The sanctity of the Golden Temple in Amritsar has been violated once again. And once again it has been violated by Sikh extremists. The last time Bhindranwale and his gang converted the sacred shrine into an armed fortress and the headquarters of a terrorist movement with unmistakable secessionist overtones, the head priests had acquiesced in the sacrilege. This time they have been forcibly brushed aside, on Monday they were not allowed to go ahead with the thanksgiving congregation they had convened to mark the withdrawal of the army and the handing over of the temple to them. And once again the security forces have had to go into the temple to get it rid of extremists. Mercifully the troublemakers were unarmed. So it was possible for the police and the CRPF personnel to cope with them and arrest them. Or else we might have witnessed a re-enactment, though, of course, on a much smaller scale, of what had happened on June 6.
The episode must embarrass all those who have argued that the withdrawal of the army from the temple would greatly facilitate restoration of normalcy in Punjab and that the head priests, acting on behalf of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and their own moral authority, would be able to ensure that the temple would never again be abused to harbour extremists and criminals and to mount a challenge to the Indian state. It is now clear beyond a shadow of doubt that the extremist threat remains serious; that it will be quite some time before anything like normalcy is restored in Punjab; that utmost vigilance, availability of necessary force and the willingness to use it alone can make progress in that direction possible; that the head priests cannot ensure the sanctity of the Golden Temple, indeed their own safety; and the state will need to maintain a certain visible presence around the shrine so that it can, if necessary, regulate entry. The authorities will have to watch developments carefully before they can decide the form and size of that presence. But that such a presence will be required cannot now be in dispute.
No one who paid careful attention to what happened during President Zail Singh’s visit to the temple last Thursday can be wholly surprised by what happened there on Monday. Even then 200 Sikh youth had shouted pro-Khalistan slogans and tried to force entry into the temple with the obvious intention of creating trouble. This was a clear indication that they would seize the first opportunity to do so and they have seized the first opportunity. It does not follow that the army should not have been withdrawn; it had to be withdrawn once the repairs to the Akal Takht had been completed. But it does follow that the head priests cannot be depended upon to assure the sanctity of the temple unassisted by the state. The priests have been riding a high horse. They had the audacity to issue “hukumnamas” declaring among others the head of the republic and a cabinet minister of the Union “tankhaiyas” (guilty of religious misconduct). Monday’s episode should help them to take a more realistic view of their own position and of the menace facing the country.