With agents, sub-agents, double agents, and intrigues within the system – The Khalistan Conspiracy reads like a thriller.
Yet it throws light on highly-current questions, such as:
- should today’s protesting farmers be dubbed as Khalistanis?
- How astute has India been historically in dealing with farmers?
- With Sikhs?
Further, was it the Indian Government which actually built what was initially merely the legend of a Khalistani movement?: posted to Ottawa from 1976 to 1979 to keep an eye on Khalistanis, Sidhu found that there were hardly any Khalistanis in the Sikh diaspora in North America.
But, apparently, his was only one out of *seven* new stations in West Europe and North America which were created by the government of India to “counter Khalistan activities” – when there were practically no such activities at all! So were these stations a nice sinecure for some officers who seemed to have been awarded these plum postings in spite of having little in-depth knowledge of the Sikhs or even of the Punjab? Or was the creation of these stations part of a wider, well-orchestrated plan of action?
In other words, was the so-called “Khalistani problem” created primarily by the Congress Party’s obsession with power because of which it foolishly tried to “divide and rule” the Sikhs by building up Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and the Khalistanis to counteract the electoral hold of the Akali Party?
Or was the basic provocation for our current problems Mrs Gandhi’s general turning away from secularism towards becoming a patron of Hinduism from about 1980 – notably playing the “Hindu card” in the Kashmir elections of 1983?
Did the armaments accumulated by the Khalistanis in the Golden Temple come surreptitiously in fact from the Indian Government?
How come the instructions of Mrs Gandhi, regarding the minimum use of force in the attack on the Golden Temple, were flouted?
More important, how come no one was arraigned for flouting those instructions?
How come two of her security guards were armed Sikhs at a time when there was a clear understanding that that should not be allowed?
How come we have never found out who was responsible for allowing that to happen?
How come the genocidal attack on Sikhs following the assassination of Mrs Gandhi was so well organised, so quickly?
Such are the questions that arise in my mind when I consider this book.
Sadly, the Modi government’s ham-handedness is creating fresh problems today for the country. The question is: will those problems worsen or be addressed?
History may not quite repeat itself, but it does seem to revisit itself at different levels. So there is much to be learnt from comparing what happened in the past with what is is happening now.
Purchase Khalistan Conspiracy on Bookshop.
