Sikhs look to a ‘messiah’

Press, 1 May 1984, Page 16

Sikhs look to a ‘messiah’

By

JOHN FULLERTON,

Resplendent in a dark blue turban, he stands on a stage with a microphone in his hands, and a pistol and dagger at his belt. At his feet squat hundreds of followers, many armed with sub-machine-guns, rifles and swords. Newcomers toss money into a mounting pile of cash in front of the 37-year-old preacher, whom increasing numbers of Sikhs regard as their messiah. Others call him India’s “ayatollah,” seeing him as a firebrand who has fuelled Sikh extremists in India’s Punjab state, where violence between Sikhs and Hindus has claimed more than 120 lives this year. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale has become a focal point in Sikh agitation for greater political and religious concessions. His headquarters are the roof of the huge canteen building on the edge of the Sikhs’ holiest shrine, the Golden Temple. Open to the heavens, it is the site of public audiences lasting several hours each day. The growl of a circling security forces helicopter does not interrupt an address to the faithful, or spoil Bhindranwale’s constant good humour. Asked if he fears a raid on the temple to seize Sikh extremists sheltering in its precincts, Bhindranwale smiles. “I do not fear danger, though I expect it,” he says. His portrait, showing him carrying two huge sabres, is plastered throughout the narrow alleys of Amritsar’s old walled city, which has been turned into an armed camp by the violence. “To us, a man who does not carry a weapon is like a cheep

of Reuters,

in Amristsar, India, through NZPA

(chicken),” he says. His bodyguard breaks into laughter. More than 183 cm tall and with a > flowing beard, he has become for many young Sikhs the personification of their national identity, martial prowess and religious orthodoxy. Punjab authorities do not share the view. They list nine cases registered against him in the last ' year, all for sedition or planning revenge against police officers. Investigation files include many cassettes of speeches made by Bhindranwale. In each case investigations are not complete, and no formal charges have been made. To avoid arrest, he has not left the precincts of the temple since early 1983. Asked if he feels a prisoner atop the canteen, he looks out at the temple, its golden dome shimmering at the centre of an artificial lake, and replies: “This is my home, and it is a fine one.” Born Jarnail Singh in 1947 — the year of India’s independence — Bhindranwale grew up in the western Punjab village of Rode, and spent his early years as a farmer. Legend has it that while in his mother’s arms he was picked to become leader of the Sikhs’ large Bhindranwale order, famed for its teaching of religious scripture from a temple in the Punjab village of Bhindra. The leadership mantle, bestowing the name Bhindranwale, was passed on in 1977 by the father of the present president of the All India Sikhs Student Federation. The federation, which has many Bhindranwale followers, was outlawed last month because of its links to the violence.

Bhindranwale’s political career took off in 1978, when he vowed to avenge a clash with Nirankaris, members of a breakaway Sikh sect, in which 14 people died. There have been regular attacks on Nirankaris during the present troubles, and recently five of them died in grenade blasts at a Nirankari temple. Bhindranwale was also a key figure in forming the Dal Khalsa (Party of the Pure Ones), which is now an underground organisation seeking an independent Sikh nation, called Khalistan, in Punjab. In 1980 the Dal Khalsa put forward 130 candidates for election as office-bearers in Sikh temples, but they all lost their deposits. “The Dal Khalsa was set up by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Congress (I) Party to break the hold of the main Sikh political party, the Akali Dal, on our temples,” says Narindarjit Singh, in-

formation officer for the Golden Temple. “At first the Dal Khalsa was considered moderate, but later it was banned by the Government, and its members went into hiding.” In the temple grounds today there are still members of the group who proudly show visitors embossed “Khalistan passports” and speak enthusiastically of a day when Sikhs will be independent. Bhindranwale does not answer questions about how he became reconciled to the Akali Dal after initial opposition to it. “When we talk of Sikhs and when we talk of Sikh faith then we are one,” he says. During the agitation there has been a veil over relations between Bhindranwale and the Akali Dal leader, Harchand Singh Longowal. Reports constantly portray Longowal as a moderate, opposed to Bhindranwale’s firebrands. Both deny a split.

Bhindranwale has only once been arrested, in September, 1981, shortly after the killing of a Punjab newspaper editor, Lala Jagat Narain, who had strongly criticised growing extremism among Sikhs. Bhindranwale was released 11 days later. There followed a cat-and-mouse hunt for him as he moved about the country making speeches, finally taking up residence in the Golden Temple. Bhindranwale has clear ideas about his future and the path of the campaign for greater autonomy in Punjab, where most of India’s 12 million Sikhs live. “They, the Government, can come here and talk,” he says. “The only reason I would go to New Delhi would be to hoist our flag over the Red Fort (ancient home of Mogul emperors).” His supporters applaud enthusiastically.