“So many women and men had been killed and have become shahids. We can’t overlook that day. It was the day our locations of worship had been attacked,” Mahajan instructed the gathering.
“So many males, ladies, brothers and sisters had been killed in Delhi too… identical to (Afghan invader) Ahmed Shah Abdali did when he got here to India,” he mentioned, referring to the anti-Sikh riots after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
Damdami Taksal, a 300-year-old Sikh seminary, was as soon as headed by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who led a violent militant motion in Punjab from 1979 to 1984. He left the Damdami Taksal and made the Golden Temple his base of operations.
Bhindranwale was killed in a military battle contained in the Golden Temple precincts as a part of Operation Blue Star, which was ordered to remove Indira and different militants. For Sikhs, this was thought-about an act of blasphemy, desecrating their holiest shrine.
The BJP has been criticizing the Congress for a number of years over Operation Blue Star and the anti-Sikh riots that adopted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi additionally mentioned the army motion was an assault on the Akal Takht.
📍 Amritsar, Punjab
Participated within the forty second Shahidi Samagam program organized to honor the sacred reminiscence of all Sikh heroes and martyrs who had been martyred in June 1984 in the course of the battle interval within the historical past of Sikhism.
We thank the martyrs for his or her unparalleled sacrifice, braveness and sacrifice on this auspicious event… pic.twitter.com/PeVPTNzMxM
— Girish Mahajan (@girishdmahajan) June 6, 2026
However the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering has typically prevented adopting the terminology utilized by Sikh spiritual establishments and Panthic organizations for these killed throughout operations, particularly since its personal political historical past in Punjab has been formed by opposition to militancy.
Leaders and employees of the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had been amongst these focused in the course of the insurgency. The celebration’s institutional reminiscence in Punjab is deeply formed by the period of militancy, when RSS volunteers, Bharatiya Janata Social gathering activists, journalists, and Hindu leaders had been killed.
The 1989 Moga bloodbath, by which 21 Sangh volunteers had been killed throughout a morning rally, stays one of many worst assaults on the Sangh group. The assassinations of Punjab Kesari founder Lala Jagat Narain and his later son Ramesh Chander, each of whom had shut ties to the RSS, had been equally defining symbols of the battle.
After Operation Blue Star, the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering, then led by LKAdvani, supported Indira’s resolution. In his autobiography, “My nation, my life”Advani recalled that in Could 1984, he and his personal military spearheaded a large mass agitation towards the federal government’s “digital give up” in entrance of Bhindranwale, whose headquarters was the Golden Temple.
Advani wrote that he had raised the problem in Parliament towards the federal government’s abdication of accountability. He added that it was beneath strain from the opposition that Indira used the army to liberate the Golden Temple from “anti-national occupiers”.
Other than Mahajan’s remarks, the selection of venue was notably necessary. Damdami Taksal is dedicated to imparting spiritual schooling and coaching to Sikh youth within the purest type of Sikhism – the right studying of the holy scriptures, martial arts and traditions. Kata (sermon).
Bhindranwale turned the 14th head of the household in 1977, and Taksal emerged as a middle of militancy. Even after Bhindranwale moved his base to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Taksal remained a hotbed for extremism. Throughout Operation Blue Star, a lot of the 219 individuals killed together with Bhindranwale had been Taksal activists.
Within the many years since then, the Taksal has recurrently held annual ‘Shahidi Samagams’ to commemorate militants killed in years of militancy in Punjab.
The Damdami Taksal is among the most influential Sikh spiritual teams in Punjab and continues to occupy a central place within the debate surrounding the occasions of the Nineteen Eighties.
Mahajan’s go to additionally drew new consideration to Taksal chief Baba Harnam Singh Dhamma’s relationship with a few of the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering management. Mr. Dhumma has maintained contact with a number of Bharatiya Janata Social gathering leaders through the years and has typically shared the platform with celebration members.
His attraction to Sikh voters to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering forward of the 2024 Maharashtra elections drew sharp reactions from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and radical Sikh leaders. He defended his assertion on the grounds that the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering in Maharashtra is the one celebration actively taking on Sikh-related points.
Dhumma turned the Taksal chief in 2005 and has been thought-about near the reasonable Shiromani Akali Dal, a truth usually criticized by radicals. The annual commemoration of Operation Blue Star attracts a wide range of Sikh spiritual and political leaders, however the participation of senior BJP leaders is comparatively uncommon.
The then RSS chief, late KCSudarshan, visited Damdami Taksal in 2000-01 and met Bhindranwale’s successor, Baba Thakur Singh. The assembly was facilitated by senior Bharatiya Janata Social gathering leaders AR Kohli and Ruldha Singh. Rulda Singh can also be the president of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, a Sangh group in Punjab. The go to is seen primarily as a transfer to finish hostilities between Sikh extremists and the RSS.
Nonetheless, the battle between the RSS and Sikh extremists continues virtually uninterrupted. Rulda Singh was allegedly murdered by Babar Khalsa Worldwide militants in 2009. In 2016, the deputy commander of the Punjab Sangh, Brigadier Normal Jagdish Ghaneja (retd.), was shot useless in Jalandhar. The next 12 months, one other RSS chief, Ravinder Gosain, was killed in Ludhiana.
Political observers say Mahajan’s go to has a transparent political motive and seems to be a part of an effort by the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering to increase its political affect following the collapse of its three-decade alliance with the SAD. Regardless of the BJP’s nationwide dominance, it stays a comparatively small electoral drive in Punjab. The celebration faces competitors not solely from the Congress and the ruling Aam Aadmi Social gathering but in addition from the splintered Akali Dal.
“The Bharatiya Janata Social gathering’s readiness for Taksal is certainly a strategic transfer to strengthen its presence in Punjab forward of elections scheduled for early subsequent 12 months,” mentioned Kanwalpreet Kaur, professor of political science at DAV College, Chandigarh, including that the technique matches properly with Punjab’s multidimensional blueprint.
“It has invited Sikh leaders from different events, highlighted the contribution of Sikhs to the nation’s historical past and tradition, promoted commemorative occasions associated to Sikh heritage, and repeatedly focused Congress over the occasions of 1984. Mahajan’s go to seems to be a part of this broader advocacy effort.
“Nonetheless, his assertion doesn’t match properly with the anti-militant nationalist beliefs of the BJP. The celebration’s place is restricted to acknowledging Sikh grievances over Operation Blue Star and the anti-Sikh riots, whereas persevering with to reject militancy and separatist politics,” he defined.
To construct a significant presence, the celebration must increase past its conventional city Hindu help base. The tip of its alliance with the Akali Dal disadvantaged it of a companion that historically mobilized a big portion of the Sikh vote.
farmers. The agitation additional difficult the celebration’s place, as dissatisfaction with the celebration persists in some areas, notably in rural Punjab. The Bharatiya Janata Social gathering sought to construct an unbiased help base amongst Sikhs, thereby talking on points historically related to Sikh spiritual and Panthic organizations.
Mahajan’s go to is the newest step within the celebration’s course to have interaction extra straight with Sikh spiritual establishments. The BJP has constantly attacked the Congress over the previous few years over Operation Blue Star and the anti-Sikh riots after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
In his reply to the no-confidence movement in Parliament in August 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi known as Operation Blue Star an “assault on the Akal Takht,” the best physique of Sikhism. “Is it proper to have the air drive assault civilians in our nation? Who was in management then – Indira Gandhi? The Akal Takht was attacked. It’s nonetheless recent in our minds. And that’s the reason they saved attacking Akal Takht in my nation. And now they’re preaching to us,” he mentioned, referring to the 1966 Aizawl Air Power assault.
Certainly, the celebration’s political narrative in Punjab has been formed not solely by its opposition to the Congress but in addition to its opposition to militancy. The alliance with SAD, a softer secular panchic celebration within the aftermath of the militancy, was seen as a transfer designed to result in communal peace within the state.
On this historic context, the engagement of the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering with establishments related to Bhindranwale’s legacy is seen as an necessary political shift.
