Whenever India Broke

"Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter, former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was a ruler who employed all tactics, fair or unfair, to prolong her rule and justified them according to her own-devised political moral." These are the words of noted Indian intellectual, politician and diplomat, Patwant Singh whose English language book the "Of Dreams and Demons", based on his memoirs has recently been published that exposes various aspects of the recent past history.

Country's Foreign Policy
Giving an account of a meeting of the External Affairs Ministry during the era of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Patwant Singh writes that in 1963, an important official of the ministry expressed his concern about the country's foreign policy to Nehru if the Communists came into power in the centre? Upon which Nehru said: "Why you people are so afraid of Communism and communists? Right wing Hindu communalist forces are the real threat to India and not the communists". Patwant Singh says Nehru's apprehensions came true when many years later his daughter very cleverly played with the religious sentiments of right wing Hindu communal groups and gave India the gift of the storm of carnage in 1980s.

Patwant Singh admittedly writes that Mrs Indira Gandhi had played key role in making East Pakistan to Bangladesh. According to him, Indira Gandhi was fortunate that she got people like Sheikh Mujibur Rehman who easily played like puppets in her hands.

The author analysing power-hunger political psyche of Indira Gandhi writes that after changing East Pakistan into Bangladesh, she had presumptions that working on this lines and fanning communal hatred among various religions, she could continue to rule India like a queen for long time.

Patwant Singh draws similarity between Indira Gandhi's this mentality and Byzantine conspiracy. Indira Gandhi's Byzantinian conspiracies started in India at a time when she was facing tough competition in elections in East Punjab. She conspired to create rifts between the Hindu and Sikh communities and to use the broken Hindus in Punjab to ensure victory of Congress-I in the elections.

Sikh Insurgency
According to Patwant Singh, for this purpose the "principle" was devised that Sikh community be pitted against Hindus and once again incite old conflicts between the two communities and flare up communal and ethnic strife that could engulf the whole Punjab. To achieve this objective there was a need for a young Sikh religious leader who could flare up quickly having all historical instincts of Sikhs. Indira Gandhi chose President Giyani Zail Singh for this purpose to search for such a young Sikh and work hard to gain the appreciation of the prime minister.

The authors of the Of Dreams and Demons Patwant Singh rejects vociferously this notion that the 1980s Sikh insurgency which engulfed the Punjab state was because of a natural reaction to any political action. According to the author, all this was done by Indira Gandhi which was later accomplished through Sant Jarnail Singh Bindaranwala with the abetment of Giyani Zail Singh, whose speeches ignited the flame of religion among Sikhs of Punjab, which may not be put down any more.

Jarnail Singh was given free hand in Punjab. His speeches and reports of rallies were given extensive share in state media. His tirades against Indian constitution and Indian Penal Code were intentionally ignored. In those days, Patwant Singh says, whenever we mentioned about Sant Jarnail Singh's activities to Indira Gandhi, she always said: "Let him to do all these things...very soon his inflammatory politics will cool down. I know how to deflect these kinds of storms." After Indira Gandhi's such statements everyone would seek to remain silent. But later time proved that Indira Gandhi's presumption was a misconception. The waves of the storm she had claimed to be turned back swallowed her when time came.

Congress Leadership
In 1980 when Congress-I under the leadership of Indira Gandhi once again came into power, Jarnail Singh Bindaranwala was given more importance under the secret instructions of Indira. At the behest of secret agencies fudged figures and data were planted in newspapers and media to prove that Jarnail Singh was the biggest leader of Sikh community. Everywhere Sikh solidarity, historical arrogance and ego were propagated. Its aim was to make the Hindus of the East Punjab realise that now they cannot withstand in front of the raging storm of Sikhs and if they want to remain safe from the tyranny of Sant Jarnail Singh Bindaranwala in future, they should come under the umbrella of Indira Gandhi along with the bundles of their votes.

According to Patwant Singh, she was assuming that like the erstwhile East Pakistan where she tactfully exploited and used the feeling of alleged injustices and exploitation of Bengalis by the West Pakistan and proved herself victorious, can also be successful in achieving her objectives in East Punjab by exploiting its battered situation but the time proved that her assessment was wrong.

Hoodwinking Peace-Loving Muslims
Patwant Singh writes that like Karnataka and Andra Pradesh where Indira Gandhi garnered votes by using the slogan of "eliminate poverty" and by hoodwinking the peace-loving Muslims throughout the country in the name of secularism in 1983, she thought that in East Punjab also, she can make her vote bank safe by widening the religious, ideological and ethnic gape between Hindu and Sikh communities.

But she woke up when in 1984, noted Sikh leaders under the leadership of Sant Jarnail Singh decided to set on fire the Indian constitution. It fell on Indira Gandhi like a bombshell. First she herself tried to talk to Sant Jarnail Singh on telephone but he refused to attend her call. At that time Jarnail Singh Bindaranwala had holed up himself in Amritsar's Golden Temple and a common man could not reach him.
Rremained Steadfast
The author writes that: "Later on the instruction of Indira Gandhi I along with Harchand Singh Longwal, Lieutenant General (retired) J.S Arora, Air Marshal (retired) Arjun Singh, and ambassador Gurbajan by a plane reached Amritsar to meet Sant Jarnail Singh as he had fixed timing of the meeting. But unfortunately, an hour before our scheduled meeting with Bindaranwala, Indira Gandhi rang up and called us back to New Delhi." Sant Jarnail Singh took this move as his insult and, according to Patwant Singh, Sant Jarnail Singh and his men took oath to not to meet Indira Gandhi, and remained steadfast on this principle until his death.

Finally the moment came when Indian army troops on tanks and with missiles stormed the most sacred place of Sikhs -- Golden Temple. During this bloodshed although Sant Jarnail Singh was killed, what was the crime of about 4,000 innocent Sikh people who had come to offer prayers at that time, were also killed? The writer says that Indira Gandhi's this order ignited an unending flame of hatred in the heats of Sikhs about Hindus which was demonstrated when she herself became the first target of her own Sikh bodyguards.