1,500 manuscripts of Sikh Reference Library not returned after Op Blue Star: SGPC tells High Court

However, the Union government hasn’t made any mention of the burning of records at the Sikh Reference Library during Operation Blue Star in these replies. In another reply to one of the letters from SGPC, it said the articles removed from the Golden Temple in 1984 were returned to the “Punjab police and SGPC”.

Satinder Singh, the petitioner, said he had filed the petition in 2019 to find out what happened to the Sikh Reference Library during Operation Blue Star. Singh said this is the first time that SGPC is making it public that 1,500 manuscripts, including the 512 hand-written birs of the Guru Granth Sahib, were taken away by the Army after Operation Blue Star, and these were never returned.

“SGPC had not mentioned this earlier during previous related petitions in court. SGPC had never made a specific demand for the return of these birs. Now, after 39 years, SGPC has brought this information to the court’s attention, but there has been no public acknowledgement of the same. There is no specific list of those 1,500 manuscripts,” he added.

While responding to Singh’s petition in April, SGPC said it had prepared a register mentioning the articles/artefacts and the list of 512 codices of the Guru Granth Sahib which were taken away by the Army during Operation Blue Star. It also claimed that few of the documents taken from the Sikh Reference Library, which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said have been returned, are yet to come back to it.

“As per record, the total number of books in manuscripts of pothis before Operation Blue Star were 12,613. Out of these, 56 books, nine registers, and a catalogue wooden cabinet were received by SGPC. The return of the rest of the books is being demanded by SGPC from the Central Bureau of Investigation,” it said.

Singh had also alleged there were 1,500 codices of the Guru Granth Sahib before Operation Blue Star. However, SGPC replied, “In fact, 1,500 codices include the manuscripts of general literature including pothis etc and the now Shri Guru Granth Sahib.”

“It is made clear that a fire took place during Operation Blue Star at the Sikh Reference Library and some material which was not taken by the Army were burnt to ash as disclosed by General Kuldeep Singh Brar. It is correct that various articles, including 125 bags with manuscripts, books etc, were taken away by the Army during Operation Blue Star and handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation…” “With regard to the Toshakhana, only historical Chanani was burnt to ash which is preserved. The manuscripts received in 20 bags were actually 60 in number and the same is part of the Sikh Reference Library,” said SGPC in its reply.

“The alleged documents mentioned in the list in the reply of the CBI filed in CWP No. 11301 of 2003 have not been received by SGPC as per the record…. the documents which are shown to have been supplied but were not received are being demanded from the CBI by the answering respondent,” it added.

Petitioner Singh has also questioned why SGPC didn’t object to the CBI affidavit when it was filed in response to the 2003 petition.

SGPC also denied that 19 manuscripts, including the Guru Granth Sahib, were received from Ranjit Singh Nanda, former inspector, Punjab Police, and said that as per the entry register, it has only got four manuscripts. The Pothi Har Das (1682CE) with an autograph of Guru Gobind Singh and the manuscripts of Bhagat Soordas’s Soor Sagar transcription in Gurmukhi have also not been returned, it added.

What is Sikh Reference Library?

The Sikh Reference Library came into existence on February 8, 1947, to meet the purpose of the Sikh History Society. According to a document published by the Society in 1950, the Library had 2,335 manuscripts and books in Punjabi, 10 in Assamese, seven in Bengali, and two in Sindhi as well as a book in French. Later, about 400 books in English and one in French were added to the library stock.

As per the statement of Devinder Singh Duggal, then in charge of the Sikh History Research Board, there were 2,500 manuscripts (including handwritten Birs of the Guru Granth Sahib) and the Library’s stock reached 20,000 before Operation Blue Star.

What happened to the library during Operation Blue Star?

A research paper published by Guru Nanak Dev University reads, “The Army version says that the library caught fire during the exchange of fire with militants who had taken shelter in premises of the Golden Temple”.

The paper says, “Another version says that the library was damaged only partially during the Operation, and most of the reading material was carried away later, by the Army, in gunny bags and steel trunks, to a safer place. Ranjit Singh Nanda, a former Inspector of the Punjab Police, who remained on deputation with the CBI for a couple of years, has confirmed the claims of SGPC that the material was lying with the CBI. He says that he had enough proof to substantiate his claim that the Army had taken away invaluable material from the Library and handed it over to the CBI.”

“According to an estimate, more than 20,000 books of the value of Rs. 20 lacs, 2500 hand-written volumes of holy Sikh scriptures, about 500 handwritten rare books/documents relating to Sikh tenets and traditions and 200 copies (typed) of rare books/documents were either burnt or taken out from the Sikh Reference Library by the Indian Army,” it adds.

However, the Centre has said in an RTI reply to Sikh Forum in 2018 that it has possession of no book or manuscripts from the Sikh Reference Library.