New Delhi: Four members of a family were awarded the Shaurya Chakra in 1993, perhaps the only such instance in the history of India, and one of them was Comrade Balwinder Singh Sandhu, said ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta in episode 595 of ‘Cut the Clutter’.
Sandhu, who fought militancy in Punjab in the 1980s, was shot dead Friday by two men, months after his security was withdrawn by the Punjab government.
Sandhu and his family owned a school and CCTV cameras recorded the two men on motorcycles shooting him six times.
They were awarded the Shaurya Chakra after about 200 terrorists attacked his house on 30 September 1990.
The entire family knew how to defend itself, the government had given them weapons and posted police officers in the adjoining house but the officers would run away the moment the family got attacked.
Sandhu’s family managed to defend themselves from the 200 insurgents.
Also read: Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who fought militancy in Punjab, shot dead
Bloodiest years in Punjab history
Back in the 1990s, militants collected taxes from offices, checked if government offices did their work in Punjabi and even banned Hindi movies and music.
“So many of the things that we might have seen having happened in Kashmir subsequently had already happened in Punjab, frankly, at a much larger scale,” Gupta said.
The year 1991 was the peak of Punjab terrorism, in terms of the total people killed. Between 1979-1989, 5,000 civilians had been killed in all terror incidents in Punjab. From 1990-1991, more than 5,058 civilians and several hundreds of police personnel were killed.
“This was the worst period of violence in Punjab, militants and Pakistanis were claiming that Punjab had liberated zones,” Gupta said.
These zones existed in a region of Punjab called Majha, which was the worst-affected district in the state, during this period. Police and governments could venture during the day but at night, terrorists were in charge.
Sandhu’s little children, even two-year-olds, knew how to fill stun gun magazines.
Everybody in the family was armed and 70 per cent of all the people that terrorists killed in Punjab were Sikhs. They killed a lot of the Akalis, they killed Balwant Singh, titan of Akali politics, they also tried to kill Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who was the chief of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (or SGPC) at the time. His driver, a guard and a colleague were killed in an attack near Patiala, Gupta said.
The terrorists attacked leaders of the Congress party as well. V.N. Tewari, distinguished professor at Punjab University and father of MP Manish Tewari was assassinated. People of BJP were also killed. Harbans Lal Khanna, head of BJP in Amritsar district was assassinated by terrorists. Left leaders and workers were also killed by them.
“It is a peculiar history, where a lot of the armed fight back was led by the workers or cadres of the Left. So, the Left, BJP, Congress and Akalis all worked together,” Gupta said. These were Communist Party of India (Marxist) families who fought and terrorists tried to exterminate all of them. Sandhu and his wife were also members of the CPI (M).
“The man who has been killed has been on the hit list all this time because he and his family defied terrorists at the worst of times in Punjab. 1991 was a very bad period. V.P. Singh got everything wrong, particularly on national security,” Gupta added.
It was under Singh that Kashmir terrorism started, Gupta said, adding that in Punjab he released jailed terrorists, withdrew the army and the paramilitary forces.
Also read: 71 civilians, 74 security personnel killed in J&K since removal of Article 370 — home ministry
Timeline of terrorism from 1988 to 1991
Several terrorist attacks took place in Punjab from 1988 to 1991, killing hundreds.
On 31 March 1988, 18 members of one Hindu family were massacred by terrorists.
On 2 April 1988, 37 people, mostly Hindus, were killed selectively in order to instigate communal riots. Six weeks later, on 15 May, 26 people were killed and hundreds were injured in the Samana mandi. On 16 May, 40 were people gunned down across the state, mostly Hindus, and hundreds were injured. On 17 May, 35 labourers from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were picked up and assassinated.
In Kurukshetra, on 19 June, while a bunch of people were watching the Ramayana, terrorists opened fire and 15 people were massacred. On 25 June 1989, terrorists gunned down 27 swayamsevaks at an RSS shakha.
“They were trying to recreate 1984 riots which didn’t happen,” Gupta said.
In 1990, on 7 March, 32 people were killed in Abohar mandi. On 30 March 1990, in Ferozpur, 10 people were massacred in a market. On 15 June 1991, terrorists got into a train and killed 80 people.
In 1991, an effort was made to hold elections in Punjab even though the state wasn’t ready. In that election campaign, 27 candidates were killed.
“Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by an LTTE group in Tamil Nadu, which led to many changes. Third week of June, 1991, Narasimha Rao came to power and cancelled elections,” Gupta said.
Rao moved K.P.S. Gill back to Punjab as the Director General of the Punjab Police and also moved central armed police forces to the state.
According to Gupta, we know a lot about Operation Blue Star and even Operation Black Thunder but this period, from 1991-92, is forgotten because this was the worst and the bloodiest period in Punjab. This was when terrorists actually ruled several districts in Punjab and a family like the Sandhus stood up when they were attacked by 200 people at a time.
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(This article has been updated to reflect that the Abohar mandi incident took place on 7 March 1990 and not in February. The error is regretted.)
I am proud of my dad , in our hearts always ?? Sardar balwinder singh , martyr.
When people were scared and stayed hidden, the leftists fought a very brave battle against terrorists at ground level. 350 eminent communists were killed, majority of whom were well read, young, unarmed and had to shape the left movement in Punjab. Few names are Gurnaam Singh uppal, Baldev Singh Maan, Deepak Dhawan, Channan Singh Dhoot, Darshan Singh Canadian, Jaimal Singh padda, Paash, Professor Ravinder Singh Ravi and many more.
Its a lie that Akali and congress fought against terrorism. Only a few selected people from Akali and Congress party were killed. Akalis bowed down to terrorists and didn’t utter a single word against Bhindranwale. Politicians from the Congress party, loaded with bodyguards, had courage only to speak on Television. Mr Gupta are you forgetting that Bhindranwale was the creation of Indira Gandhi?
When people were scared and stayed hidden, the leftists fought a very brave battle against terrorists at ground level. 350 eminent communists were killed, majority of whom were well read, young, unarmed and had to shape the left movement in Punjab. Few names are Gurnaam Singh uppal, Baldev Singh Maan, Deepak Dhawan, Channan Singh Dhoot, Darshan Singh Canadian, Jaimal Singh padda, Paash, Professor Ravinder Singh Ravi and many more.
Deserves a place in our history equal to defence heroes. Immense bravery.
Shame on Hindus to be such a cowards to allow Pakistani supported Khalistanis to survive , a true Sikh will never ever support a Islamic Jihadi.