram Godse

#3 [This article is published in Good Faith, to bring the historical events related to Gandhiji assassination...this post does not intend to hurt the feelings of any]

Nathuram Godse was arrested immediately after he assassinated Gandhiji, based on a F. I. R. filed by Nandlal Mehta at the Tughlak Road Police staton at Delhi . The trial, which was held in camera, began on May 27, 1948 and concluded on February 10, 1949. He was sentenced to death.

An appeal to the Punjab High Court, then in session at Simla, did not find favour and the sentence was upheld. The statement that you are about to read is the last made by Godse before the Court on the May 5, 1949.

Such was the power and eloquence of this statement that one of the judges, G. D. Khosla, later wrote, “I have, however, no doubt that had the audience of that day been constituted into a jury and entrusted with the task of deciding Godse’s appeal, they would have brought a verdict of ‘not Guilty’ by an overwhelming majority”

##WHY I KILLED GANDHI--- Nathuram Godse ##

"Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone. I openly joined RSS wing of anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social and religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession.

I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the company of each other. I have read the speeches and writings of Ravana, Chanakiya, Dadabhai Naoroji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some prominent countries like England , France , America and Russia . Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to the moulding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.

All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to serve Hindudom and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen. To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom and the well-being of all India , one fifth of human race. This conviction led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu Sanghtanist ideology and programme, which alone, I came to believe, could win and preserve the national independence of Hindustan , my Motherland, and enable her to render true service to humanity as well.

Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak, Gandhiji’s influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact there is nothing new or original in them.. They are implicit in every constitutional public movement. But it is nothing but a mere dream if you imagine that the bulk of mankind is, or can ever become, capable of scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles in its normal life from day to day.

In fact, honour, duty and love of one’s own kith and kin and country might often compel us to disregard non-violence and to use force. I could never conceive that an armed resistance to an aggression is unjust. I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the Ramayana] Rama killed Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita.. [In the Mahabharata], Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and Arjuna had to fight and slay quite a number of his friends and relations including the revered Bhishma because the latter was on the side of the aggressor. It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama, Krishna and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of human action.

In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny in India . It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his own life. In condemning history’s towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit. He was, paradoxical as it may appear, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen for ever for the freedom they brought to them.

The accumulating provocation of thirty-two years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately. Gandhi had done very good in South Africa to uphold the rights and well-being of the Indian community there. But when he finally returned to India he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was to be the final judge of what was right or wrong. If the country wanted his leadership, it had to accept his infallibility; if it did not, he would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way.

Against such an attitude there can be no halfway house. Either Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and primitive vision, or it had to carry on without him. He alone was the Judge of everyone and every thing; he was the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement; no other could know the technique of that movement. He alone knew when to begin and when to withdraw it. The movement might succeed or fail, it might bring untold disaster and political reverses but that could make no difference to the Mahatma’s infallibility. ‘A Satyagrahi can never fail’ was his formula for declaring his own infallibility and nobody except himself knew what a Satyagrahi is. Thus, the Mahatma became the judge and jury in his own cause. These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible.

Many people thought that his politics were irrational but they had either to withdraw from the Congress or place their intelligence at his feet to do with as he liked. In a position of such absolute irresponsibility Gandhi was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure after failure, disaster after disaster. Gandhi’s pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national language of India . It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his career in India , Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is called Hindustani.. Everybody in India knows that there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a mere dialect, it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue and cross-breed between Hindi and Urdu, and not even the Mahatma’s sophistry could make it popular. But in his desire to please the Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone should be the national language of India . His blind followers, of course, supported him and the so-called hybrid language began to be used. The charm and purity of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims. All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus.

From August 1946 onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, though distressed at what was happening, would not use his powers under the Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent the rape, murder and arson. The Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League members right from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi’s infatuation for them. Lord Wavell had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten. King Log was followed by King Stork. The Congress which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us from August 15, 1947.

Lord Mountbatten came to be described in Congress circles as the greatest Viceroy and Governor-General this country ever had. The official date for handing over power was fixed for June 30, 1948, but Mountbatten with his ruthless surgery gave us a gift of vivisected India ten months in advance. This is what Gandhi had achieved after thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress party calls ‘freedom’ and ‘peaceful transfer of power’. The Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and a theocratic state was established with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have called ‘freedom won by them with sacrifice’ – whose sacrifice? When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country – which we consider a deity of worship – my mind was filled with direful anger.

One of the conditions imposed by Gandhi for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by the Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned. Gandhi was shrewd enough to know that while undertaking a fast unto death, had he imposed for its break some condition on the Muslims in Pakistan , there would have been found hardly any Muslims who could have shown some grief if the fast had ended in his death. It was for this reason that he purposely avoided imposing any condition on the Muslims. He was fully aware of from the experience that Jinnah was not at all perturbed or influenced by his fast and the Muslim League hardly attached any value to the inner voice of Gandhi.

Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty. He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan. His inner-voice, his spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is made of, all crumbled before Jinnah’s iron will and proved to be powerless. Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost all my honour, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan . People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense or foolish, but the nation would be free to follow the course founded on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound nation-building.

After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever. I took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on 30th January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House. I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus. There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book and for this reason I fired those fatal shots. I bear no ill will towards anyone individually but I do say that I had no respect for the present government owing to their policy which was unfairly favourable towards the Muslims. But at the same time I could clearly see that the policy was entirely due to the presence of Gandhi.

I have to say with great regret that Prime Minister Nehru quite forgets that his preachings and deeds are at times at variances with each other when he talks about India as a secular state in season and out of season, because it is significant to note that Nehru has played a leading role in the establishment of the theocratic state of Pakistan, and his job was made easier by Gandhi’s persistent policy of appeasement towards the Muslims. I now stand before the court to accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism levelled against it on all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value thereof some day in future."

GANDHIJI SHOT DEAD : THE FINAL MOMENTS

#2

GANDHIJI SHOT DEAD : THE FINAL MOMENTS

June 25, 1934-Poona: Bomb explodes near car in which Gandhi and Kasturba are travelling. Chief Officer of the Pune Muncipal Corporation, two police men and seven others injured.

May 1944-Panchagani: Group led by Nathuram Godse reaches Gandhi’s place of residence near Pune. During an evening prayer meeting , Godse rushes towards Gandhi with a dagger, shouting slogans. He was overpowered.

September 1944: Group led by Nathuram Godse accosts Gandhi as he leaves Sevagram for talks with Jinnah. Godse carrying a dagger.

January 20, 1948: Madanlal Pahwa, Gopal and Nathuram Godse with 4 others in bomb attack bid at Birla House.

January 28, 1948: “If I’m to die by the bullet of a mad man I must do so smiling. God must be in my heart and on my lips. And if anything happens, you are not to shed a single tear.”---Gandhiji

January 30, 1948: [5:05 p.m.] Gandhiji emerges from Birla House, with Abha Gandhi and Manu Gandhi, walks briskly to prayer platform.

[5:12 p.m.]- 15 yards short of the platform, Nathuram Godse shoots with revolver. Assailant overpowered. Gandhi carried into Birla House and doors of the room closed.

[5:27 p.m.]- Death (FIR later gives time as 5:45 p.m.)

[5:40 p.m.]-First conformation of death.

[8:00 p.m.]- Rumour spreads amid waiting crowd that Gandhi was not dead and doctors were hopeful of recovery. Nehru comes out of room, climbs onto the outer gates and tells the gathering that Gandhi was indeed dead.

[9:00 p.m.]- Body put on plain bier, draped in white khadi, carried to the terrace of Birla House, placed in slightly slanting posture, for waiting crowds below to see.

Bhagat Singh, ‘Why I Am an Atheist’

#1

‘I am going to sacrifice my life for a cause. What more consolation can there be? A God-believing Hindu may expect to be reborn a king; a Muslim or a Christian might dream of the luxuries he hopes to enjoy in paradise as a reward for the sufferings and sacrifices. What hope should I entertain? I know that it will be the end when then rope is tightened around my neck and the rafters moved from under my feet. To use more precise religious terminology – it will be my moment of utter annihilation. My soul will come to nothing. If I have the courage to think of the matter in the light of a “reward”, I see a short life of struggle with no such magnificent end as itself my “reward”. That is all.’

‘With no selfish motive or desire to be awarded here or hereafter, quite disinteresting have I devoted my life to the cause of independence, because I could not do otherwise.'

                                                      

                                                                                                    ---Bhagat Singh, ‘Why I Am an Atheist’