I pity those misguided, over-enthusiastic idiots who blame Indira Gandhi for Khalistan problem. It’s true that she did see potential in immensely popular, Bhindranwale to emerge as a Congress leader to revive Congress in Punjab but little did she know that he will be radicalised.

Bhindranwale’s frequent trips abroad and meetings with Pakistani generals there led to his sad transformation from a Sikh ideologue to a Hindu hater. His followers started religious-killings of Hindus to exert pressure on the Govt to grant Sikhs, a theocratic Sikh state.

The Indian Govt kept trying to establish contact with Bhindranwale to appeal for peace but to no avail. It was only after uncontrollable bloodshed in Punjab and to stop disintegration of India that “Operation Blue Star” was executed. It was unfortunate but in national interest.

Despite having open threats from Sikh extremists, Indira Gandhi chose to not change her security detail and retained her Sikh bodyguards to send a larger message that India is determined to not discriminate against any religion for the acts of few extremists. And that took balls.

The lie used by these Khalistani terrorists to radicalise Indian Sikhs is that Golden temple, the holiest Sikh shrine was targeted. Why doesn’t an average Sikh ask these extremists as to why was such a sacred place being used to propagate terror activities and hiding terrorists?

It is also a documented fact that the Indian forces were camping outside the Golden temple for days making appeals of peace to the terrorists hiding inside to surrender and not harm pilgrims taken as hostages by them. In return, the Indian forces were fired at by these cowards.

It was Harchand Singh Longowal, the then president of Akali Dal who asked Bhindranwale to make the Golden Temple complex, his residence to evade arrest. Bhindranwale later turned it into an armoury. The heads of Khalistan movement made frequent trips to Pakistan from 1981-1983.

It was KGB that provided the RAW with a tip-off that ISI was working on a big plan to fan terrorism in Punjab to disintegrate India. An arrested Pakistani officer himself admitted to RAW that 1000s of Pak army commandos were already in India to provide weapon training to Sikhs.

Much before the execution of “Operation Blue Star” in June, 1984, RAW had planned another covert operation called “Operation Sundown” in January, 1984 to abduct Bhindranwale from the Golden temple. Rehearsals were also done but Indira Gandhi rejected it fearing collateral damage.

Despite the continuous killings of Hindus, Indira Gandhi Govt dealt with the issue very sensitively. A team led by Narasimha Rao was sent to convince Bhindranwale to surrender but he refused & used the blackmail that there will be Sikh backlash if army entered the Golden temple.

Indira Gandhi also requested Akalis to help secure Bhindranwale’s arrest but got no cooperation. The terrorists continued to use Golden temple as safe haven due to the support of key Sikh religious leaders & head of the Akal Takht. The terrorists called their actions, a holy war.

Any Sikh leader who spoke against the occupation of “Akal Takht” by terrorists was killed by the followers of Bhindranwale. The sanctity of the temple was misused to get protection from arrests by the security forces as any army action inside the temple will hurt Sikh sentiments.

The terrorists also had access to the visitors to the Golden temple who if radicalised could make potential recruits for them thus they were able to join more and more people with them. Terrorists took over the rooms around the Sarovar to make them, their offices.

Another strong reason for terrorists to make the sacred Gurudwara complex, their headquarters, was the logistical support like free food and water.

While the Govt kept negotiating, terrorists focused on acquiring more and more recruits and weapons to wage a full-fledged war.

Days before the army action, Indira Govt once again sent its representatives to meet Bhindranwale to make peace but failed.

Backed by Pakistan and huge artillery, he was under nobody’s control and gave a final interview saying, “Sikhs can neither live in or live with India.”

It is only after this that Indira Gandhi gave permission to execute “Operation Blue Star” on the recommendation of the then army chief. The army believed that when confronted, Bhindranwale would surrender and thus there would be no damage to the temple or any civilian casualties.

On 1 June, 1984, Indira Gandhi ordered Operation Blue Star. Various army and paramilitary units started camping outside the Golden Temple. Loudspeakers were used to encourage the terrorists to surrender and release pilgrims. However, no surrender was made until 7 PM of June 5th.

Simultaneously, the army had sealed the international order from Kashmir to Rajasthan. 4 of the 6 generals who headed the Operation Blue Star were Sikhs.

The Indian army gave permission to Sikh soldiers to opt out of the operation if it hurt their feelings but nobody opted out.

On June 2nd, 1984, the Indian army sent a young Sikh officer posing as a pilgrim to the Golden temple to study the defence preparations made by the terrorists.

Patrols deployed to study the locations were fired at by the terrorists, forcing the army to prepare for an assault.

The Indian army playing the Indian army, relaxed the curfew on June 3rd to allow Sikh pilgrims to go inside the Gurudwara and celebrate the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan.

It was during this relaxation period that around 200 extremist Sikhs managed to run away from the Gurudwara.

The curfew was reimposed in the night and nobody was allowed to enter or exit the Golden temple complex.

Lt. General, Kuldip Singh Brar surrounded the temple with his units and once again addressed his soldiers saying, “This action isn’t against any religion but terrorism.”

The army units finally entered the Golden temple on June 5th. The army had underestimated the preparations of terrorists who had China-made rocket propelled grenade launchers provided by Pakistan.

Terrorists hiding inside Akal Takht used machine-guns to fire indiscriminately.

Tanks were brought to blow-up the safe rooms, terrorists were firing from. Pilgrims held hostages by terrorists were being used as human-shields by them which led to a high number of civilian casualties.

83 Army men got martyred while around 250 of them were critically injured.

Around 1600 terrorists were arrested from the Golden temple complex and the combined casualty number of both terrorists and civilians was around 500.

Bhindranwale and many of his close aides were also killed in the op. This was followed by a combing operation called Woodrose.

As warned by blackmailer Bhindranwale, the army action against terrorists was portrayed as an assault on Sikhism by Sikh extremists worldwide.

Five months later, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, Satwant and Beant Singh. She got martyred in the line of duty.

Her death was celebrated with the distribution of sweets by Bhindranwale sympathisers who saw it as a victory over the Indian state. Good or bad, she was a mass-leader and while the nation mourned her death, there were reports of consistent derogatory sloganeering against Hindus.

The constant provocation by Sikh extremists and the public outcry over Gandhi’s death served the vested interests of a few politicians who milked the situation to fuel tensions.

Thousands of innocent Sikhs got killed in the ensuing 1984 riots while the perpetrators walked free.

This was followed by many incidents of violence perpetrated by Sikh extremists in some parts of Punjab. In 1985, Khalistani terrorists also bombed an Air India flight, calling it an act of revenge.

In 1986, Khalistani terrorists again occupied the Golden temple complex.

This necessitated another operation.

The paramilitary police entered the Golden temple complex and arrested around 200 Khalistani terrorists while 100s of them managed to flee, many of whom are reported to have settled abroad and are carrying out anti-India activities till date.

Little does the average Indian know that the Khalistani dogs who themselves fled abroad leaving behind innocents to die in the aftermath of what they unfolded, not only make the most noise about 1984 but also managed to murder many of the officers involved in the Op Blue Star.

One of those officers was General Arun Shridhar Vaidya, the Chief of Indian army at the time of Operation Blue Star. He was assassinated by two Sikh extremists, Sukhdev Singh and Harjinder Singh in Pune in the year, 1986.

Both the assassins were sentenced to death in 1992.

General Kuldip Singh Brar who headed Operation Blue Star was also knifed in the throat in London. Two Sikhs, Barjinder Singh and Mandeep Singh were convicted by a UK court for attacking him.

The 84 year old general till date lives in a heavily-guarded Cantonment.

This thread is my tribute to all the unsung heroes who surpassed the boundaries of religion and personal security to serve this nation and instead of being celebrated have ended up being demonised.

It is a shame that political bias has taken over the truth and objectivity.