The so-called “Sarbat Khalsa” (a great gathering of Sikhs) at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Sunday was of the size of a street-corner meeting in a large town. Barely 5,000 Sikhs are reported to have attended it. Some of the possible reasons for this remarkably thin attendance are obvious. The All India Sikh Students’ Federation spearheading the extremists is split; the security forces had ringed the Golden Temple complex; though they did not prevent anyone from going in, their presence could by itself have been a discouragement. But while it would be highly premature to say that one reason for the unexpectedly thin attendance might have been some kind of disillusionment in the Sikh community, this possibility should not be rejected out of hand. It is, of course, not easy to assess reasonably accurately the level of support the extremists and the terrorists enjoy among the Sikhs. But it will be as dangerous to overestimate it as to underestimate it. Indeed, it can be far more dangerous. For it can paralyze the administration. People anywhere in the world respect firmness on the part of those in authority just as they abhor unjust and excessive use of force. If anything, this is particularly true of border peoples such as the Sikhs. Apparently, the Punjab chief minister, Mr. Barnala, and his colleagues are beginning to grasp this truth and to show some signs of trying to overcome the paralysis that appeared to have dominated their thinking and behaviour, especially since January 26 when the extremists seized control of the Golden Temple complex. The stepping up of police vigilance and their willingness to engage the terrorists are an expression of this change in Chandigarh.
The Golden Temple complex holds the key to Sikh politics. This point should be obvious even to a naive non-Sikh, not to speak of veteran Akali leaders in office in Punjab. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale could not have become the Frankenstein he did if he had not been allowed to operate from the Golden Temple complex. Indeed, the Akali morcha itself gathered momentum only when Sant Longowal shifted his headquarters there. It follows that the task of first containing and then ridding the state of extremism and terrorism cannot be a success so long as the symbol of the Sikh faith remains under their control. The so-called “Sarbat Khalsa” on Sunday has further underlined this point on two counts. First, a gathering of 5,000 Sikhs anywhere else would not have either attracted attention or commanded any sanction. Secondly, the presence of three terrorists named by the director-general of police, Mr. Ribeiro, on the dais suggests that they have taken shelter in the temple. No one can be sure that this is indeed the case. But the possibility that the temple is once again being used by terrorists to evade arrest cannot be ignored. For while the three terrorists could have sneaked into the complex for the “Sarbat Khalsa” despite the security cordon, it appears unlikely that they did so.
In view of the traumatic impact of “Operation Bluestar”, it cannot be anybody’s case yet that the Union government should send its paramilitary forces into the complex and clear it of the extremists who have no right to be there. The state government cannot, however, shirk its responsibility except at grave risk to the future of the state. While, as we have written in these columns earlier, it is not possible to determine the intimacy of the connection between the extremists and the terrorists, terrorism cannot prosper in the absence of an extremist movement. In the present case, the extremists are already badly split and they have begun to suspect one another’s bona fides so much so that some of them have accused the convenor of the United Akali Dal, Baba Joginder Singh, of being a government agent. They will suffer a big blow if they are not allowed to function from the Golden Temple complex. This will not by itself help dispose of the terrorist menace. That problem may be with us for a long time, especially if Pakistan is helping them to whatever extent. But the terrorists can be reduced to ordinary bandits like the ones who have operated in the Chambal region in Madhya Pradesh for decades if the extremist movement is snuffed out. The challenge is at once political and one of law and order. The Akali government needs to campaign against the extremists and deny them the kind of sustenance which their control of the historic Golden Temple and other gurudwaras gives them.