Bhindranwale's escape
Dhiren Bhagat
A mritsar
On Sunday, along with some 25,000 others, I went to pray in the Golden Temple between six and nine in the morn- ing, the only hours pilgrims are allowed in. We had just had the first of the rains and the usually spotless parikrama that sur- rounds the square lake was covered with puddles and muddy feet. Solemn hymns filled the air as the crowd looked at the signs of damage all around. And in the mid- dle of the grey-brown water stood the golden shrine, as if saved by a miracle.
Not completely saved though. The government boasts that not a single bullet was fired on the shrine are untrue. In a re cent statement the Akali Party claimed there were at least 300 bullet marks on Sri Harimandir Sahib and though I did not have the time (or means) to count them the figure seems plausible. All around the shrine, on the walls of the parikrama and the Toshakhana, the army has touched up and painted afresh the extensive brickwork. But no amount of white paint can cover the bullet marks on the marble and gold, and each morning as the packed mass of pilgrims pushes itself toward the shrine hundreds of hands stretch out to trace each bullet hole, to take in each defacement. Many Sikhs feel it is best to leave each bullet mark unrestored, a constant reminder of the storming of 5 June.
The Akal Takth, the temporal seat of the Sikhs, is badly damaged: the shell stands but some walls have collapsed, one of the two chattris is no more, only two of the several pillars on the facade remain. Pilgrims are not allowed in the building but from what one sees of the facade while visiting Harimandir Sahib it appears the building will have to be completely rebuilt.
Sikh tradition has it that gurudwaras can- not be repaired by just anybody, but by volunteers from amongst the faithful. So the Akalis have called upon the government to stop repairs (which amount to further desecration) and to hand back control of the Temple to the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee by 15 July. The legends have begun. The Sikhs in the countryside refuse to believe Bhindranwale is dead. Farmers have wagered tractors, combine harvesters and even land in sup- port of their disbelief. At Bhindranwale's gurudwara at Mehta Chowk I was told that the final prayer (antim ardas) has not been said for him there. And when Sant Tara Singh of Chola Sahib, while performing an Ardas for the martyrs, prayed for salvation for those who died and health for those who got away, it was clear what he meant.
The belief is that Bhindranwale is in Pakistan. A group of pilgrims who were in Lahore recently claim to have been blessed there by Bhindranwale. And each evening the faithful tune in to Pakistani television to get a glimpse of the Sant despite the fact that his death was announced on it several days ago. On the night of Eid (30 June) there was a strong rumour that Bhindran- wale would appear on the extended pro- gramme Pakistan TV had arranged as part of the festivities. The fact that he didn't hasn't deterred anyone from believing he is alive and well though some now feel he left for America on the 26th.
A common account of Bhindranwale's escape goes like this: just before the army stormed the Temple they sent in ten or 12 uniformed men, some of them Sikhs, in an attempt to persuade him to give up. Bhin- 'We should get about £20 EEC subsidy.' dranwale and his men captured these soldiers, put on their uniforms and escaped in their army vehicle to Pakistan. A variant has it that an empty army vehicle was found on the Indian side of the border in Gurdas- pur District.
Those who cannot accept this implausible account are at a loss to describe his method of escape but conclude that some sort of escape is the only way of explaining the following alleged discrepancies: the span of Bhindranwale's hand measured nine inches while the post-mortem figure was seven; his height was 6' 1", two inches more than that on the post-mortem report; the fingerprints of the body found don't tally with those of the police record; the body was clothed in choodidaar pyjamas but Bhindranwale was never known to wear pyjamas, preferring robes instead. The fact that the body was identified by several who knew him, his own brother included, doesn't seem to count for much. It must be said, though, that all the Akalis I have met are convinced he is dead. Indeed some go so far as to sug- gest that the rumours have been started by the government itself, in its attempts to soften the blow to the Sikhs.
The stories of Bhindranwale's escape are part of a wider problem of credibility. The Sikhs I met in the Districts no longer believe anything that appears on Indian television or radio, or even in the Indian press. Everyone listens to BBC and Pakistan radio and the ban on foreign correspondents in the Punjab is viewed as yet another attempt to hide the truth. The press in the Punjab is censored, so accounts of army atrocities travel by word of mouth while the Hindu press is filled with stories seeking to establish the criminality of the terrorists. In an attempt to justify the army action to the Sikhs, each evening the government-con- trolled television brings on a train of Sikhs who speak out against Bhindranwale. But in the Punjab at least this has had the op- posite effect on the community, which brands these tame Sikhs as traitors. As an old priest explained to me, 'Indira Bibi talks of a healing touch. What she doesn't realise is she is putting salt in our wounds.'
The Sikhs inthe Punjab today are sullen and leaderless. When Khushwant Singh called the attack on the Golden Temple a bloody punch on the Sikh nose he was voic- ing the sentiments of his entire community. The destruction of the Golden Temple library and with it several precious relics is seen by them as a deliberate assault on their faith. Almost to a man the Sikhs speak of Khalistan, the Land of the Pure, their sovereign state. What they need now is a leader to take them there.
While all the Sikhs I spoke to are certain there will be a struggle, not all of them can be certain of victory. The cab driver who drove me in from the airport pointed out to me that the Nagas had been fighting the Indian Army since 1955. I replied that perhaps the Sikhs could not be thwarted as easily as the Nagas. He shook his head sadly as if to cancel my doubts. He had served in the Indian Army for 30 years and knew its might.
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