State terrorism is an integral part of the arsenal of ruling class to maintain its dictatorship

June 6, 2009 marked the 25th anniversary of the Indian Army’s assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Thousands of people in India and abroad participated in protest functions on the occasion, clearly affirming that the Indian people will never forget this heinous act which marked a new stage in the deployment of state terrorism against the people of India by the ruling class.

In this brutal assault on the most sacred shrine of the people of the Sikh faith, the Indian army blasted its way into the temple in the name of flushing out terrorists. Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi deliberately chose the martyrdom day of Guru Arjun Dev, as the day of the beginning of Operation Bluestar. Thousands of innocent pilgrims were inside the shrine on that day. In the bloody Operation that ensued, 4,712 people were declared killed, according to the White Paper issued by the government on Operation Blue Star some time later. The actual figures of the dead are reported to be much higher. The sacred shrine, including the Akal Takht was razed to the ground by tank and heavy artillery fire.

Operation Bluestar was a deliberate provocation against the people of the Sikh faith. It was a declaration by the Indian state that it would stop at nothing to humiliate as well as target Sikhs through a reign of terror, to terrorise and pacify them, divide the people of Punjab and India on communal lines, and crush any challenge to its authority.

In the period before Operatrion Bluestar, the people of Punjab, particularly the peasants, were revolting against their conditions. This was also the situation all over the country. The ruling class deliberately pursued a policy of fomenting division and discord between people of the Hindu and Sikh faiths. It painted the people of Sikh faith as terrorists, as anti nationals, as enemies of the unity and territorial integrity of India, and therefore who deserved to be crushed by force of arms. Following Operation BlueStar, the Indian Army organized operation Woodrose, under which the people were attacked in the rural areas and army entered rural gurudwaras, once again in the name of flushing out terrorists. The entire Sikh community was completely and deliberately alienated.

In the decade that followed, tens of thousands of Sikhs were massacred by the state forces in Punjab in fake encounters, as well as in the state organized genocide in Delhi and other states that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi. The intelligence agencies of the state also perfected the method of organizing terrorist groups to carry out heinous massacres of innocent people, and thus discredit the resistance struggle of people, and divide the people on communal basis.

State terrorism unleashed in Punjab enabled the Indian ruling class to paralyse the working class and push through the modernization program of capitalist reforms. It is now an integral part of the arsenal of the ruling class to maintain its dictatorship over the toiling masses and also to crush any section of the bourgeoisie which challenges it. Along with parliamentary democracy, it is used by the ruling class to divide the unity of the toilers, paralyse and marginalise them in the polity, and justify and push through its own agenda. State terrorism is a preferred weapon to turn political problems demanding political solutions into “law and order problems”.

In the 25 years since Operation Bluestar, the Indian ruling class has further perfected the weapon of state terrorism, of targeting definite communities as well as definite political forces to advance its own aims. The demolition of the Babri Masjid was followed by state sponsored massacres of Muslims. The ruling class has perfected the method of organizing bomb blasts, burning of trains etc, attacks on temples and mosques, to inflame passions. It has directly as well as through its agencies organized numerous genocidal massacres of different communities, such as the Gujarat genocide, as well as the killings of people in different states of the North East and Kashmir. It has set up quasi military forces like Salwa Judum to terrorise the tribal population of Bastar and Dantewada in Chattisgarh. Meanwhile, it has relentlessly pushed through its agenda of liberalization, privatization and globalization to advance its imperialist goals.

At the present time, there is mass resistance amongst peasants and tribal peoples, particularly in the mineral rich states of Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh, as well as in North Eastern states to the corporate take over of their lands with the purpose of plundering the rich mineral wealth. There is also mass opposition to land being taken over in name of SEZ’s. The Indian state is trying to use carrot and stick policy to crush this resistance. It is trying to divide the unity of the fighting people. In this context it is unleashing state terrorism against the people, in the name of crushing the “naxalites and insurgents”. The coming period will see escalation of attacks on the people as the government pushes through its corporate, imperialist agenda.

Operation Bluestar was a massive assault on not only the people of the Sikh faith, but all Indian people who were and are challenging the ruling class and fighting for fundamental transformations in favour of the workers, peasants, women, youth, and all the exploited and oppressed.

Twenty five years ago, our young party came out boldly against the Indian state, condemning this assault, defending the people of the Sikh faith, and pointing out in clear terms that it was the central state which was the trouble maker in Punjab, which was cynically turning political problems into “law and order problems”, justifying state terrorism.

Our Party is convinced that state terrorism, in all its forms, must be exposed and consistently opposed no matter who the immediate target is. We must strive to unite all the resistance forces under one banner against state terrorism, and fight for a political solution to political problems.