On June 5, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered Operation Blue Star, sending the Indian army to storm the Golden Temple in Amritsar and kill Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the hardline Sikh priest leading the Khalistan movement. The heavy shelling killed over 550 people and destroyed the Akal Takht, one of Sikhism’s five seats of power. Five months later, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, triggering riots that killed thousands of Sikhs.

Decades later, the echoes of Khalistan resonate to this day – particularly in the tensions brewing between India, Canada and the US over the assassination plots of pro-Khalistan activists. But how did it come to this? Where did it begin?

This is Let’s Talk About: Punjab.

In episode one, host Abhinandan Sekhri dissects the history of Punjab and Sikhism: the pre-independence demand of an autonomous Sikh state, the wounds inflicted during the Partition, the Akali Dal’s call for Punjabi Suba in the 1960s, feud over the Beas and Sutlej rivers, and how Punjab grew more resentful. He explains how one man took the idea of Khalistan from India to the rest of the world via a curious ad in The New York Times.

And, crucially, the episode unfolds the rise of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, moving from an ordinary Sikh family to widespread fame, spearheading a movement as the state crumbled in blood and death.  

Through conversations with journalists, writers and key personnel from the Punjab story,  the episode pieces together the complexities of Bhindranwale and the turbulent years of a state’s history.

Listen, and stay tuned for episode two.

References

Tragedy of Punjab: Operation Bluestar & After by Kuldip Singh and Kushwant Singh

Bhindranwale: Myth and Reality by Chand Joshi

Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi’s Last Battle by Mark Tully and Satish Jacob

Punjab: The Enemies Within by KPS Gill

The Sikh Separatist Insurgency in India by Jugdep S Chima

A History of the Sikhs: Volume 2: 1839-2004 by Khushwant Singh

Archives of India Today, Indian Express and The New York Times

Credits

Host: Abhinandan Sekhri 

Script and podcast supervisor: Jayashree Arunachalam

Producer: Aryan Mahtta

Editor: Parikshit Sanyal

Research: Aryan Mahtta, Jayashree Arunachalam, Shardool Katyayan

Design: Prachi Dureja

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