Operation Blue Star anniversary today: Lt Gen S K Sinha had anticipated Army action in gurdwara, made plans for gradated intervention

He went on to become the Ambassador to Nepal and then the Governor of Assam and later Jammu and Kashmir. He passed away in 2016.

In a television interview to senior journalist Kanwar Sandhu some years ago, Lt Gen Sinha revealed that his plans were disregarded by the then GOC-in-C Western Command Lt Gen K Sundarji who chose to rush troops inside the Golden Temple complex instead of adopting the gradual escalation method advocated by him.

What prompted Lt Gen Sinha’s Golden Temple plan was an operation to arrest pro-Khalistan ideologue Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from Mehta Chowk Gurdwara during his tenure as Western Army Commander. In his book, A Soldier Recalls, Lt Gen Sinha mentions that the Chief Secretary of Punjab requested him to provide some armoured personnel carriers, which could be used by Punjab Police to arrest Bhindranwale.

“I told him that the Army doesn’t give its fighting equipment to anyone on loan and therefore I could not provide the carriers requested for by him. When required we would render assistance to the civil authorities using our fighting equipment as necessary,” wrote Lt Gen Sinha.

He further wrote that in his opinion the common man would think that tanks had been used in the gurdwara and that this would send a wrong message nationally and internationally, apart from affecting the morale of Sikh soldiers in the Army.

He added that the then Chief Minister Darbara Singh then requested the Army to arrest Bhindranwale. This request too was declined by the Army Commander who said that this was a task for the Punjab Police and they could take the assistance of armed police, CRPF or BSF to arrest Bhindranwale and the 30-odd armed men with him, and if things went beyond the control of civil authorities, the Army would provide help.

A few days later when Lt Gen Sinha was on a tour to Rajasthan, he got a phone call from his Chief of Staff who told him that the Vice Chief of Army Staff had directed that the Army should arrest Bhindranwale that night and accordingly a battalion of Gorkha Rifles in Amritsar had been asked to prepare for the task. The Vice Chief had stated that the orders had emanated from the Prime Minister’s Office. Lt Gen Sinha immediately cancelled these orders and spoke to the Chief of Army Staff General K V Krishna Rao regarding his earlier discussions with the Chief Secretary and Chief Minister of Punjab on the employment of Army for arresting Bhindranwale.

Taking note of the reports that arms were being stacked in a gurdwara, Lt Gen Sinha realised that a situation may develop in which the Army may be called upon to enter a Sikh shrine. He went on to issue instructions for the conduct of any such operation.

“A mixed force of Hindu and Sikh commanders was to be detailed for such an operation. Two or more Sikh gentlemen of the area, who did not belong to any political party, were to be invited to witness the action of troops. A video camera was required to accompany the troops so that the entire operation would be filmed,” he mentions in the book.

Lt Gen Sinha’s plan included cutting off water and electricity supply inside the gurdwara and making appeals using loudspeakers to extremists to come out. An Akhand Path was to be organised outside the gurdwara with the help of a regimental Granthi and if all efforts come to naught, the troops should enter the gurdwara without shoes and with ears covered shouting ‘Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akal’. After completion of operation the troops were to perform Kar Sewa and clean up the damage and repair it in shortest time possible and thereafter participate in prayers inside the gurdwara.

These written instructions were disregarded for most part in Operation Blue Star. “Sundarji was given the order – do this by first light tomorrow morning and his reaction was ‘I will do it by day before yesterday’. And he went in. When he found the going tough, he asked for permission to use tanks and the sanction was given. And tanks were used and you know what happened,” said Lt Gen Sinha in his interview with reference to the haste with which Operation Blue Star was carried out.