The Punjab government, backed, if not pushed, by the Union government, has finally acted and cleared the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar of extremists and terrorists who had been in control of this holiest Sikh shrine for over three months. The operation has been well-planned and well-implemented. This is a tribute as much to the new leadership of the Punjab police as to the para-military forces. According to the official report, only one person has been killed and three injured in the entire operation. These figures, however, also provide the evidence, if such evidence was at all necessary, that this time the government did not need to undertake anything like an “Operation Bluestar” to clear the Temple of extremists and terrorists. Indeed, it was common knowledge that the extremists in control of the complex were not too well provided with arms and ammunition, and the shrine and the adjoining buildings had not been fortified as they had been in 1984. Why then the hesitation? No satisfactory answer is available, except in terms of the reluctance of the chief minister, Mr. Barnala, and his colleagues to do their duty by the state, the country and their own community.
For all we know, the Punjab state and possibly even the Centre might have continued to dither, if the extremists ensconced in the complex had not been reckless enough to proclaim that they would establish Khalistan with Delhi as its capital. Why they did so can only be a matter of speculation. No obvious explanation suggests itself. The Kahlon group in the All India Sikh Students’ Federation, backed by the Damdami Taksal, had apparently won the factional struggle against its rival in the federation, who enjoy the support of the so-called United Akali Dal, headed nominally by Bhai Joginder Singh, father of the late Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. It could have, if it had so chosen, consolidated its position and carried on its nefarious propaganda and terrorist activities from the sanctuary of the Temple. That it did not choose to do so is something of a mystery.
Is any case, faced with an outrageous declaration, neither the State government nor the Union government could have prevaricated. Not even Bhindranwale, when he held sway in the holy shrine, had dared to espouse his secessionist aims so openly as the so-called five-member Panthic Committee has done. Unlike the Janata leader, Mr. Chandra Shekhar, those in authority could not have dismissed the declaration as a sick joke. They had to confront the fact that the declaration had been made and that it would set in motion extremely dangerous developments if they did not act at once and act with determination. Not to speak of Mr. Barnala’s title to rule in Punjab, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi’s own legitimacy would have come into question if the secessionists had not been taken care of. Some of the gangsters have escaped, which is a pity. But that cannot detract from the fact that the authorities have at long last acted. It is to be hoped that they will keep up the tempo.