The 28th anniversary of Operation Bluestar was observed yesterday at Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat. Bricks for a memorial for those who were killed in the operation by security forces were laid. The Operation Blue Star was launched by the army in 1984 to flush out holed-up Sikh militants led by their leader Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale who was killed along with his associates in the Golden Temple.
By mid- 1984, the Golden Temple had become the headquarters of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who unleashed a reign of terror across Punjab from the precincts of most sacred shrine of the Sikhs. He and his followers had amassed grenades, automatic rifles and machine- guns in the holy complex. To flush out the pro- Khalistan militants from the temple complex, the Indira Gandhi government ordered a military operation in June 1984.
“Honouring” of death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana, on the 28th anniversary of Operation Bluestar SGPC and Jatehdar Akal Takht conferred the title of “living martyr” to Balwant Singh Rajona who has been convicted for killing former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and sentenced to death, a punishment upheld by the Supreme Court also. Meanwhile former member of parliament and president Shriomani Akali Dal (Amritsar) Simranjit Singh Mann raised slogans for Khalisthan and he was then joined by his supporters present in the periphery of the Golden Temple.
However BJP, an alliance partner in the state government led by SAD, has opposed the memorial saying such a move could encourage hardliners in the state.
A major general of Operation Bluestar, who is himself a Sikh and was commanding an army division at that time, also strongly condemned the proposal to set up a memorial saying ‘Siropas are being offered to the kin of the terrorists. Militants and their families are being garlanded.’ Recalling his experiences during Operation Bluestar along with his fellow military men, many of whom were Sikhs, he narrated ‘Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his immediate accomplices had shifted to the first floor of the Akal Takht. This was against the tenets of Sikhism as no one is allowed to stay above the Guru Granth Sahib.’
He is of the opinion that allowing the felicitation of those who held country’s integrity to ransom will encourage the terrorists’.