Harbans Lal Khanna

Harbans Lal Khanna (died in 1984) was a BJP MLA and president of its Amritsar district branch in Punjab, India.

Biography

His killing comes with a backdrop when Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale^[1] and his followers started Dharam Yudh Morcha.^[2] Bhindranwale was known to lead anti-smoking drives.^[3] So, Khanna started doing the opposite by leading pro-tobacco marches. One of the marches claimed "...bidi piyenge hum Shaan se jiyenge.”(We'll smoke cigarettes and live in pride)^[4]

While leading a procession against the Sikh effort to have holy city status granted to Amritsar,^[5] he had released slogans there on 30 May 1981, "Dukki tikki khehan nahin deni, sir te pagri rehan nahin deni; kachh, kara, kirpaan; ehnoon bhejo Pakistan." ("We are not going to let any second or third group exist, we are not going to let a turban remain on any head; the shorts, the iron bangle, the sword, send these to Pakistan").^[6][5][7]

On 14 February 1984, mobs led by Khanna gathered at as many as 56 places in Amritsar to engage in anti-Sikh desecrations. At the Amritsar Railway Station, a model of the Golden Temple was destroyed. A picture of Ram Das, the fourth Sikh guru, which had been on display for several years, was defaced beyond recognition, with feces and lit cigarettes rubbed into it.^[6] Carrying some of the pieces of the replica away, some Sikhs swore revenge.^[6]

He was shot by Sikh rebels in retaliation^[6] on April 2, 1984.^[8] The responsibility for the assassination was quickly claimed by a Sikh militant organization, the Dashmesh Regiment. After the assassination, there were clashes between Sikhs and Hindus resulting in a Hindu temple being burned to the ground. ^[9] Surinder Singh Sodhi, Jarnail Singh’s right hand man, has been accused of being the killer and so has Labh Singh.^[10][11]

References

1. Herausgeber., Hoiberg, Dale, Verfasser. Ramchandani, Indu. Bhindrawale, Jarnail Singh. OCLC 1127230487. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. Jaffrelot, Christophe (1999). The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics: 1925 to the 1990s : Strategies of Identity-building, Implantation and Mobilisation (with Special Reference to Central India). Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-14-024602-5.
3. Chima, Jugdep S. (11 March 2010). The Sikh Separatist Insurgency in India: Political Leadership and Ethnonationalist Movements. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 978-93-5150-953-0.
4. Kaur, Harminder (1990). Blue Star Over Amritsar. Ajanta Publications (India). ISBN 978-81-202-0257-3.
5. Karim, Afsir (1991). Counter Terrorism, the Pakistan Factor. Lancer Publishers. p. 30. ISBN 978-8170621270.
6. Dhillon, Gurdarshan Singh (1996). Truth about Punjab: SGPC White Paper (1st ed.). Amritsar, Punjab: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. pp. 186, 205–206. ISBN 978-0836456547. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
7. Judge, Paramjit S. (2005). Religion, Identity, and Nationhood: The Sikh Militant Movement. Rawat Publications. p. 134. ISBN 9788170339496.
8. Sikh Gunmen Kill Hindu In Punjab - Nytimes.Com
9. "Hindu leader slain in northern India - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
10. Juergensmeyer, Mark; Juergensmeyer, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Global and International Studies Program Mark (2003). Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. University of California Press. p. 276. ISBN 978-0-520-24011-7.
11. Baja, Mander Singh. Sher Dil - Shaheed Bhai Surinder Singh Sodhi (in Punjabi). pp. 71–74.