Indian
Express: National: Friday, June 21, 2019.
Gurvinder Singh Chadda, a native of Uttaranchal, has been trying to get information about some of the articles taken away from the library in 1984 using the Right to Information Act.
The
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) had recently decided to
constitute a high-level committee to probe allegations that some books,
religious texts and manuscripts allegedly seized from the Sikh Reference
Library (SRL) by the army during Operation Blue Star in 1984 and returned in
several instalments, were smuggled by none other than SGPC officials.
SGPC
secretary Roop Singh had also claimed that while the Army had written to SGPC
that it had returned all articles seized in 1984 to police and SGPC, it was
still expecting return of “at least 307 hand-written Birs of Guru Granth Sahib
and 11,107 books”.
History
of the SRL
Maharaja
Ranjit Singh’s granddaughter Bamba had played a leading role in the foundation
of the Sikh History Society at Khalsa College, Amritsar, on February 10, 1945.
This society came under SGPC on April 26, 1946. On February 8, 1947, the SRL
was set up in a hall of the Guru Ram Das inn to meet the purpose of the Sikh
History Society. Later, it was shifted into the premises of the Golden Temple.
According to a document published by the Sikh History Society in 1950, there
were 2,335 manuscripts and books in Punjabi, 10 in Assamese, 7 in Bengali and 2
in Sindhi. There was one book in French as well. Later on, around 400 books in
English were added to the library the same year.
As
per a statement of then in-charge of the Sikh History Research Board, Devinder
Singh Duggal, there were 2,500 manuscripts (including hand-written Birs of Guru
Granth Sahib). The library stock had touched the 20,000 mark before Operation
Blue Star.
Operation
Blue Star
A
research paper published by by Dr. Sukhdev Singh Jhand and Dr. Santokh Singh
Shaharyar, Sr. Assistant Librarians at Bhai Gurdas Library, Guru Nanak Dev
University, Amritsar, reads, “The Army version says that the library caught
fire during the exchange of fire with militants who had taken shelter in
premises of the Golden Temple…”
“Another
version says that the library was damaged only partially during the Operation,
and most of the reading material was carried away later, by the Army, in gunny
bags and steel trunks, to a safer place. Ranjit Singh Nanda, former inspector
of the Punjab Police, who remained on deputation with the CBI for a couple of
years, has confirmed the claims of SGPC that the material was lying with the
CBI. He says he had enough proof to substantiate his claim that the Army had
taken away invaluable material from the Library and handed it over to the CBI,”
it adds.
“According
to an estimate, more than 20,000 books of the value of Rs 20 lakh, 2,500
hand-written volumes of holy Sikh scriptures, about 500 hand-written rare
books/documents relating to Sikh tenets and traditions and 200 copies (typed)
of rare books/documents were either burnt or taken out from the library by the
Indian Army,” it further says.
What
the Union government says on the library
In
1998, then Union minister of defence George Fernandes had informed the then
SGPC president and Rajya Sabha Member late Gurcharan Singh Tohra, while
replying to a standard question, on December 2, 1998, that, “The army had
removed certain items from the premises of the Golden Temple, Amritsar, in
1984. These included passports, office files/documents, booklets, pass books,
identity cards, cheque books, registers, shastras (traditional weapons), gold
and golden ornaments, silver and silver ornaments, precious stones,
semi-precious stones, pearls, currency notes, coins, FDRs and office stationary
besides certain items of non-historical value. Of these, the army had handed
over some items like passports, office files/documents, booklets, pass books,
identity cards, cheque books, diaries, registers to the Central Bureau of
Investigation in July 1984 itself. The CBI in turn returned these documents to
authorised representatives of SGPC in October 1989. A few documents which were
objectionable and thus destroyed, certain others were required in connection
with the trial (sic).”
His
statement further said: “Some other items of historical value, mostly shastras
(traditional weapons), were handed over by Army to the curator, Museum, Punjab
Government while the valuables such as gold and golden ornaments, silver and
silver ornaments, precious stones, semi-precious stones, pearls, govt. currency
notes worth Rs. 30, 93, 926, coins and FDRs were handed over to the officiating
treasury officer, Amritsar on June 30, 1984, against proper receipt.”
“The
Army is now not holding and other documents of historical noser (sic),” it
added.
RTI
replies
Gurvinder
Singh Chadda, a native of Uttaranchal, has been trying to get information about
some of the articles taken away from the library in 1984 using the Right to
Information Act.
Replying
to one such RTI by Chadda on August 3, 2018, the ministry of home affairs said,
“Around 4,000 documents/books/files/gold/gold ornaments, silver/silver
ornaments, precious stone currency were recovered by a central agency during
Operation Blue Star in 1984. Articles and documents handed over either to SGPC
or to the Government of Punjab (sic).”
Chadda
had asked the Punjab government through RTI whether it is in possession of any
article. “Punjab government is making one excuse after another to give a proper
reply to my RTI,” Chadda said. In a recent reply to a letter from SGPC, the
Union government said that articles removed from the Golden Temple in 1984 were
returned to “Punjab police and SGPC”.
The
Union government hasn’t made any mention of burning of library records in its
replies. In an RTI reply to the Sikh Forum in 2018, it said that the government
had returned 53 books related to SRL to SGPC and there has been no more
possession of book or manuscripts from Library either with Army or CBI.
SGPC’s
claims
Since
1984, the SGPC says it has written a total of 85 letters to the Union
government for the return of articles removed from the Golden Temple.
Last
week SGPC secretary Roop Singh had said that the army had returned 205
handwritten Birs of Guru Granth Sahib, 807 books, one hand-written edict of
Guru Gobind Singh and old copies of newspapers dating to the First World War,
in several installments. He claimed there were a total of 512 hand-written
Birs, 12,613 rare books and newspapers in the library before Operation Blue
Star.
It
was first time last week that SGPC had opened up on what had been returned by
Army in the last 35 years after it was in the eye of a storm when counter
allegations were raised by former director of SRL Anurag Singh that the Union
government had returned a chunk of articles taken away from the library in
1984. He further alleged that many valuable manuscripts were sold in the black
market by some SGPC officials.
SGPC
has been accused of not maintaining records related to the missing articles
that led Sikh bodies to point fingers at it.
Suspense
over books
The
Union government had made it clear in 1998 that it was not in possession of any
article recovered from the Golden Temple, but a revolver was returned to the
SGPC in 2004.
Twenty
years after Operation Blue Star, a trunk containing a revolver, some old
currency, documents and a plastic mug was handed over to SGPC by the CBI in
2004. The return of the revolver surprised many, and that these articles were
kept at Amritsar DC’s office, even more so.
Former
SGPC secretary Dilmegh Singh said, “In 2004, when I was SGPC secretary, that a
meeting was called by the Union government to give some funds for the Galliara
project around Golden Temple. We had raised this issue of articles taken away
in 1984 in that meeting and in response, the Union government had sent a CBI
official to Amritsar. That official went to the Amritsar DC’s office and came
back with the trunk…Nothing happened after that. I don’t know if it was all
that the Amritsar DC’s office had.”
Dilmegh
Singh is also part of the high-powered committee formed by SGPC to probe
allegations levelled by Anurag Singh.
Another
petition
One
Satnam Singh Khandha had filed a petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court in
2003, in which the Union government, Punjab government, CBI, secretary of a
ministry of defence and SGPC were made respondents. It asked the court to make
respondents clear the air over alleged missing articles.
In
a final order passed on April 29, 2004, the court had said, “…it appears that
many of the articles were handed over in June 1984 to two officials of a
treasury office Amritsar and to CBI in July 1985. We also clarify that if any
article is a subject matter of the court as stated by CBI in its reply,
petitioner may approach particular court to passing an appropriate order in
that regards…if the Government of India has no objection over the release of any
other property claimed by the petitioner to be returned, then it will pass an
objective order expeditiously.”
Satnam
said, “I approached SGPC to carry forward the case. Then SGPC president
appreciated my efforts and he offered me a job in SGPC. I was recruited in SGPC
but I didn’t stay back and keep reminding the secretaries and presidents time
and again to take action. However, SGPC show no interest in carrying forward
the legal fight to get back articles.”
The
Union government has repeatedly told SGPC that some articles were sent to the
Punjab government museum. “There has been no item on display at our museum
related to Operation Blue Star. I will have to check if there is anything in
store,” museum director M S Jaggi said.
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