Operation Blue Star - Saka Neela Tara

Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.

1. Why did it happen ?
Before and After
Operation Blue Star
(01-06 June 1984)
Was it avoidable?

2. Unrest in Punjab
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of
Independent India where the state went into war with its own
people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was
culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political
game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic
setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to
denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle
since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to
militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and
civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of
innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated
with this movement.

3. The role of Punjab in the freedom struggle was recognized by great
leaders who from time to time had assured them of a special status.
However, politicians made no such effort rather their policies for
Punjab looked like neglecting them. Some of the great leaders had
assured them as under:
Pandit Moti Lal Nehru:
I salute the Akali's who have started the struggle for freedom and are fighting for it.
Pandi Madan Mohan Malviya:
Guru Ka Bagh Morcha has given birth to the freedom movement which must lead us
to Swaraj.
Lala Lajpat Rai:
Freedom is our birthright. The Akali's are the legitimate sons of Mother India who are
fighting for her.
Dadabhai Naoroji:
The Sikh brothers have shown us the way to freedom; no one can keep us slaves any
more.

4. Cont :-
•Mahatma Gandhi (1931) while addressing a Sikh congregation at Gurdwara Sis Ganj,
New Delhi assured Sikh that they have no reason to fear as Congress will never betray
Sikh. If they do the party will be doomed.
•Pandit Nehru followed up the same assurance in 1946 and said “The brave Sikhs of
Punjab are entitled to a special consideration and they shall also experience the glow of
freedom”.
•Sikh leaders despite Jinnah’s call to give a free homeland to Sikhs with-in Pakistan
rejected going with them and insisted on joining India. Congress in its party session in
Lahore (1929) had resolved that India’s constitution will not be adopted without the
satisfaction of Sikhs. However, when the constitution was adopted, the Sikh
representative S.Hukam Singh refused to sign as it fell short of the assurance given to
Sikhs.

5. Punjab was divided

6. Punjabi Suba movement - 01 Nov 1966
•Punjab’s main political parties i.e. Congress and Akali’s since Independence
were always opposing each other and were rarely united for Punjab’s issues. .
This game of political uncertainty pushed Punjab into turmoil on a number of
occasion.
•ThePunjabi Suba movementwas started in 1950. It was aimed to create
aPunjabi speaking state. In this movement about 12000 Akali’s were court
arrested. Later during the period 1961-62 about 24000 Akali’s were arrested.
This movement had support of Akal Takhat.
•Mrs. Indra Gandhi who became the Prime Minister on January 24
th
1966
conceded their demand on April 23
rd
1966. The Punjabi Suba was formed on
01 Nov 1966.

7. Did the movement do any good to Punjab or Sikhs ?
•Punjab was a further truncated in small state. It lost all important proximity
to Delhi, Industrial belt of Ghaziabad and Panipat to Haryana. A large
beautiful Hill area was named Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh was made
joint capital of Punjab and Haryana to be governed as Union territory.
•New problems of sharing river water between the newly carved out states
and sharing of its capital Chandigarh cropped up. .
•A section of society under the influence of “Jan sang” in 1965 declared
“Hindi” as their mother tongue resulting in breaking centuries long
harmonic relationship of Hindus and Sikhs. It is important to know that RSS
leader both Madhok and Golwalkar have been advising Hindu to retain their
mother tongue as Punjabi since 1960.
•It was political one up man ship of (Sant) Fateh Singh which succeeded in
decimating Master Tara Singh and did no good to Punjab and Sikhs.

8. •A long struggle to have a Punjabi linguistic speaking state fell short of its
goal and was disappointing to all the residents of Punjab.
•This remained as one of the main reason for people to feel deprived,
sidelined and neglected. It was followed by a long period of unrest which
gave rise to many problems.
•It is believed that, If the that struggle of people for basic demands,
recognition and self determination were handled properly by the
Government of India, today’s Punjab might have been a shining star among
Indian states.
Did this movement do any good to Punjab or Sikhs ? Cont.

9. Anti people decision by the Government:
Some other anti people decision which impacted society are as under:
•On March 14 ,1974 Central Govt decided to drastically bring down
recruitment of Punjab youth in Defense for Punjab from 20% to 2.2%. This
created unemployment in rural area’s.
•Post green revolution by 1975, the agricultural income started declining.
There was little industrial activity to provide meaningful employment to the
youth.
Political / Social unrest was building up in Punjab due to various other events.
Punjab opposes the policies of Center Government. Some of those are
highlighted in the subsequent slides:

10. State of Emergency declared by
Indira Gandhi (1975-77)
•Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after her electoral defat imposed Emergency in
India on 25
th
March 1975. Print media.
•News channels were subjected to censorship. A dictatorial form of system full
of fear for was created. During the Emergency period , most of Gandhi's
political opponents were imprisoned.
•Several other atrocities on the citizens were reported at that time, including
a forced mass sterilization campaign spearheaded bySanjay Gandhi.
•The Sikh leadership convened meetings inAmritsar where they resolved to
oppose the "fascist tendency of the Congress".

11. State of Emergency declared by
Indira Gandhi (1975-77) - cont 02
•The first mass protest by the Akali Dal known as the "Campaign to Save
Democracy" was launched in Amritsar, 9
th
July 1975.
•During the entire period of emergency (about 21 months) Akali’s continued
their protest. Every day a group of party activists gave their arrest opposing
emergency. A large numbers of Akali and SGPC leadership and activists
remained behind the bars during the period.
•Amnesty International reported that about 1,40,000 people were arrested
without trial during the emergency across Indian states. S Jasjit Singh Grewal
recorded that 40,000 arrests were from Punjab alone.

12. Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal:
•The very name Punjab, the land of five rivers, affirms its riparian rights and its economy’s
depends on agriculture. It shall be born in mind that the water table in Punjab will fall
below an uneconomic extraction level by 2037 (GOI report 2017).
•The Punjab reorganisation act, 1966, had provided sharing of waters between Punjab and
Haryana.
•On 27
th
March 1976 (Indira’s emergency period) Indira Gandhi intervened to divide water in
which Punjab and Haryana got 3.5 Million Acre Feet (MAF) and Rajastan was given 8 MAF
water. Delhi was also given 0.2 MAF water.
•Before it could be implemented, Indira lost election in 1977 and Morarji Desai them the PM
found it discriminatory. The matter was taken to court by Haryana and Punjab followed it.

13. Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal: cont-
•Indira came back to power and in Feb 1980, she dismissed Akali
government in Punjab. Congress under S Darbara Singh won the election.
•Now both Punjab and Haryana had Congress governments, they were
asked to withdraw their appeal in court by Indira Gandhi.
•She gave an assurance to the Akali delegation on 05
th
April for not taking up
this issue in future. However due to polital pressure by Haryana, she
inaugtrated inaugurated digging of SYL canal at Kapoori on on 08
th
April
1982.
•Akali Dal launched a Morcha from Kapoori against construction of SYL canal
on 24
th
April 1982.

14. Sikh-Sant Nirankari conflict - 01
•The roots of Sikh-Sant Nirankari conflict goes back to many decades. In the 19
th

century Baba Dyal Das (1783-1855) had established Nirankari samprda. They were
following tenants of Sikhism. Later two followers of Dyal Das namely Buta Singh (1973-
1944) and Avtar Singh (1899-1969) broke off and set up their separate missions in 1929.
•After independence Baba Dyal Das shifted to Amritsar and Chandigarh. Avtar Singh
shifted his base to Delhi and registered themselves as Sant Nirankari Mandal. His son
Gurbachan Singh succeeded him.
•13 April 1978. The Amritsar administration gave a permission to the Nirankaris to hold
a national level meet on a very important and sacrosanct date to the Sikhs, knowing fully
that Sikhs congregate at Amritsar sahib ‘will be very large in number on that date.

15. Sikh-Sant Nirankari conflict -02
•Nirankari’s held a procession in the streets of Amritsar on that day. During the procession a
large number of their volunteers were armed. This was opposed by two main Sikhs
organization namely Akhand Kirtani Jatha and Damdami Taksal. They decided to march
(unarmed) to the venue to register their gathering.
•Fauja Singh led the protest march. In the afternoon as the jatha reached near their
congregation site. The armed Nirankaris opened fire and killed 13 Sikhs. This led to chain of
clashes between Sikhs and Nirankari’s in some other cities namely Kanpur, Delhi and a cities
in Madhya Pradesh.
•24
th
April 1980 – Gurbachan Singh, head of Nirankari Mandal was shot dead inside a well-
secured prescient of Nirankari Bhawan in New Delhi. CBI suspected Bhindranwale to have
conspired this murder. Ranjit Singh the main accused of the murder surrendered in 1983 and
convicted for life in 1993. His sentence was later remitted by the president in 1997. He was
appointed Jathedar of Akal Thakat by SGPC much before his release.

16. Sikh-Sant Nirankari conflict -03
•09 Sept 1981. Lala Jagat Narain, Proprietor of Hind Samachar group who gave pro
Nirankari evidence of the incident of 13
th
April 1978 in the court was shot dead.
Bhinderanwale was considered to be responsible for this murder.
•12-20 Sept 1981: Darbara Singh then the CM of Punjab was adamant in arresting
Bhinderanwale. He got a warrant issued against his name. The arrest was planned to at
Chando Kalan in Hissar, it is said Bhajan Lal then CM and Zail Singh sounded him and he
evaded arrest.
•Later he surrendered himself on 20
th
Sept at Chok Mehta. He was released
unconditionally on 15 Oct 1981 as police could not submit any proof of his involvement
in the murder.

17. Political game of dismissing
elected government during 70-90
Even after formation of Punjabi Suba, Akali party could not remain in power for
full term. The successive Akali Govts fell due to infighting or were dismissed by
the Indian Government.
Period of rule of the Chief Minister belonging to Akali Dal post 1965
•Gurnam Singh (8 March 1967 – 25 November 1967) - 8 months
•Gurnam Singh ( 17 February 1969 – 27 March 1970) - 1 month
•Lachman Singh Gill (25 November 1967 – 23 August 1968) - 9 months
•Parkash Singh Badal (27 March 1970 – 14 June 1971) - 15 months
•Parkash Singh Badal ( 20 June 1977 – 17 February 1980) - 32 months
•Surjit Singh Barnala(29 September 1985 – 11 June 1987 - 20 months

18. Anandpur Sahib Resolution
• Akali’s always had strained relationship with Central Govt. As a result it
gave birth to an issue of Center – State relation.
•On 11 Dec 1973 party outlined a vision document on long term
perspective for the party which included look into more powers to the
state governments.
•The vision statement of more power to state was unfolded on 29
th
Oct
1978 in the form of “Anandpur Sahib Resolution”. It contain some
demands which could be classified as religious and others as for the
socio-economic development of Punjab.

19. Anandpur Sahib resolution
Following were the main demands:
1.Inclusion of Punjabi speaking area and Chandigarh to Punjab.
2.Fair share of Ravi- Beas water.
3.Transfer of Bhakra- Nangal head-works to Punjab.
4.No displacement of Sikhs from Tarai region.
5.Establishment of Dry Port at Amritsar.
6.Permission to open a Bank in line with P&SB.
7.Review of Center- State relationship.
8.Permission for transmitting Gurbani from Darbar Sahib.
9.Renaming a train as Golden temple express.
10.Enactment of All India Gurdwara Act.

20. Response of Central Govt.
•Mrs. Indira Gandhi, PM always gave cold shoulder to the very basic demands of Sikhs.
She perused politics of electoral gains and Akali’s perused politics of keeping their
mass base intact.
•The situation was getting out of hand of Punjab politicians to manage and this
disgruntled feeling saw a long period of struggle from 1981- 84.
•Akali’s started “Dharamyudh Morcha” to seek attention of the Government. The
movement was at its peak by Oct 1982 , Over 60,000 party activists had court
arrested.
•Jails were overflowing and the situation was becoming unmanageable. Mrs Indira
Gandhi PM released all detained Sikhs from Jails on 15 Oct 1982 with out accepting
any of their demands. This considerably weakened Akali’s position.
•On 18 Nov 1982, a settlement was arrived between two parties. Indira Gandhi back
tracked again under the pressure of Haruana. Bhajan Lal, then the CM of Haryana
started humiliating Sikhs passing through Haryana.

21. Cont-2
•Peaceful movement by the Sikhs was loosing its steam as an honorable settlement of
their demands was not in sight. The main stream politicians were decimated by repeated
betrayed by the negotiating teams of Center and they slowly lost control on the agitation.
•This gave rise to militancy, there were many active groups advocating armed struggle.
Sant Jarnail Singh Bhinderwale of Damdami Taksal became the pivot and he took center
stage .
•A number of Killing of peaceful citizen were reported during the period. What happened
during this period was not at all legitimate but a result of lost opportunities for peaceful
solution.
•The period also saw worst ever state sponsored terrorism by the state machinery in the
history of India. A large number of Sikh youths were killed in the fake encounters. The
Government added an additional angle to call it a Khalistan movement.
•The “Dharam Yudh Morcha” failed to get justice from the central Government headed by
of Indira Gandhi. The center government was always backtracking on the issues of
Punjab, It is on record that Indira Gandhi decided to deal Punjab differently to silence her
most vociferous critics and opposition.

22. Operation Blue Star
Operation Blue Starwas thecode name of anIndianmilitary action
which was carried out between 1 and 10 June 1984. Inthis operation
Indian Army attacked Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) complex
inAmritsar Sahib, Punjab to weaken the “Daram Yudh Morcha” in the
garb to eliminate militancy.
Gen S. K. Singh Retd had written that the decision to launch the attack
rested withPrime Minister Indira Gandhi. She was considering about
such an operation for more than 18 months before it happened.

23. Chronology of events leading to Attack on
Harmandir Sahib Complex.
•01
st
June Punjab was placed under Curfew. All movements within and from outside states
were stopped. International borders in North India from Kashmir to Sri Ganga Nagar were
sealed by 02 June 1984.
•Joint forces of Indian Army’s various units , BSF, CRPF, STF and others under the command of
Gen Sundarji were controlling Punjab . There were 6 Lakhs personnel deployed all over
Punjab and about 1.33 Lakhs personnel were available for operation Blue Star. In additional
about 2 Lakhs personnel were stationed with in 25 KM distance from Amritsar.
•All cities of Punjab were put in the control of Army and various other historic Gurdwara’s
were cordoned off.
•02
nd
June: 1700 Army personnel entered the complex giving cover to other 2200 soldiers in
the attack formation, As per Gen KS Brar, there was heavy causality suffered without any gain
to control the complex.
•3
rd
June : Army over loudspeaker at 2 AM asked Bhinderwale for cease fire to remove their
casualties, which he allowed. Curfew was relaxed, a number of Sikh sangat unaware of the
intensity came for darshan. Cruet was imposed which led to a large number of people were
trapped. Later by 7 AM, 912 commandos were landed on the rooftop. It is said 1 Lakh round
were fired to give them cover to land.

24. Chronology of events leading to Attack on
Harmandir Sahib Complex.
•04
th
June: A detachment of NSG commando was added to the Army fire
power. Another attempt to enter failed.
•05
th
June: Bunga’s and water tank with in the complex were razed by small
gun fire. In the night at about 10.30 four battle tanks were pressed in
service. They fired and demolish main building of Akal Takhat.
•Fire from Bhinderwale side got neutralised and area was cleared by Army
late in the night of 6
th
June. It took more than six days for clearing the area
against planned operation of a few hours by the army.

25. Akal Thakhat
06 June 1984

26. Golden Temple Complex
06 June 1984

27. Attack on other Gurdwara’s
•From 5
th
to 7
th
June ,Gurdwara’s at other location in Punjab i.e. Patiala,
Ropar, Mukatsar and Moga etc. were also attacked by the army .
•All these actions just to satisfy ego of Prime Minster Indira Gandhi to
teach a lesson to Punjab for standing up for their demands and sustained
opposition during the Emergency period and their after.

28. Human cost of operation
•There is no correct information available on causality suffered by Army.
Casualties were much more than reported. Lt Gen KS Brar while on duty
informed about 83 casualties immediately after the operation, Gen PN
Hoon had reported 336 personnel killed in action and many hundred
wounded.
•Lt Gen Brar after his retirement in his book put Army casualties as 3342
martyred and 5922 wounded. (page 59 Operation Blue star)
•There is also no confirmed figure of civilian causality, however about 783
bodies were cremated in Amritsar from 7-18 June 1984. Hoverer, it was
much higher around 3000. (page 109 Tragedy of Punjab).
•Many more valuable lives were also lost of Sikhs soldiers who raised flag
of revolt, left their barracks and were heading towards Amritsar.

29. Aftermath
of
Operation Blue Star

30. Indira Gandhi was killed by her bodyguards

31. Nov - 1984
.
Killing of Indira
Gandhi led to an anti
Sikh riots in Delhi and
other part of India

32. Innocent Sikhs were targeted

33. Properties were looted and burned

34. Anti Sikh riots
Date : 31 October 1984 − 3 November 1984

Sikhs Deaths
Government Estimate about 2800.
Independent Estimate about 8000
.

35. 24
th
July 1985- “Rajiv – Longowal accord”
•An accord was signed between Sant Harcharan Singh Longowal and Rajiv
Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India which addressed some of the issues of
Anandpur Sahib resolution.
•However, the accord failed by mid 1987 on many counts like sharing of
river water, territorial claim of Chandigarh and Center States relationship
etc.
•Historians have written that had the demand in charter were considered
rationally by Indira Gandhi in 1882 the loss to the nation, Punjab, lives of
innocent Sikhs could have been avoided.

36. Balwant Singh, Sant Harcharan Singh Lonewal, Surjit Singh Barnala
Arjun Singh (Mediator), Rajiv Gandhi

37. Punjab kept Burning
1985- 1991

38. Lets remember
Our History
if we forget
it will happen again

39. Post 1984 Period Punjab is still Burning and solution
to many of its problem are still unanswered.
•Invasion of Drugs.
•Uneconomical Agriculture sector.
•Issues of MSP still hangs.
•Privatization of Mandi systems as new threat to agriculture.
•Invasion of spurious Pesticides.
•Fall in Rural literacy and Commercialisation of Education.
•Shifting of Industrial units from Punjab due to skewed policies of Government.
•Widespread Unemployment.
•Lack of Interest in developing Tech skills of rural population.

40. References:
1.Operation Blue Star by Lt Gen Kuldip Singh Brar (2009)
2.Tragedy of Punjab (operation Blue Star and after) by Kuldip Nater
and Khuswant Singh.
3.Turmoil in Punjab (Before and after Blue star an Indian story by
Ramesh Inder Singh

41. This is a short story of betrayal of Punjab
and its people. It still continues.............
Cdr Balvir Singh – [email protected]
Your suggestions for improving this article are welcome.