ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>JARNAIL SI&#7748GH BHI&#7750&#7692R&#256&#7748V&#256LE SANT (1947-1984)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="JARNAIL,SIDGH,BHIF RDVLE,SANT,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279JARNAIL SI&#7748GH BHI&#7750&#7692R&#256&#7748V&#256LE, SANT (1947-1984), a phenomenal figure of modern Sikhism who within his seven brief years of a total of 37, marked by a precipitous course, emerged as a man of extraordinary grit and charisma. Soon he came to be talked about in the far-flung academe as well as in political forums. Born in the year of Indian independence (1947), the son of B&#257b&#257 Joginder Si&#7749gh, a pious Br&#257&#7771 Ja&#7789&#7789 farmer of moderate means, and M&#257t&#257 Nih&#257l Kaur, of the village of Ro&#7693e, in Far&#299dko&#7789 district, he burst upon the world consciousness with an urgent message unmistakably delivered. He had a meteoric rise to fame and his photographs began to be avidly displayed on the front pages of newspapers and journals across the continents. Trained in a Sikh seminary to preach the holy word of the Gur&#363s, he stood face to face with history at several critical moments.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The youngest of seven brothers, Jarnail Si&#7749gh was educated in the village primary school. He engaged himself in farming until 1965 when he joined the Damdam&#299 &#7788aks&#257l of Bhi&#7751&#7693ar Kal&#257&#7749 village, about 15 km north of Mog&#257, then headed by Sant Gurbachan Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. Hence the epithet Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le. But his association with Bhi&#7751&#7693ar village was only notional because Sant Gurbachan Si&#7749gh, though associated with Gurdw&#257r&#257 A<u>kh</u>a&#7751&#7693 Park&#257sh in Bhi&#7751&#7693ar Kal&#257&#7749, usually took out his group of pupils on prolonged tours. Jarnail Si&#7749gh underwent a one-year course in scriptural, theological and historical studies, at the hands of Sant Gurbachan Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 partly during one of his tours but for the most part during his stay at Gurdw&#257r&#257 S&#299s Asth&#257n P&#257tsh&#257h&#299 IX, near N&#257bh&#257 S&#257hib village, 15 km south of Cha&#7751&#7693&#299ga&#7771h along the Cha&#7751&#7693&#299ga&#7771h-Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 road. In 1966, he rejoined his family and settled down to farming again. He was married in 1966 to B&#299b&#299 Pr&#299tam Kaur, daughter of Bh&#257&#299 Suchch&#257 Si&#7749gh of Bil&#257spur, and had two sons, &#298shar Si&#7749gh and Inderj&#299t Si&#7749gh, born in 1971 and 1975 respectively. He continued his religious studies and also kept his close association with the &#7788aks&#257l, which after the death of Sant Gurbachan Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, in June 1969, was headed by Sant Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, who established his headquarters at Gurdw&#257r&#257 Gurdarshan Prak&#257sh at Meht&#257 Chowk, 25 km northeast of Amritsar along the road to Sr&#299 Hargobindpur. Sant Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 was killed in a road accident. Before his death on 16 August 1977, he had mentioned the name of Sant Jarnail Si&#7749gh as his successor as the new head of Damdam&#299 &#7788aks&#257l. Sant Jarnail Si&#7749gh was formally elected at the <i>bhog</i> (obsequies) ceremony in honour of Sant Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 at Meht&#257 Chowk on 25 August 1977.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sant Jarnail Si&#7749gh exhibited remarkable enthusiasm in carrying out his missionary responsibilities. The primary task he addressed was the administrating of <i>amrit</i> (<u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 baptism). He vehemently denounced drugs, alcoholic drinks and trimming of hair. He took special notice of the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 heresy which was undermining the Sikh structure. Opposition to the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s had begun during the time of his predecessor, Sant Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. Matters came to a head on the Bais&#257kh&#299 day of 1978 when Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s held a convention at Amritsar. The Damdam&#299 &#7788aks&#257l under Sant Jarnail Si&#7749gh Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le and the A<u>kh</u>a&#7751&#7693 K&#299rtan&#299 Jath&#257, another purely religious organization, protested against government allowing the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s to hold their convention at a time the Sikhs were celebrating the birth anniversary of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. Some of them who marched to the site of the convention were fired upon by Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 guardsmen killing 13 of them on the spot and wounding 78 others. The episode brought Sant Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le into the political arena. He was sore against the Ak&#257l&#299 Dal which was then leading the government in the Punjab and was partner in the central authority in Delhi. On 4 January 1980, two days before the Lok Sabh&#257 poll, all the 64 Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 accused, including their chief B&#257b&#257 Gurbachan Si&#7749gh, being tried for the killing of Sikhs, were set at liberty, by the sessions judge of Karn&#257l in Hary&#257&#7751&#257. This embittered Sant Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le. The Hindu media in the Punjab took the part of the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299s on the plea of secularism. So did the Congress party which, on returning to power at the Centre, dismissed the Ak&#257l&#299 government in the Punjab, where too fresh elections were held and Congress government installed.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On 9 September 1981, L&#257l&#257 Jagat Narai&#7751, a press baron of Jalandhar, highly critical of Sant Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le, was assassinated. The Sant too had been a strong critic of Jagat Narai&#7751. The government suspected the Sant's hand in the murder and issued warrants for his arrest. He was then on a preaching tour in Hary&#257&#7751&#257 and was camping at Chando Kal&#257&#7749 village in Hiss&#257r district when a combined force of Punjab and Hary&#257&#7751&#257 police raided the village to nab him. He himself escaped to the security of his own headquarters at Meht&#257 Chowk, but the police fired upon his <i>jath&#257</i> or band of disciples; their luggage was looted, and some of the sacred texts burnt. The Sant offered himself for arrest on 20 September 1981. This was followed by a spate of violence.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Sant was released after the Central Home Minister, Gi&#257n&#299 Zail Si&#7749gh, declared in the Parliament on 14 October 1981 that there was no evidence against him to show his hand in L&#257l&#257 Jagat Narai&#7751's murder. The Sant had seen through the Congress conspiracy loaded against the Sikhs. His arrest and subsequent release raised the Sant's stature among the Sikh laity who, especially the youth, judging him against the moderate Ak&#257l&#299 leadership, flocked under his banner in ever-increasing numbers. The Sant became increasingly outspoken. The government took notice of the change in Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le's stance and proceeded to take action against him. An attempt was made to arrest him while he was on a visit to Bombay and was staying in the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 Gurdw&#257r&#257 at D&#257dar on 20 April 1982, but Sant Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le was again able to reach safely in the Gurdw&#257r&#257 at Meht&#257 Chowk. On 19 July 1982 the police arrested Bh&#257&#299 Amr&#299k Si&#7749gh son of the late Sant Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 and president of the All India Sikh Students Federation. Another senior member of the Damdam&#299 &#7788aks&#257l, Bh&#257&#299 &#7788h&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh, was arrested on the following day. Sant Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le felt highly provoked. Feeling that sanctuary at Meht&#257 Chowk was not safe enough, he moved to the Gur&#363 N&#257nak N&#299v&#257s rest house in the Darb&#257r S&#257hib complex in Amritsar on 20 July and called for a Panthic convention on 25 July at which he announced the launching of a <i>morch&#257</i> (campaign) for the release of his men.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Meanwhile, the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal had been conducting a <i>morch&#257</i> since April 1982 against the digging of Sutlej-Yamun&#257 Link (S.Y.L.) canal which would divert part of Punjab's river waters to Hary&#257&#7751&#257. The agitation in spite of massive support from the Sikh peasantry was not bearing any tangible fruit because the site (Kap&#363r&#299 village on the Hary&#257&#7751&#257-Punjab border where the Indian Prime Minister had inaugurated the digging of the canal on 6 April 1982) was in a remote corner away from the Dal's headquarters. The Dal now decided to transfer the agitation, now designated Dharam Yuddh or religious war, to Amritsar from 4 August 1982. Sant Jarnail Si&#7749gh merged his own <i>morch&#257</i> with it, and thus became in a way the joint dictator of the entire Panth though he still swore loyalty to the former dictator of the Ak&#257l&#299 <i>morch&#257</i>, Sant Harchand Si&#7749gh Lau&#7749gov&#257l.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A further provocation to the Sikhs came from the behaviour of the Hary&#257&#7751&#257 government and police during the Asian Games held at Delhi in November 1982. Sikhs travelling from Punjab to Delhi or back were indiscriminately stopped, searched and humiliated. Violence in the Punjab was on the increase. It was becoming more and more clear that the government would seek a military solution of the unrest in Punjab rather than a political one. Sant Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le exhorted the people to be prepared for a showdown. On 15 December 1983, he with his men entered the Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t and with the help of a former major-general of the Indian Army, Sh&#257hbeg Si&#7749gh, prepared a network of defensive fortifications inside the complex collecting in the meanwhile a large stock of arms, ammunition and rations anticipating the possibility of a prolonged siege. The government on its part made elaborate plans for an army action while pretending all along its readiness for negotiations and denying any intention of sending armed forces inside the Darb&#257r S&#257hib complex. The Punjab was placed under the President's rule on 6 October 1983. An ordinance declaring parts of the state a disturbed area was promulgated, and the police was given power to search, arrest or even shoot whom they will with immunity from legal action. Six additional divisions of the army including especially trained para commandos were inducted into Punjab by the end of May 1984. On 1 June, while the Sikhs had started preparations in the Golden Temple for the observation of the martyrdom anniversary of Gur&#363 Arjan, which fell on the 3rd of June, strict curfew was clamped on Amritsar and surrounding districts. The actual assault of the army's operation nicknamed Blue Star took place on the night of 5-6 June 1984. A pitched battle ensued in which the army also used tanks and artillery. On the 7th of June the dead body of Sant Jarnail Si&#7749gh Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le was located in the basement of the Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Tully, Mark, and Satish Jacob, <i>Amritsar, Mrs Gandhi's Last Battle</i>. London, 1985<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>My Bleeding Punjab</i>. Delhi, 1992<BR> <li class="C1"> Kuldip Nayyar, <i>Tragedy of Punjab</i>. Delhi, 1984<BR> <li class="C1"> Heir, T&#257r&#257 Singh, <i>Mah&#257n Hast&#299 Sant Jarnail Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Bhi&#7751&#7693r&#257&#7749v&#257le</i>. Vancouver, 1984<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>