Delhi: Weeks after Operation Blue Star, the Golden Temple in Amritsar was still barricaded. But Captain Amarinder Singh, who had resigned as Congress MP in the wake of the operation, found a way in. Chaos broke out, police fired in the air, and a crowd ran helter-skelter. Amid this mayhem, a young woman was about to be knocked down when Singh grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and brought her to sit beside him.

“Who are you? I asked,” recounted former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of that first meeting. “‘I’m Harinder Baweja,’ she replied. ‘I work for the Sunday Observer .’” On 28 September, he was part of the panel discussion during the launch of her book They Will Shoot You, Madam: My Life Through Conflict .

That encounter was an early milestone in Baweja’s career. Over the ne

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