Congress senior leader P. Chidambaram has criticised the ‘Operation Blue Star’ under the Indira Gandhi-led government in 1984 and added that the former Prime Minister paid with her life for the “mistake”.
Speaking at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival 2025 on Saturday, the former Union Home and Finance Minister said that the June 1984 Operation Blue Star was a cumulative decision of the Army, the police, the intelligence, and the civil services. He also added that it was the “wrong way”.
P. Chidambaram also reportedly said that Operation Black Thunder was the right way to retrieve the Golden Temple, by keeping the Army out of the Sikh worship place.
“No disrespect to any military officers here, but that (Blue Star) was the wrong way to retrieve the Golden Temple. A few years later, we showed the right way to retrieve the Golden Temple by keeping out the Army,” he stated.
“Mrs Gandhi (former PM Indira Gandhi) paid with her life for that mistake. It was a cumulative decision of the Army, Police, intelligence, and the civil services. You cannot blame it only on Mrs Gandhi,” the Congress MP said.
As per ANI, Chidambaram was addressing a gathering during a discussion on the ‘They Will Shoot You, Madam: My Life Through Conflict’ with author Harinder Baweja.
What Was Operation Blue Star?
Operation Blue Star was a 10-day military operation from June 1 to June 10, 1984.
June 6, 1984, marked the day when the Indian Army, under Operation Blue Star, stormed into the Golden Temple on orders of the then PM Indira Gandhi to contain Sikh militancy under the leadership of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in Punjab.
It was reported at the time that Bhindranwale had stashed large quantities of arms on the Golden Temple premises.
Who Was Bhindranwale?
Bhindranwale was the head of the radical Sikh outfit Damdami Taksal, according to news agency ANI. He, along with his armed followers, was killed during Operation Blue Star. The Operation faced heavily criticism.
Months later, after this, former PM Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, at her New Delhi residence on October 31, 1984.
