 "Golden temple after Operation Blue Star")
An Indian Army operation known as Operation Bluestar was conducted in June 1984 at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, to expel militants who were led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a former head of the Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal and a key figure in the then-emerging separatist Khalistan movement.
While the army was successful in achieving its goals, some Sikhs were outraged as they saw the operation as an attack on their faith and it is still a contentious episode in Indian history.
The history
After India was divided into West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) and East Pakistan (current-day Bangladesh), the concept of Khalistan emerged. Due to the newly established border, Punjab, where the majority of the Sikh community resides, was also split. Important cities for Sikh culture and religion, like Lahore and Nankana Sahib, became a part of Pakistan.
There was also some unrest over a few administrative matters, such as the sharing of river water with other states, which sparked calls for autonomy and later for the establishment of a sovereign Sikh state in some quarters. Pakistan is also believed to have provided the movement with funds and arms.
Also Read
In response to demands for autonomy, in 1966, the former state of Punjab was split into the Hindi-speaking, Hindu-majority states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, and the Punjabi-speaking, Sikh-majority Punjab. The separatist Khalistan movement gained momentum by the 1970s both in India and abroad.
The buildup
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a fiery preacher who positioned himself as "the authentic voice of the Sikhs" during a time of political unrest, emerged.
Bhindranwale was initially courted by the Congress to counter the Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD's) influence in the state, but by the early 1980s he had turned into "a problem" as he had attracted a captive audience among the youth. Bhindranwale himself was engaging in aggressive rhetoric.
Also Read: Pro-Khalistan slogans raised on 39th anniversary of Operation Bluestar
Also Read: Pro-Khalistan slogans raised on 39th anniversary of Operation Bluestar
He joined the Dharam Yudh Morcha, a civil disobedience movement organised by the Akalis, in 1982 and relocated to the Akal Takht inside the Golden Temple complex to avoid being apprehended by law enforcement.
In 1983, AS Atwal, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), was shot dead after visiting the Golden Temple to pray.
The late KPS Gill, the DGP of the Punjab Police who is credited with putting the Punjab militancy under control, later penned the following: “Ugly as the Atwal murder was, however, it was only a beginning… This became a regular feature; bodies, mutilated, hacked to pieces, stuffed into gunny bags, kept appearing mysteriously in the gutters and sewers around the Temple.”
In 1984, the government decided to intervene and dispatch armed forces to expel Bhindranwale and his adherents from their hideout inside the Golden Temple.
The operation
The Golden Temple complex was now nothing less than a fortress. Bhindranwale's men had smuggled in a huge cache of arms and ammunition over a period of months, placing guns strategically for defence.
Additionally, Bhindranwale's men received extensive military training under the leadership of Major General Shahbeg Singh, who had been dismissed by the Indian Army over corruption charges.
On June 1, the CRPF fired the first shots at the Golden Temple, four days before the army actually entered the complex to "assess the training and strength of the militants inside," according to reports.
On June 3, the state of Punjab was placed under a 36-hour curfew, with all forms of public transport and communication prohibited, electricity lines cut, and complete media censorship.
Finally, on the night of June 5, the army started the operation. The mission's initial focus was to destroy the fortified defences Bhindranwale's men had erected in the Golden Temple complex, which were perched high above the ground. The army believed that if they were still in play, any assault on the temple compound would fail.
The army was still hoping for a quick surrender as the outer defences of the temple complex fell.
The unexpected resistance encountered by the troops prompted the commanders to call for tank support. Tanks began entering the temple complex around 10 pm on June 5, temple priest Giani Puran Singh was reported as saying by the Indian Express.
The Akal Takht, one of the five seats of power according to Sikh belief, was shelled by the army's Vijayanta tanks over the course of the following twelve hours. The most resistance came from the area where Bhindranwale resided. Tanks were initially avoided due to concerns about potential structural damage to the complex, which would further enrage the Sikh community.
However, they proved to be incredibly efficient once they were brought in.
As dawn broke on June 6, the main defences, which consisted of machine guns and RPGs, had been largely neutralised. At around 11 am, 25 militants burst out of the building, firing at random and sprinting right towards the troops, who shot and killed the majority of them.
Bhindranwale was reportedly found dead among "about 40 corpses" as the troops finally entered the now-destroyed Akal Takht. The last remaining militants either surrendered or were killed by June 10.
The aftermath
While the army initially estimated that there had been a total of 554 militants and civilians killed, 83 troops dead (4 officers, 79 soldiers), and 236 government forces wounded, other estimates place the death toll higher.
Although the army has consistently insisted that it took all necessary precautions to protect civilians—including issuing announcements over loudspeakers before the attack—its actions have been called into question. A sessions court in Amritsar ruled in 2017 that there was no proof of such warnings.
Beyond the casualties, there were effects all over the nation. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984, who blamed her for the attack.
