Harsimran Kaur ON  Oct06, 2023, IN BOOK REVIEW,THE KHALISTAN CONSPIRACY BY G.B.S. SIDHU–NON-FICTION

Rating: 5/5

The promulgation of Khalistan began as a belief; a belief to validate one’s authenticity, one’s fundamental structure and a reprisal to the ignominies faced by the Sikhs during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984. Was it right? Or an error of judgement? Or, perhaps disinterring the corrugated wounds of partition in 1947? Today, the belief remains but has a long tumultuous story behind it that many are not aware of.  

In the book, ‘The Khalistan Conspiracy’ by G.B.S. Sidhu, a former R&AW officer, certain facts and analogies pertaining to the Punjab crisis between 1980 till 1984 have been penned down, giving its reader a comprehensive view of the entire milieu. Khalistan, a powerful term, has pickled the minds of Indians as proscriptive; an amusing valour of the eccentric Sikh terrorists causing rebarbative cataclysm, and the government striding in fear of a coup d’état. Sometimes, the outer façade bemoans the interior perplexity but our denial acts as a coup de grace. It’s important to understand the Khalistan movement to question the conspiracy behind it.

The book traverses the origin of Khalistan movement, and the bearing it had on the minds of Indian Sikhs and the Sikh diaspora in the US and Canada. Khalistan was and is still a needle in the bush that nobody wanted to find; it was best laid down to rest to avoid national unrest. But certain miscreants in the Congress party made it a propaganda to settle their scores with the Akalis. They corroborated with Bhindranwale, the Sikh extremist, to have a formidable hold in Punjab. Bhindranwale in due course of time, with the support of some of the leaders of congress, became obstreperous carrying out massive killings and creating a sheet of unrest in the city of Punjab. His implacable attacks could have been cut under the feet if political anomaly had not taken precedence; his Refuge in the Akal Takht was the last brick that the congress succeeded to cement to finally break the entire foundation.

Result? Operation Blue Star—a faulty and an unpardonable decision taken by the then Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi! A price she paid unceremoniously by getting herself killed by her two Sikh bodyguards. The author has his nails pressed tightly in the sand and has no compunction to accept that the operation was not an instantaneous decision but a meticulously planned strategy premeditated long before by the congress to attain power. 

It’s prudent to preside over figments that put the Sikh community in dark hole. The rise of Bhindranwale to the fall of Akalis, the religious concerns of the Sikh Diaspora in the US and Canada to the vulnerable Sikh population in Punjab, the introduction of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution to the failing negotiations, the uproar of the Dal Khalsa to the fortification of the Akal Takht, the ignominy faced by Sikhs during the Asian Games to the crest fallen Sikhs after the Golden Temple attack, and the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi to the anti-Sikh riots,  the book encapsulates the motive behind every action.  The distinction between SFF –led Heliborne Operation and Operation Blue Star in their respective strategies and shortcomings is lucid and thought provoking.

Considering how the killing of Sikh Extremist, ‘Hardeep Singh Nijjar’ of the Khalistan Movement in Canada has churned the sugarcane into an unpalatable taste of rippled ambiguities, the mind is predisposed to think

• How deep are the wounds that blemish the texture of beliefs, and in no times are serrated to protuberate as fresh scars?
• Is it a religious agenda for political gain or an honest decreed to flush out the terrorist for communal harmony?
• Isn’t it high time to nip it in the bud by holding dialogues and understanding the grievances of the community?

Nobody is questioning ‘nationalism’ or ‘patriotism’. The Sikh community has given its life for the good cause of the country whenever time has demanded sacrifice. Nothing has changed. It all boils down to the lofty assessment of the government and the recriminations that follow to cut the corner.  

TAKE AWAY

Illuminating and indispensible!