From the assassination of Akali leader Sant Harchand Singh Longowal on Rajiv Gandhi’s birthday to the bombing of Air India Flight 182 that killed all 329 people on board, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has revisited the Khalistan movement and the turbulent years of militancy in Punjab during late 1980s, revealing how Rajiv sought to restore peace while confronting a series of terrorist attacks and political setbacks.
n her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, released on Tuesday, Sonia recalls Rajiv’s determination to resolve the Punjab crisis following Operation Blue Star and Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, his negotiations with the Shiromani Akali Dal and his instructions to security forces during Operations Black Thunder I and II in 1986 and 1988.
She writes that immediately after taking office, Rajiv faced serious unrest in Punjab, Assam, Mizoram, Tripura and the Darjeeling hills. He was prepared to sacrifice the Congress’s political interests to secure peace, even persuading elected Congress governments in some states to step aside in favour of their opponents.
“It does not matter who wins and who loses. What matters is the lamp of democracy is not extinguished: what matters is that India wins,” Rajiv had said in Parliament, according to the memoir.
Sonia writes that Rajiv was particularly determined to find a political solution to the Punjab crisis after the violence surrounding Operation Blue Star and his mother’s assassination.
‘Rahul, joy to us all, but especially his grandmother’: Sonia recalls Following intensive negotiations with Punjab’s political leadership, he signed the Punjab Accord with Shiromani Akali Dal president Sant Harchand Singh Longowal on July 24, 1985.
The agreement appeared to offer a way out of the prolonged unrest. But less than a month later, Longowal was assassinated. Sonia recalls that August 20, Rajiv’s 41st birthday, was traditionally a family occasion. She would prepare his favourite food, while Rahul and Priyanka helped with the arrangements. A birthday cake and Kashmiri sweet rice were part of the celebrations.
That evening, the family had barely sat down for dinner when a staff member entered and handed Rajiv a note. “Sant Longowal has been killed,” Rajiv announced, before leaving abruptly for his office.
Sonia recalls that the family was left staring at their plates, unable to continue eating. Rahul and Priyanka repeatedly asked what had happened and what would follow. “We must wait till Papa comes back and explains,” she told them.
She writes that she feared the assassination was not merely a tragedy but also a warning directed at Rajiv. Longowal had been shot at point-blank range by Sikh militants and died before reaching hospital, Rajiv later told her.
Sonia says Rajiv was deeply disturbed by the killing, which he believed was intended to sabotage the accord he had worked so hard to secure.
The memoir also revisits the June 1985 bombing of Air India Flight AI 182, which was travelling from Toronto to Delhi via London. All 329 people aboard the Boeing aircraft were killed, including more than 80 children and members of 29 entire families. Many passengers were Canadians of Indian origin whose relatives lived in Punjab.
Sonia writes that the bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack involving an aircraft at the time and remained so until the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001. A second bomb, intended to explode on another Air India flight, detonated on the ground at Japan’s Narita airport, causing further casualties.
She identifies Babbar Khalsa, a Khalistani terrorist organisation seeking an independent state of Khalistan through violence, as responsible for the Flight 182 bombing, while recalling that the investigation and legal proceedings in Canada continued for years.
The memoir also refers to the transistor bomb blasts in Delhi and adjoining states in May 1985, which killed 50 people and injured many others.
Several suspected Khalistani supporters were arrested, but the prosecution collapsed after 35 years of proceedings. Sonia notes that the court criticised the investigation as “defective, lop-sided, unfair, suffering from various lacunae”.
The police were also reproved for their “faulty investigation”. She links the outcome to the wider problem of delayed and unsuccessful delivery of justice in India.
Another major blow came in August 1986 when former Army chief General AS Vaidya, who had led the Army during Operation Blue Star, was assassinated in Pune after his retirement. His wife, who was accompanying him, was wounded.
Sonia writes that the Khalistan Commando Force carried out the assassination. She recalls that Vaidya had maintained that there was no distinction between fighting a foreign enemy and fighting those who took up arms against their own country and its Constitution.
The killing, she writes, devastated his wife and three daughters. The memoir then turns to Operations Black Thunder I and II, launched in 1986 and 1988 after armed Khalistani militants again occupied the Golden Temple complex. Sonia writes that Rajiv was determined to avoid a repetition of Operation Blue Star, when the Army had intervened after a prolonged confrontation.
He cleared the security operations but imposed two firm conditions: security forces were not to enter the Golden Temple complex, and every possible effort had to be made to avoid casualties. The first operation was completed in one night in 1986, while the second continued for nine days in 1988.
According to Sonia, the circumstances had changed by then. Public support for the Khalistan movement had begun to decline, and security forces were closely monitoring movements in and around the temple premises.
Rajiv remained personally involved in supervising the operation and was constantly occupied with meetings and telephone conversations with officials. Sonia recalls that the 1988 siege was televised live on Doordarshan to prevent rumours and misleading reports.
Security forces maintained a prolonged blockade, preventing movement into and out of the complex. As supplies ran out, the militants came under increasing pressure. Pilgrims held hostage inside gradually began emerging.
Eventually, the militants surrendered, walking out with their hands raised as the country watched the proceedings on television. Sonia writes that there were no casualties during the first operation, while 41 militants were killed in the second.
She recalls watching the final hours of the 1988 siege with Rahul and Priyanka, relieved that the operation had ended. The memoir presents the Punjab peace process as part of Rajiv’s broader effort to settle regional conflicts through negotiations, political accommodation and security measures.
Sonia also acknowledges that Rajiv could have made errors in judgement or action during his five years as Prime Minister, while defending his intentions and commitment to the country. She recalls accompanying him to remote regions of the Northeast, tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, and the Lakshadweep and Nicobar Islands, where residents often confronted him over poor administration and everyday hardships. Rajiv, she writes, would listen patiently, sometimes asking officials not to interrupt when people complained.