The Facts

The Sikh Oppression occurred through many years of oppression from the Indian government. Whatever political power or religion is in charge, the Sikhs were and are the minority and have been oppressed for many decades by the Hindus and the Muslims. In 1947, India became it’s own independent nation apart from Britain. The people were supposedly given rights. They were given “basic liberties”, such as freedom of speech and freedom to marry, but India is an illiberal democracy because they soon after denied these rights to the Sikhs.

             Also, the governor of Punjab, Mr. C.M. Trevedi, differing from the opinions of the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, the Deputy Prime Minister, issued certain instructions to all the Deputy Commissioners of Indian Punjab. His instructions, without reference to the law of India, the Sikhs in general and Sikh migrants in particular must be treated as a “criminal tribe”.

            In 1984, Indira Gandhi, the third prime minister, issued an attack on the Sikh’s holiest temple, the Darbar Sahib. It was a bombing on a Sikh Holy day. This caused huge uprisings among the Sikh community and Indira was shot by two of her Sikh bodyguards. This assassination also caused a lot of hate towards the Sikhs. 1984 was the year of the Sikh Genocide. This genocide was caused by the want to put down the spirits of Sikhs and to stop them from becoming a majority. They believed by wiping out some of the people, that they could scare everyone. The bombing in 1984 further demonstrated the corrupt nature of the Indian democracy. The Indian Government planned to eliminate as many Sikhs as possible, in a want to scare them all so no one would want to be a Sikh.      

For over a year, the Indian army had been preparing for an attack on the Darbar Sahib.  To legitimize the attack, according to Subramaniam Swami, a member of the Indian Parliament, the central government had created propaganda to sway attention away from the genocide.  In his words, the state sought to “make out that the Golden Temple was the haven of criminals, a store of armory and a citadel of the nation’s dismemberment conspiracy.” The Indian army invaded the Darbar Sahib in an assault that was code named “Operation Blue Star” on June 5, 1984 to correspond with the day of death for Guru Arjan, who had constructed the Darbar Sahib.  It is common knowledge that this gurpurab (commemoration of Guru Arjan’s martyrdom) attracts an unusually large number of Sikh visitors at the Darbar Sahib, just like a large number of Muslims visit Mecca during the month of Ramadan. Ram Narayan Kumar notes, “Operation Blue Star was not only envisioned and rehearsed in advance, meticulously and in total secrecy, it also aimed at obtaining the maximum number of Sikh victims, largely devout pilgrims unconnected with the political agitation.”

Thousands of people died, and there were even accounts of death after the initial invasion and bombing.

            “I saw about thirty-five or thirty-six Sikhs lined up with their hands raised above their heads.  And the major was about to order them to be shot.  When I asked him for medical help, he got into rage, tore my turban off my head, and ordered his men to shoot me.  I turned back and fled…Sardar Karnail Singh Nag, who had followed me, also narrated what he had seen, as well as the killing of thirty-five to thirty-six young Sikhs by cannon fire.  All of them were villagers.”

            This was an eyewitness account from Bhan Singh. He was a Sikh visiting the temple on this day. Another witness, C.K.C. Reddy, had a horrifying experience on the same day.

            “The whole of Punjab and especially the Golden Temple Complex, was turned into a murderous mouse trap from where people could neither escape nor could they seek succor of any kind...The bodies of the victims of military operation in Punjab were unceremoniously destroyed without any attempt to identify them and hand them over to their relatives …The most disturbing thing about the entire operation was that a whole mass of men, women, and children were ordered to be killed merely on the suspicion that some terrorists were operating from the Golden Temple and other Gurdwaras. There had been no judicial verdict of guilt against definite individuals who had been taking shelter in the Golden Temple.”

            This details what was happening the whole time during this horrific event. The Indian Army suffered only 83 deaths that day, but the Sikhs lost between 500-800 people. This devastation caused thousands of people pain, and a want for revenge. The operation also led to the assassination of Indira Gahndi on October 31, 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards, triggering the 1984 Anti-Sikh protests. The 1984 Anti-Sikh protests were four days of violence in northern India, particularly Delhi, during which armed mobs from the Indian National Congress, killed unarmed Sikh men, women, and children, looted and set fire to Sikh homes, businesses and schools, and attacked Gurdwara, the main place for Sikh worship. The widespread killing of Sikhs, mostly in the national capital Delhi but also in other major cities in North India, led to divisions between the Sikh community and the Indian Government. The Sikhs realized how oppressive the government could be and sought help from the global community. A peace treaty was drawn up, but was rejected before it was finalized. The army withdrew from the Golden Temple later in 1984 because of demands from the Sikh Community.

            Today, There is a Sikh Coalition. They are here to protect the Sikh’s human rights. Their stance on the issue is…

            “Today, most of the world's 25 million Sikhs reside in the Indian state of Punjab. For this reason, although The Sikh Coalition advocates championing human rights throughout the world, this section focuses on human rights issues in India, with an emphasis on the country's following minority communities: Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Dalits (those labeled as Untouchables under the caste system), and women.”

            This is one of the major groups determined to prevent persecution of Sikhs in the Punjab. Other organizations recognize and help Sikhs also, like the UN. Sikhs are still being oppressed in India only because they are Sikh. They provide the information on a person’s rights, and allow people to report the oppressions and seek legal help.