Word: extremists
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...have misrepresented the true nature of the Golden Temple controversy. The conflict was not simply one of conflicting groups, but of a radical seet of Sikhs committed to violence. The Sikhs who had been using the temple as their base were gathered under the fanatical but charismatic Bhindranwale, an extremist leader who was killed in the Golden Temple fighting. His Khomeini-like messianic appeal included public speeches glorifying violent means aimed at acquiring a separate Sikh nation. "It should be clear to all Sikhs...that we are slaves and want liberation at any cost. To achieve this end, arm yourselves...
GIVEN Bhindranwale's radical calls to violence, it is seemingly the extremist Sikhs, not Gandhi, who bear the burden for the escalation of violence in the Sikh separatist movement. Moderate Sikhs had, until the Golden Temple incident, disowned Bhindranwale's extremists as fanatics and madmen, but in their united anger at the army takeover of their shrine, they came to look upon the same fanatics ar martyrs. Such a view betrays the fact that the moderate Sikhs had had no real voice prior to the Temple confrontation, due not to the doings of Gandhi and her party, but rather...
...state of Punjab. When Gandhi and her Congress Party returned to rule the country, she made no effort to win over the ousted Akali politicians and incorporate them into the new government in Punjab. This left the Akalis to join forces with Bhindranwale, to become submerged in his extremist callings and to remain idly by while their allies were engaged in massive terrorist campaigns...
Contrary to extremist sentiment, most Sikhs realize the importance of their economic and cultural linkages with the rest of the nation. The most vocal and tenacious of Sikhs who are clamoring for separatism are actually those not in India at all; these are Sikh expatriates, living mainly in the U.S., Canada, and Britain, who are far removed from the crippling consequences of actual partition...
...population but holds a disproportionately important place in the country's life. For the past two years, a Sikh rebellion has been smoldering in Punjab, their homeland on the Pakistani border. Last June, after failing to quell the Sikh agitation for greater autonomy and put an end to an extremist movement calling for an independent Sikh nation, Mrs. Gandhi had sent the army into Punjab and into the most sacred of all Sikh shrines, the Golden Temple, which Sikh fanatics had turned into a sort of holy fortress. At least 600 people, including radical Leader Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale...