The Eye Witness Account of Dalbir Singh

Dalbir Singh was a former communist who had devoted himself to trade union activities for more than a decade, and is one of many who believe that the Nirankaris had fought the Sikhs with a preconceived plan. At the time of the clash he was a correspondent of “The Tribune”, based at Amritsar.

“It was 13th April 1978 afternoon. I had returned home from a routine beat of Amritsar. l was taking a nap after lunch when the telephone rang. Someone, who refused to identify himself, told me that several persons have been killed in firing at the Nirankari convention. l rushed out to the stadium at the railway colony. There were many dead bodies that were strewn outside the venue of the convention. l did not yet know what had happened. I wondered around and met Govind Singh, a son-in-law of the Nirankari Guru, on the stage of the convention. Govind Singh first led me to a tent in which there were many armed persons. He entered it but immediately turned to lead me to another tent in which some Nirankaris were chatting with Deputy Superintendent of Police. I approached him and explained that I had seen some armed men who might have been the killers. The officer, however, ignored this information. The next day the police searched the Nirankari centre in Amritsar for the killer and their weapons, They had let the killers scatter, when they could still have been nearby, to catch scapegoats one day after the incident,”

Dalbir Singh maintains that the local administration had allowed the main culprits to escape.

(Courtesy: Ram Narayan Kumar)