Operation Blue Star anniversary: Why the wounds may never heal
Several unanswered questions on issues of minorities, particularly Sikhs, found a fresh resonance on the 34th anniversary of Operation Blue Star. In various events across Punjab, issues pertaining to right to self determination, questions of identity and the attempts of successive governments to throttle the voice of minorities that have particularly attained a high pitch under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led regime at the Centre were raised.
The city of Amritsar that had been the theatre of Operation Bluestar observed a shut down on Wednesday on a call given by hardline organisation Dal Khalsa. Reports say that certain Sikh radicals raised pro-Khalistan slogans at the Golden Temple and even unfurled the Khalistani flag. A large number of people, particularly those led by Dal Khalsa members disrupted the address of Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh saying that they do not recognise a 'discredited' Jathedar.. A minor clash between Sikh radicals and Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) volunteers was also reported from the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar.
Operation Bluestar was carried out by the Indian forces between 3 June and 8 June in 1984 to flush out militants and their leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and take control of the Harmandir Sahib Complex (Golden Temple) in Amritsar. The operation was ordered by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that was further followed by Operation Woodrose to target suspected militants in Punjab's countryside. The Indian forces lost 83 men in Operation Blue Star while more than 200 were injured
Official estimates by the Indian government put the number of civilians killed in Operation Blue Star at 492 while human rights groups peg the figures to be much higher.
The Sikh community was deeply affected by the attack carried out at its supreme religious shrine and the scars are yet to go away. There was also resentment over the State allegedly seizing historical artifacts and manuscripts from the Sikh reference library, before burning it down.
Operation Blue Star was followed by Indira Gandhi's assassination by her two Sikh bodyguards four months later, in what is seen as a revenge. This in turn was followed by an anti-Sikh pogrom in which members of the community were targeted and massacred in Delhi and other parts of the country.
Operation Bluestar has assumed historical significance and is compared to what Sikhs call 'Wada Ghallughara' or the great massacre that followed Ahmad Shah Durrani's invasion of 1762. Operation Blue Star is also referred to as 'Ghallughara'.
The 'pro freedom' Dal Khalsa carried out a 'Genocide Remembrance March' in Amritsar on Tuesday calling upon the Sikh community to have faith in the future and made a solemn commitment that the struggle for the fulfillment of ambitions and aspirations of the community would be taken to the logical conclusion following the democratic path.
_116653.jpg)
Paying tributes to Sikh martyrs of June 1984 and vowing to carry forward their mission to its logical conclusion, the party activists marched on the roads displaying photographs of the damaged Akal Takht and Sikh martyrs who died during Operation Blue Star while fighting against the Indian Army. They also raised slogans in favour of Khalistan.
The organisation reasserted that the struggling people all over the world have to experience different phases and the Sikh struggle is no exception. The storming of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army in June, 1984 supported by tanks and artillery guns was a watershed development that left permanent scars on the collective Sikh psyche.
Maintaining that the struggle is continuing, the Dal Khalsa resolution cautioned the Sikhs against opportunistic elements dominating the political stream that have been exploiting the sacrifices for the cause.
The outfit's head Harpal Singh Cheema in his address said, “Thirty-four years ago, with the attack on the Golden Temple, the foundation stone for an independent state was laid. The sentiments of sovereignty that were strengthened by the army attack have not been buried with the passage of time and change in the political scenario.”
He said keeping the hope alive would be the best tribute to those who sacrificed their lives during Operation Bluestar.
Summing up the heinous attack on Sikh faith, party spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said, “The BJP asked for it, the Congress then in government carried it out and the whole of India reveled on it.”
Youths carried placards in this context and a big float was rolled on the road to draw the attention of passers by on which photographs of Sikh martyrs along with Khalistani thoughts were depicted.
_116653.jpg)
Excerpts from the speeches of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale along with inspiring songs were played on an audio system to which youth responded with spirited sloganeering.
Former party head HS Dhami demanded United Nations to prosecute the perpetrators of the massacre as thousands of innocent pilgrims, SGPC employees, political activists and volunteers were 'slaughtered' by the forces during the attack.
In Chandigarh, the progressive youth organisation Students for Society held a programme in Panjab University campus where particular emphasis was laid on the persecution of the minorities in India right from the independence. It was alleged that the attempts to suppress the minorities have further increased under the present ruling dispensation in the Centre under the BJP.
Members of United Sikh Movement (USM) were also present at the movement. A prominent member of the organiastion Dr Bhagwan Singh said, “Operation Blue Star is event that has historical relevance. We demand that Sikh Reference Library be restored and the Anandpur Sahib Resolution of 1973 which is the mot comprehensive charter of demands of Sikhs be implemented.”
Just as the 34th anniversary of Operation Blue Star had approached, the politics over the issue of desecration of holy texts had once again heated up last week with 'parallel Jathedars' appointed at Sarbat Khalsa in 2015 organising a protest at Bargari village in Faridkot and spewing fire against Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, his predecessor Parkash Singh Badal and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal. The protestors once again raised a demand for punishment to those involved in desecration of holy texts and the officials responsible for the firing at Behbal Kalan that had led to the death of two people in 2015. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders were present at the protest.
Rejecting the allegations of his government failing to solve the Bargari case, Amarinder pointed that Justice (Retired) Ranjit Singh Commission is investigating the various incidents of sacrilege, including the Kotakpura incident in Faridkot that had led to the death of two persons.
Lashing out at AAP and other leaders seeking to take political mileage on the issue, he said that not only is the Commission meticulously investigating the previous cases of sacrilege, his government is also effectively cracking down against the culprits involved in all the fresh incidents reported in the state since it took over.
He said the Commission is currently visiting the sites of the incidents in various districts to collect evidence. He further said that the Akalis seeking scrapping of the Commission instead of cooperating with it clearly showed that the Akalis, led by the Badals, fear the findings of the Commission conducting a painstaking probe to get to the bottom of the conspiracy to destabilise the state.
First published: 6 June 2018, 18:50 IST
