“Punjab’s moment of truth: Time to confront the Khalistani challenge head-on”, First Post, June 23, 2026
“There was a mini-social media storm which carried over to Marathi dailies too. A senior minister from Maharashtra had gone to Amritsar and attended a function at Damdami Taksal, a very important Sikh learning centre. Unfortunately, Damdami Taksal has a negative tinge, as it was the headquarters of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale before he moved into the Golden Temple — Shri Durbar Sahib — during the turbulent times of Khalistan 1.0. It became a centre of militant extremist ideology. In recent times, it had stayed away from the news as the chief of the spiritual centre has kept a moderate profile.
The problem was not the Maharashtra minister’s visit to Damdami Taksal, probably at the invitation of the head of the centre. The problem is that he chose the occasion to pay homage to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, calling him a Sant and putting the entire blame for the Khalistani violence of the 1980s and 1990s on the then Central government and Indira Gandhi. It is widely accepted that making Bhindranwale a counter to Akali Dal politics was hard-ball politics on the part of Mrs Gandhi. However, it is equally true that this divide-and-rule idea went horribly wrong. Neither Mrs Gandhi nor the then Akali Dal leaders could control him.
Bhindranwale had tasted the heady concoction of militant Sikhi, moralism and violence. The Akalis had thought they could use him to pressurise the Centre and win back Punjab with more powers from the Central government, but they lost the plot. I have written a section on the Punjab problem and the RSS’s role in calming society there in my book, Conflict Resolution: The RSS Way. It runs into nearly 100 pages. It is important to point out that the violent separatist movement was eventually snuffed out completely under the dynamic DGP, KPS Gill, and the courageous Congress Chief Minister, Beant Singh. Both Mrs Gandhi and Beant Singh paid a heavy price……..”
Read full article at firstpost.com
