You and I only meet in odd circumstances.
We met in 1984 during the time of Operation Blue Star and now we meet here again.
And you tried very hard to fade away quietly.
I jump into my Nano car, go off to the golf course, play a game of golf and get back. But now, my movements are going to be restricted. I have to be a little more careful.
Was there a point in your life where you thought that life is back to normal, as it is in Punjab?
Never. Because whether the situation in Punjab improves or deteriorates, as far as I'm concerned, there was always a very serious threat to me. After Operation Blue Star, Bhindranwale's relatives, his followers, the Babbar Khalsa, the Khalistan Commando Force, all his soldiers who died in the temple, their relatives, they all swore revenge in front of the Granth Sahib. Who were they going to take revenge on? Mrs Gandhi (who was the Prime Minister), General A S Vaidya (the army chief), General K Sundarji (the army commander), General Dayal (Gen Sundarji's co-commander) and General Brar (I conducted the operation). Now, at this point of time, with Mrs Gandhi assassinated, General Vaidya assassinated, and General Sundarji and General Dayal having died natural deaths, I'm the only one left. I knew that once they have given a threat of this nature from a holy place, they are going to carry it out some day or the other. There have been threats all along. I have been receiving letters, phone calls and there are messages being posted on websites—'We are going to kill him. Being a Sikh himself, he dared to enter the bastion of Sikhs.'
Chandimandir, near Chandigarh, used to be the II Corps headquarters those days.
Yes. So we drove from Meerut to Delhi. I caught the morning flight from Delhi to Chandigarh. I arrived in Chandimandir and told my wife that I'll be back in the evening and we'll catch the flight (to Manila). I'm rushed to the operations room. Maps on the wall and I'm still wondering what's going on. I am told, 'You know the situation in Amritsar is very bad' and I said yes. The Brigadier General Staff gave me a briefing and it appeared to me that I am being sent off to carry out an operation. So in the middle of all those briefings I said, "I am proceeding abroad tonight. I have been sanctioned annual leave for my honeymoon." And so he looked at General Dayal and they whispered to each other and then he said, "Bulbul, your leave is off. You go another time. There's an aircraft waiting outside to take you to Amritsar. Give orders to your division to move from Meerut to Amritsar immediately. I give you 36 hours to settle down there and make your plans and I shall come there for my first briefing. The temple has to be cleared at the earliest. Time is at a premium. Khalistan could be declared any day. Bhindranwale is at the peak of his popularity. He has got the entire countryside in Punjab as his followers. He's a guy who has almost been able to be accepted as a prophet."
People may not remember, but General Ranjit Singh Dayal was Gen Sundarji's deputy, he was the lion of Haji Pir Pass. He got the Mahavir Chakra. He got Haji Pir Pass in that very difficult war.
He was a fantastic soldier and so we made our plans.
And a fellow Sikh.
Yes. I'm a Sikh. I didn't give it a second thought. If you were to carry out a task, you don't think of religion, you don't think of caste. Here is your task, how best do you carry it out? You have sworn to defend the country, to ensure the integrity of the country is not broken. And there were dangers that we may go the Bangladesh way. As a Sikh going into a shrine, it's not an easy thing to do. At the same time, you feel that it's something you have to do. And the main thing is that you pray and hope that the operation wouldn't start, that they would surrender, they would see sense.
meh: he was tryin to portray him as Guru Gobind Singh ji with that arrow by his side....all the time,what a faker)
Genius!
