JALANDHAR: Eye-witness accounts of several survivors were video recorded and streamed on different online platforms during Operation Bluestar this year.
A few such eyewitness accounts were filmed on camera over the last few years, but this year, several such accounts were video-recorded and widely shared on social media platforms.
While some written documentation was done earlier also, mainly on individual basis, either by eyewitnesses or a few writers who recorded their testimonies, no big organised attempt was made to record them on camera on a single platform.
Survivors presented chilling accounts of the battle in Darbar Sahib and also what they faced or witnessed later.
Social media seems to have made way for an informal oral history project about the Army action on Darbar Sahib, with no single person or organisation anchoring it.
“The number of Punjabi web portals, some well-organised and other more individual efforts on YouTube, have increased in the last some time.
These were very active during the farm movement.
With things appearing static on the farmers’ front, quite a few of these portals focussed on finding out the survivors of the Army action and recording them.
This time, there was a distinct increase in witnesses and survivors being recorded on camera,” said Sikh activist Sarabjit Singh Ghumaan, who has been documenting the phase and writing frequently about it.
Although Shiromani Gurdwara Parbadhak Committee (SGPC) published a voluminous “white paper,” which was authored by former Panjab University professor Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon, but it’s documentation of survivors’ accounts was mainly through its monthly journal, Gurmat Parkash.
Late Harcharan Singh, who remained chief secretary of SGPC, recorded some crucial eyewitness accounts and published these in a book.
Akal Takht Jathedar Harpreet Singh also asked survivors and eyewitnesses to record their videos and send these to Akal Takht.