Was Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale a separatist who demanded Khalistan?

The claim: Bhindranwale was a separatist whose real aim was Khalistan, and the Army had to move before he declared it. A government note of 13 June 1984 by M.M.K. Wali, quoted in Ranbir Sandhu's 1997 book, said "the obvious direction and thrust of the movement was towards an independent Khalistan". Kuldip Nayar and Khushwant Singh's Tragedy of Punjab (1984), as quoted by Sandhu, has him saying that "the next stage was to have a separate homeland". Lt Gen K. S. Brar, who led the assault, told Rediff in 2004 that Bhindranwale was telling villages "it is high time we formed our own independent state of Khalistan" and that the Army had information Khalistan "was going to be declared any moment". The Tribune (1 June 2014) lists among the government's reasons reports that he would declare Khalistan on or about 10 June. Ramachandra Guha (Scroll, 2015) records that he called Sikhs a "separate qaum", a word that can mean "nation", and "slaves in independent India".

The sourced facts:

• Guha reports that in interviews Bhindranwale "had not asked for Khalistan, he said, but were it offered to him he would not refuse". He adds that the June 1980 proclamation of Khalistan at the Golden Temple came "primarily" from Sikh emigres around Jagjit Singh Chauhan.
• Shekhar Gupta (ThePrint, 7 September 2024) met him dozens of times between the summer of 1983 and the Army's move. He writes "I never heard Bhindranwale demand Khalistan", that hundreds of hours of his speeches survive on tape, and that his stock answer was "I never asked for Khalistan, nor am I asking", but that he would not say no if Indira Gandhi or "Dilli Durbar" gave it.
• Sandhu gives dated speeches in translation (pp. 48 to 49). On 27 March 1983: "I don't oppose it nor do I support it... if this time the Queen of India [Indira Gandhi] does give it to us, we shall certainly take it... As yet, we do not ask for it." On 11 May 1983: "we are not in favor of Khalistan nor are we against it." On 19 July 1983: "We wish to live in Hindostan but as equal citizens, not as slaves."
• The Akali demand, the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, describes its autonomous region as "an integral part of the Union of India" and leaves foreign relations, defence, currency and general communications with the Centre (Encyclopaedia of Sikhism). Nayar writes that New Delhi read it as a demand for secession, and that when a Khalistan slogan was raised at a congregation Longowal condemned it while Bhindranwale, beside him, "did not utter a word" (The Tribune, 8 July 2012).
• The Christian Science Monitor (26 June 1984) reported that no evidence had been produced for the government's "foreign hand" charges, and that most Sikhs, Bhindranwale included, had seen calls for a separate state as aberrations coming from abroad. The Tribune notes that many Sikhs say the government's claims about 10 June were never authenticated.

The Panthic answer: Bhai Ajmer Singh argues that Bhindranwale never himself demanded Khalistan. In Vihveen Sadi Di Sikh Rajneeti (chs. 15 to 20) he holds that his words on it were conditional on what the state might do, and that others presented them as a demand. On the declaration of Khalistan in 1986, Ajmer Singh says that he himself was not among those who got it made, but that he was in favour of it. The Sant, he recalls, had said that on the day the attack comes the foundation will be laid, and Ajmer Singh asks: if you do not take that position even after the attack, then what? The Sikh Research Institute (Santbir Singh, 4 June 2024) says his stated aims were the release of Sikh political prisoners and the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, whose goal was "the devolution of powers from the Central Government to state governments", and that he would not drop it when the Akali Dal was ready to compromise. Sandhu, writing for the Sikh Educational and Religious Foundation, calls the Khalistan charge "wild and baseless accusations" and says Nayar's report has no corroboration. He says some people close to Bhindranwale wanted an independent state but "he himself was not one of them", and that Longowal is said to have confirmed that on 5 June 1984 he still refused to declare for it while warning that an invasion of the complex would lay its foundation. The Panthic account then points to what followed the attack: a declaration of Khalistan on 29 April 1986 (Sikh Siyasat News), and in June 2020 Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said "If the government gives us Khalistan, what more can we ask for? We shall accept it. Every Sikh wants Khalistan" (Anadolu Agency).