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Sikh outrage at the assault on the temple echoed throughout India and around the world. Ignoring curfew laws, hundreds of Sikhs rioted in Punjab; they also caused havoc in a number of Indian cities. In New Delhi angry Sikhs demanded Bhindranwale's body for cremation and vowed to keep his legend alive. "If one Bhindranwale dies," Sikhs at a New Delhi demonstration shouted, "a thousand are born." Two militants brandishing swords at tacked the Indian consulate in Vancouver, Canada, leaving it a shambles. Security was increased around Indian missions in the U.S., Canada, Britain, West Germany, The Netherlands and Denmark, where there are significant Sikh populations.
The crisis came to a head when, in an effort to press home its demands for religious and regional autonomy, the Sikhs' Akali Dal Party announced that it would begin to block grain shipments to the rest of India from Punjab, which is the nation's breadbasket. The action would have cut off 65% of the country's crucial grain reserves, threatening widespread famine.
Three days before the attack, Mrs. Gandhi made an urgent appeal on national radio and television to all Sikhs to end their agitation. She outlined a framework for a settlement. "Let us sit around the table and find a solution," she pleaded. She had already agreed to most of the Sikh demands for religious autonomy and was willing to amend the constitution to distinguish Sikhs from Hindus. But Mrs. Gandhi felt that if she gave in to the Sikh demand for political autonomy, she would risk a Hindu backlash.
On Sunday the government ordered a 24-hour curfew, and told all journalists and photographers to leave Punjab. (Authorities later confiscated the film of those who had refused to comply.) Roads across the state borders and the airports were closed, trains and buses stopped running, and telephone and telegraph wires were cut. The usually thriving Punjab came to a halt, cut off from the rest of the world. About 4,000 government troops surrounded the Golden Temple and ordered out the 3,000 Sikhs who live there, as well as the crowds that enter daily for worship. Many heeded the warnings, but 1,000 extremists defiantly remained inside the temple.
Bhindranwale held out in what is described as "the throne of the timeless" in the temple's basement. His loyal followers took up positions they had been fortifying for months with sandbags, steel armor and bricks. When army troops finally stormed the defenses Tuesday evening, they met heavy resistance from rockets and machine-gun fire. Pinned down by a far superior, better-armed force than they anticipated, army troops called for reinforcements of tanks and artillery. After six hours, the machine guns fell silent and army sharpshooters closed in, backed up by troops with bayonets. When army troops finally stormed the basement, they found the bullet-riddled bodies of Bhindranwale and his two top lieutenants.