Thread on Hindu/Sikh death statistics from the Punjab militancy + some context. There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about that period on Twitter, with some people (like in the SS) embarrassingly exaggerating numbers and events, so hopefully this can act as a reference

First and foremost, let's look at numbers before 1984. According to many people on here, pre-1984 Punjab was a hellish existence for Hindus, as Bhindranwale and his men attempted to empty the state of its Hindu population by fear or murder. Sensationalism like this is common:

There are 2 problems here. First, Punjab was not dangerous for Hindus in this period. Looking at the numbers, it was one of the safer States in India (36x less violence than UP overall, 6x less when adjusted for population). The largest communal deaths were to *Sikhs*, not Hindus

Secondly, Bhindranwale did not encourage violence against Hindus. The rare occasion Hindus were targeted, he didn't hesitate to condemn any such violence and reiterate that it isn't something he supports or his people are involved in. Likewise for Akal Takht Jathedar (Longowal)

This wasn't a one-off; Indian media themselves attest that he publicly condemned any such acts of violence.

When asked whether he hated Hindus or had enmity with them, his answer was a resounding 'no'. And rather than simply leave it at that, he went on to list some of his...

...dealings with Hindus: rescuing the abducted daughter (by another Hindu) of a Hindu father who came to him for help; donating to a Hindu shopkeeper whose shop burnt down, to Hindus after a Ramayana was burnt, & to families of 2 Hindus who had been killed in rasta roko agitation

Actions speak louder than words, & he believed it was his (and every Sikh's) duty to help anyone who asked for it, including Hindus. One of the reasons Subramanian Swamy, *who knew & spent time with him in person*, has always been a staunch defender and even considers him a Sant

Swamy has extensive interviews of his time spent with Bhindranwala online, & the consistent theme is that he wasn't a Hindu-hater. Here he narrates the time a Hindu girl came to Bhindranwale for help because of dowry, and the Sant's response to her in-laws https://mobile.twitter.com/Jhatkalover/status/1265012475574939648

All of this to say, the 2 primary justifications for Operation Bluestar (a killing spree of Hindus and the anti-Hindu Bhindranwale) don't hold up to scrutiny. Punjab was *safe*, more *Sikhs* died than Hindus, Bhindranwale wasn't hateful, and Bluestar never should have happened

But it did happen, and the death toll is terrifying. Practically every independent source puts the deaths in the thousands, eye-witnesses giving numbers of around 5,000-8,000 killed during Bluestar, the vast majority of these being normal Sikh there for the 5th Guru's Shaheedi

These numbers are not surprising when u listen to the accounts of Bluestar's survivors, & the brutality they faced at the hands of the army. They weren't fighters, but normal Sikhs commemorating the Guru's Shaheedi, the army *purposefully attacking on the busiest day of the year*

The temple was *sieged on the busiest day of the year*, pilgrims weren't allowed to leave, the Deputy Commissioner who begged to be allowed to arrest Bhindranwale instead of having an army attack was denied, our library was looted & burned. Why? Because it was an attack on Sikhi

An important thing to note is that on the day of Bhindranwale's death, no Hindu in Punjab was harmed. A Hindu journalist who went to the Sant's home & was *fed* that day attests as such, contrasted with the disgust he felt when Sikhs were murdered across India a few months later

Which brings us to our next point of interest: the number of Sikhs massacred across India between the nights of October 31st and November 3rd, 1984. There is wide discrepancy between gov't & independent sources, but the number of killed runs easily into the thousands and says...

...nothing for the mass-rapes + 50,000 made homeless in 3 days

The actual dead are likely to be closer to independent source values, given the government's involvement in the genocide, desire to downplay what happened and the undocumented handling/cremation of dead bodies

So what happened after the Sikh genocide of October/November? From this point on until 1995, people tend to go crazy with numbers. Many on here cite 35k Hindus killed, 50k killed, even 100k killed. I've seen ppl say there was an ethnic cleansing of Hindus. So what is the truth?

The official numbers, from none other than KPS Gill, state that 11,694 civilians were killed by militants in Punjab between 1981 and 1994. 61% of these, or 7,139, were Sikh. The remaining 39%, *4,555, were mostly Hindu*. That is the entire Punjab insurgency, from start to finish.

Think about that for a moment. There were more Sikhs massacred in *3 days* across India, potentially 2-3x as many, than all the Hindus killed during militancy. There were possibly more Sikh pilgrims murdered during Bluestar, than all the Hindus killed because of 'Khalistanis'.

Image 1: breakdown of all insurgency deaths by category (militant, security personnel, civilian)

Image 2: breakdown of *civilian* deaths at the peak of insurgency by Sikh deaths and non-Sikh (mostly Hindu) deaths.

There isn't one year where Hindu deaths exceeded Sikh deaths.

Between 1988 and 1992, at militancy's peak, the absolute worst year for Hindus was 1991, when 765 died. This figure corresponds with the 'best' year for Sikhs, when 'only' 742 died. The worst years for Hindus (1990 & 1991) saw over *twice as many* deaths for normal civilian Sikhs

The one big thing which is often overlooked during insurgency death tolls is the number of innocent Sikh civilians picked up by Punjab police, under the reign of KPS Gill, and extrajudicially murdered for no reason other than the crime of being Sikhs.

This has been documented extensively by @ensaaf , who record at least 5,000 such extrajudicial executions, the vast majority of these victims being non-combattant Sikhs (i.e. Sikh civilians). Some former cops are now speaking out. Please listen to the horrors he describes:

That's not all. Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human rights activist, uncovered evidence of *exponentially more* such extrajudicial killings in just *one district* of Punjab. Unfortunately, he was arrested and killed by the police for his work. The true extent of lives lost is unknown

Lastly, there's 2 things I want to address before ending this thread. The first is the "35,000 Hindus killed by Khalistanis" figure created by Capt. Amarinder Singh & very frequently cited by Indians on here. This number is an outright lie. The number of *total* deaths is 25k

There is only one newspaper I've seen cite a number above 30k and it is this one, stating 33k total deaths during insurgency. There seems to be no explanation for deaths this high, unless you add the ~8k eyewitness deaths of Bluestar into the official figure of 25k

This would make sense, as the 25k figure doesn't include deaths from Bluestar/November genocide/extrajudicial Sikh killings, and only deals with insurgency-related deaths of civilians, militants and security personnel.

Once again, 25k is *all* insurgency-related deaths & you maybe reach 33k by including Bluestar (the official insurgency-related deaths, unlike those for Bluestar and the November genocide, are *very accurately* recorder and corroborated by multiple sources).

Amarinder is purposefully taking an even higher number of 35000, making *all* these deaths into Hindu deaths, and casting himself as the protector of Hindus in his quest to play politics in Punjab (in this case, against the BJP).

I personally feel he should be ashamed of himself. The 4,555 Hindus who did die are worthy of remembrance even if the number isn't 35k, and no one should applaud him for using the deaths of Hindus for his own dirty political battles.

The 2nd thing to address is, despite all of the killings during the insurgency, Punjab *still* remained a safe state relative to other parts of India. We can look at official Indian murder rates to prove this. There were no Sikh death squads roaming around targeting every Hindu

India's murder rate peaked in 1991-1992 (same in both years). After 1992, it began to decline. 1991 also happened to be, coincidentally, just about the year with the highest Hindu deaths in Punjab from insurgency (at 740, just slightly less than 765 from 1990).

How does it compare to elsewhere? At the same time, there were 12,287 murders/homicides in UP, far higher than the ~2600 civilian (740 Hindu + 1851 Sikh) deaths in Punjab the same year. Even adjusting pop. differences, Punjab's danger level is no where close.

The other states mentioned therein tell a similar story, all having far more deaths than what Punjab had during its most dangerous period from the insurgency (unless perhaps you include the extrajudicial killings by police of Sikhs, which isn't part of the data).

So there you have it. There isn't a whole lot more to say here. I could talk about all the Hindus who joined the kharkus, became leaders in Khalistani organizations, were actually the *most violent* members and drove many fellow Hindus out of Punjab, but that's another thread

The insurgency isn't as clear-cut as many on here make it out to be. Sant Bhindranwale himself was against hurting any innocent person, Sikh or otherwise. There were early kharkus who also promised safety to their Hindu friends and fellow villagers. Many Hindus even joined them

But I hope this thread has been effective in clearing up some major misconceptions and getting all the info in one place. Everyone is free to believe what they want about Bhindranwale, the kharkus and the demand for khalistan. Numbers don't lie, however

Punjab was not a hell-hole for Hindus pre-Bluestar; it was relatively a safe state, and the highest numbers of violent deaths were Sikhs themselves. Bluestar never needed to happen, and so many problems could have been avoided.

And then, there were potentially more Sikh deaths in *just* Bluestar than all of the Hindu deaths from militancy 1980-1995. There were almost certainly more Sikhs killed in *just* 3 days across India a few months later, maybe 2-3x more, than all those Hindu deaths too.

Ultimately, there were more Sikhs killed by militants *just* as a result of insurgency than all the Hindus killed in those 15 years. And there is a very high chance there were more innocent Sikhs killed in *just* extrajudicial executions than all the Hindus killed by Khalistanis.

Some ppl ask why remembrance of 1984 and that decade is so Sikh-focused. This is why. There was no Bluestar-like event for Hindus, no gov't-sponsored genocide, no destruction of a priceless library, no decades-long state-backed police murders of an entire generation of young ppl

Fundamentally, the death tolls of the 2 communities were not even close, and each singular tragedy for Sikhs by itself (bluestar/November genocide/death from militants/extrajudicial killing) produced more Sikh deaths than all Hindu deaths from 1980-1995 as a result of militancy

Every victim deserves to be remembered. And my goal here is not to say only Sikh lives should be mourned. But the truth is important to move on, and the lies peddled by some Indian accounts on here must be opposed. No one should be allowed to defame the memory of the dead for...

...their own purposes, but that's exactly what happens when people lie about 25k, 35k, 50k, one crore Hindu deaths in order to argue with Sikhs. I hope people can move forward with respect, understand what really happened, not mock each other and remember every live lost.