Failed talks between Rajiv Gandhi & Bhindranwale: Capt Amarinder shares the little-known story

In the early 1980s, one of Punjab's most turbulent periods, then Congress MP Captain Amarinder Singh was tasked by Rajiv Gandhi with a critical mission — arranging a meeting with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

The meeting, which ultimately never took place, was reportedly called off at the last second due to fears of a possible "ambush" on Gandhi. The intriguing story is detailed in senior journalist and author Harinder Baweja's new book, "They Will Shoot You, Madam: My Life Through Conflict".

The account was narrated by Singh at the recent book launch held at the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi, where he also shared a humorous anecdote about how he once ended up sleeping in Bhindranwale's bed — something he jokingly claimed only he had managed to pull off.

"Mr Gandhi, Rajiv, asked me, ‘Can you fix a meeting with Bhindranwale?' I said, ‘I'll try'. So I asked Simran Singh Mann, SSP with the Punjab Police, who was very close to him. We agreed to meet, and Bhindranwale agreed to come to the Ambala airport station. We were supposed to fly from Delhi.”

"We had just barely... we hadn't even started up. We had just reached the beginning of something when we got a message saying that the Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi) wanted him to cancel the meeting and come back," Singh recalled while addressing a packed audience.

It upset Bhindranwale but Singh somehow defused the situation by telling the Sikh separatist leader that there was a "technical glitch" with the aircraft.

Three weeks later, Gandhi again urged Singh to try to arrange the meeting.

"We got airborne. And we were close to Ambala when we were ordered by the control tower to come back. So, we came back, landed," he added.

The reason for the second cancellation, Singh revealed, was rooted in serious security concerns.

According to Baweja's book, Singh suggested that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been warned by Punjab Chief Minister Darbara Singh of a possible ambush being planned —one that could target Rajiv.

“Darbara Singh told her that there were plans to lay an ambush and that her son Rajiv would be killed,” Singh is quoted as saying in the book.

The 83-year-old believes it was Darbara who advised Indira Gandhi against allowing her son to walk into what was feared to be a trap.

Singh suspected that Darbara Singh — who had earlier favoured Bhindranwale's arrest —wanted to strike back at his political bête noire, Zail Singh, the book noted.

Singh, however, maintains that had the conversation not been “sabotaged”, some meaningful progress could have been achieved.

"Political rivalries add to conflict. Political games of oneupmanship make conflict murkier," Baweja writes in the book.

Another lesser-known and amusing meeting — one that Singh said has never been shared publicly before — took place in 1982 at Bhindranwale's native village, Rode, Punjab. The meeting happened at the insistence of Indira Gandhi, who wanted Singh to establish a connection with the radical Sikh leader.

Joined by his brother and another associate, Singh waited for hours in the freezing cold at Bhindranwale's home. Growing impatient, he decided to sleep on a cot in Bhindranwale's own room.

"I'm probably the only one who's ever slept in his bed," Singh quipped, drawing laughter from the audience.

“Later, when I woke up, Bhindranwale was just standing there, staring down at me. That was something. We got on, we talked. He was quite amenable to having some sort of an understanding,” Singh recalled.

"They Will Shoot You, Madam", published by Roli Books, chronicles Baweja's journey of venturing deep into conflict zones, bringing to light stories from difficult terrains, from the bloodied streets of Punjab to the volatile battlegrounds of Jammu and Kashmir, and onwards to Pakistan and war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Baweja has previously authored "A Soldier's Diary: Kargil the Inside Story", and edited and contributed to various anthologies, including "26/11: Mumbai Attacked" and "Most Wanted: Profiles of Terror".