1984
The Camera & 1984
AMARJIT SINGH CHANDAN
The camera first arrived in Punjab in 1850.
But photographs of historical moments of even the recent past are rare.
Some images of the storming of the Darbar Sahib in 1984 taken by Indian army personnel are now posted on the internet, and are used for political propaganda either to idolize Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale or to demonize him.
One of the images shows the Harmandar blackened with artillery fire. This out-of-focus photograph seems to be taken with a basic camera and by a novice camera handler. Its repulsion attracts - the composition, contrasting colours and imposing blackness as if the mythological bird phoenix is weighing its wings before rising to the skies again.
The image is more powerful than the dead bodies lying in the parikarma.
It wouldn't have made the same impact if it was in monochrome.
Home, history, tyranny, Sikhi and honour are abstract concepts, but in this image all these ideas have taken a concrete shape: our home, we the Sikhs, our history, tyranny of the Indian state against the Punjab and its people, our dignity.
Another photograph taken from a book by Mark Tully shows gurmukhs made to squat and being herded like cattle. A soldier of the Indian army is tying an old man's hands behind his back. He appears to me like my father. His turban has fallen and is loosely hanging from his neck - the ultimate insult.
I have never seen any image - a photograph or a painting - which has been able to capture the full glory, mystique and beauty of the Golden Temple.
But in 1984, though it was not the first time the Darbar Sahib was ravaged in history, an anonymous photographer managed to capture the devastation wreaked by the timeless invader and tyrant through history, in this single vision of this latest outrage.
The devil asks his due.
June 3, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Sandeep Singh Brar (Canada), June 03, 2012, 8:48 AM.
During Operation Blue Star, Indian army photographers took photographs of the military operation and its immediate aftermath. Thousands of photographs were taken but have never been released to the public. All independent and foreign journalists were also expelled from Punjab. One high ranking Indian Army officer made the fateful decision to get a roll of film with Blue Star photographs that he had taken, developed by a local camera shop. Realizing what they were looking at, the shop owners made a secret copy of those prints. Second and third generation copies of those copies were then smuggled out of India and form the only existing photographs of the military operation and conditions in the Darbar Sahib complex during and immediately after the initial combat phase of Operation Blue Star. You can see high resolution digitally enhanced versions of these photographs in the SikhMuseum.com Operation Blue Star Exhibit - www.sikhmuseum.com/bluestar/
2: Pritam Singh (Oxford, United Kingdom), June 03, 2012, 12:11 PM.
Very fine piece, Amarjit ji. 1984 should never be forgotten. Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
3: N. Singh (Canada), June 03, 2012, 12:59 PM.
Amarjit Singh ji: There are certain images that will forever haunt us and for me the Mark Tully image of the old man without his turban is one of them. That picture of the innocent pilgrims conveys the lies of the Indian government and the crimes of the Indian army. I have often wondered whatever became of him. I can only imagine how hard it must be for you, since he reminds you of your father. Likewise, the picture of General Subheg Singh in death with arms spread out, turbanless and, on closure inspection, scalpless, will forever haunt me and explains why it has been so hard for me to 'forgive', let alone 'forget'!
4: Meena Dhanda (Wolverhampton, United kingdom), June 03, 2012, 2:03 PM.
Very insightful commentary: you say so much with so few words.
5: Tajinder Singh Chhabda (Aurangabad, India), June 03, 2012, 3:59 PM.
It was a 'gift' to us for the sacrifices given by the Sikhs for the nation! Today, the situation is the same, except they know if they try it again, they'll find us ready.
6: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), June 03, 2012, 7:25 PM.
Isn't it sad? You could take that picture and imagine what it was like when the Afghans attacked a few centuries ago. No community should have to live through a repeat these kinds of horrors.
7: Irvinderpal Singh Babra (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), June 03, 2012, 9:59 PM.
The silver lining of 1984 is that the year awakened all Sikhs everywhere from slumber, dull and boring lifestyles and jobs and switch them to writing, reporting, photography, media and journalism from their perspectives. A new level of urgency and consciousness was created to marshall the truth and defend their rights.. Some published their newspapers to prosper and others perished in doing so. The photographic images that we have hold a lot truth of unprecedented assaults inflicted upon us and upon our Sikh/ Khalsa/ Punjabi ethos, real estate, intellectual properties, etc. Even in 2012, those images continue to stir and stimulate our imagination. Sikhs continue to live well in chardi kala, and living well is the best revenge that we have taken. We have a great generation which is highly proficient in the latest media and information technologies. They are our assets, and we have to protect them for a powerful Sikh nation and a bright future.
8: Suaran Singh (Penang, Malaysia), June 04, 2012, 1:39 AM.
I can hardly explain the country that India has become. How can a nation turn against its own people?
9: Tejinder Singh (London, United Kingdom.), June 04, 2012, 3:10 AM.
The captive Sikhs were inhumanly rounded up from the Darbar Sahib complex by the Indian authorities. After interrogation, they were brutally shot at close range. Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishments are a WAR CRIME.