Rival Sarbat Khalsa gatherings at Amritsar after Blue Star

Who: On one side the Union Minister Buta Singh and Baba Santa Singh, head of the Budha Dal, who did the Government-backed Kar Seva at the Akal Takht; on the other the five high priests of the takhts and the SGPC.

What: After Operation Blue Star the Government wanted the Akal Takht rebuilt quickly. Gurmit Singh says no Sikh saint was willing to do the Kar Seva with the Army still in the complex, so Santa Singh took it on. Gurmit Singh says Kar Seva began on 17 July and the high priests, whom Santa Singh refused to meet, declared him tankhaiya in a hukamnama.

11 August 1984. To set the hukamnama aside, Buta Singh called a Sarbat Khalsa at Amritsar, with Santa Singh as president. Gurmit Singh says Government machinery brought people from Delhi and Haryana and the gathering was far from impressive; Khushwant Singh says most of those present, apart from Congress Sikhs, were peasants brought on Government transport. It praised Santa Singh and Buta Singh for the Kar Seva, and Santa Singh pronounced excommunication against Tohra.

1 and 2 September 1984. The SGPC announced a World Sikh Meet; Khushwant Singh says the high priests summoned another Sarbat Khalsa. Gurmit Singh says the Government invoked Section 144, told embassies not to issue visas to Sikhs wishing to attend and set up road blocks, yet the audience was much larger, more than double in Khushwant Singh's words. Khushwant Singh says Zail Singh, Buta Singh and Santa Singh were declared tankhaiya. The assembly set an ultimatum to withdraw the Army from the complex, by 30 September in Gurmit Singh's account and 1 October in Khushwant Singh's, or have shahidi jathas move in. Gurmit Singh says some who unfurled a Khalistan flag were arrested for sedition.

Indira Gandhi announced on 25 September that the Army would leave. Khushwant Singh says it left on 1 October, handing the complex to the high priests. Gurmit Singh says that on 1 October about 300 youths on the stage at a thanksgiving raised pro-Bhindranwale and pro-Khalistan slogans and hoisted a Khalistan flag on the dome, that the Army re-entered and rounded up 300 people, and that the forces handed the complex to the SGPC on 9 October.

Where: Amritsar, at the Sri Harmandir Sahib and Sri Akal Takht Sahib complex.

Why it mattered: The two gatherings tested who spoke for the Panth after Blue Star. The meeting called by the SGPC and the high priests drew a much larger crowd than the Government's, in both books' telling, despite the road blocks. Both gatherings followed Operation Blue Star and the dispute over who should rebuild the Akal Takht.