The affect of the tumultuous period of the 1980s in Punjab and the rest of India on the Sikh Diaspora in North America was very pronounced. At the time of India’s independence from the British in 1947, Punjab – the Sikh homeland – was partitioned between India and Pakistan. This event was followed by a terrible time in history when approximately one million lives were lost in violence, and mass immigration on both sides left the Punjabis in complete disarray.

Sikhs were promised that the constitution would guarantee the rights of minorities in India. As time went by, however, they felt marginalized with their grievances to the federal government ignored. Sikhs aimed for better assignment of powers between the central and state governments, similar to the system of government in the United States. The central government however presented their efforts as a separatist movement to justify mass scale torture and subjugation of Sikhs in India. This led to the rise of militancy in the community. 

The Indian government ultimately stormed the Golden Temple at Amritsar in June 1984 in what was called Operation Bluestar. Thousands of innocent devotees were killed. Besides the tragic loss of human life and many historic and sacred buildings, the Sikh Reference Library that housed a unique collection of priceless manuscripts, letters written by the Gurus, copies of Adi Granth, historical records and invaluable memorabilia, all went up in flames.

Two Sikhs assassinated Indira Gandhi to avenge the killing of innocent Sikhs in Amritsar. In the next three days, approximately 10,000 to 15,000 Sikhs were brutally murdered in anti-Sikh pogroms, encouraged and directed by state police forces, the civil administrations and the leaders of the ruling Congress party. Unregulated police brutality, torture, extrajudicial killings, and mass cremations against Sikhs in India continued. The Indian Government put down the militancy that followed by giving police forces absolute power. Judicial recourse for an ordinary Sikh was non-existent. Hundreds of youth and their families disappeared in what came to be known as “fake encounters.” Their bodies were disposed unceremoniously and they were never to be heard from again. This continued well into the 1990s.

Twenty-one years later not a single person of any significance has been held accountable for the events of those days.