To ensure that the 33rd anniversary of Operation Bluestar passes off peacefully on Tuesday, as many as 4,500 cops, including paramilitary troops and Rapid Action Force, have been deployed in Amritsar, turning the holy city into a fortress. Clashes were witnessed in 2016 inside the shrine.
Operation Bluestar was a military operation carried out in 1984 to flush out heavily-armed terrorists holed up in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. They were demanding a separate homeland, Khalistan, for Sikhs.
Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Kirpal Singh Badungar has already spoken to various outfits and even the parallel jathedars (head priests of temporal seats) - announced by the Sarbat Khalsa organisers, to ensure peace on the occasion.
However, tension is gripping the city as the “parallel” jathedars are also expected to reach the Akal Takht, and apprehensions are that they may object to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh delivering address.
To ensure peace, police and the SGPC task force have been deployed in substantial number inside the shrine. Punjab police’s special weapons tactics unit has also been called in and will be present throughout the day on Tuesday.
Dal Khalsa has also given a call for ‘Amritsar bandh’ on Tuesday, and the police wanted to ensure that it would not succeed.
Besides, the police are using technology to keep a close eye on the situation, and many CCTV cameras have been deployed.
Meanwhile, Balwant Singh Rajoana - convicted for assassinating the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995, has urged all political parties and religious organisations to maintain peace and harmony on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
Rajoana, in a letter written from Patiala central jail, appealed to all Sikh religious and political organisations to shun their differences and pay homage to the martyrs of Operation Bluestar.
The murder convict asked all factions to maintain dignity of the Akal Takht (highest temporal seat of Sikhs). “We should pay homage to all martyrs by reciting ‘Gurbani’ only and not raise any slogans,” he wrote.
Rajoana, a Babbar Khalsa International terrorist, is the prime convict in the assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995.