Reading Between the Lines

A decades long attempt by the central government to control dissent in Punjab culminated in a military operation codenamed Bluestar (June 1984). Overtly aimed at flushing militants from the Golden Temple, it led to the desecration of the sacred place by the army and an unwarranted bloodshed, soon to be followed by the assassination of Indira Gandhi (31 October 1984), anti-Sikh riots, an unprecedented growth of militancy in Punjab and division of Punjabi society along religious lines. Punjabi literature addressed the matter, trying to make sense of the traumatic event and its aftermath. Dalip Kaur Tiwana (1935–2020), too, provided, by way of her novel, Jimī ̃ puchai āsmān / The Earth Asks the Sky (1986), a fictionalised witness account informed by her experience as university teacher whose students find themselves drawn into the vortex of political exigencies. A study of her reflections on dissent and violence in this context will constitute the subject matter of this paper.