The 29th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, carried out by the Indian Army in 1984 to flush out the hiding militants in the Akal Takht, passed off peacefully on Thursday amid the slogans of ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ by the Sikh hardliners and devotees.
The day was observed at Akal Takht — Sikh’s highest temporal seat — situated in the Golden Temple, amidst tight security.
The Operation Bluestar anniversary came at a time when the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the Sikh radical outfits Damdami Taksal and Dal Khalsa were at
loggerheads over dedicating the recently constructed Operation Bluestar Memorial to Sikh radical leader Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale.
Bhindrawale, along with nearly 3,000 others including army personal, was killed during the Operation Bluestar. Now, the Memorial — dedicated to those killed during 1984 attacks — has been built by the Damdami Taksal, the Sikh seminary once headed by Bhindranwale, in the
precincts of the Harmandir Sahib, and handed over to the SGPC on April 27.
The controversy erupted when a plaque dedicating the newly constructed memorial to Bhindrawale, besides few other references to the controversial leader, were found in the Memorial, on which SGPC feigned ignorance. To look into the matter, a Committee comprising five Sikh’s head priests has been formed.
Notwithstanding the controversy, the Memorial witnessed sizable footfall of the devotees on Thursday.
After the religious address of Jathedar Akal Takhat Giani Gurbachan Singh, the Sikh hardliner and former MP Simranjit Singh Mann took over the microphone, and raised the slogans of ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ — followed by the hundreds devotees present in the Golden Temple who reciprocated Mann in the similar tone.
Sikh hardliners seemed satisfied with the completion of construction work of the Memorial so that the coming generations could come to know the bloodshed occurred in 1984.