Veteran INC Leader Chidambaram says ‘Operation Blue Star’ was Wrong

On 12 Sep, veteran Indian National Congress (INC) leader and former Union Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said ‘Operation Blue Star’ (OBS)—the Indian military’s attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar in June 1984—was 'the wrong way to retrieve' the temple. He said former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, 'paid the price of that mistake with her life.' However, he sought to deflect attention from Gandhi by saying she should not be blamed because ‘it was a cumulative decision of the Army, the police, intelligence, and civil service.' Chidambaram was speaking at the Kasauli Literature Festival. Chidambram added, ‘A few years later we showed the right way to conduct the Operation by keeping the Army out.’ He was referring to Operation Black Thunder I and II in 1986 and 1988, respectively. Panjab INC leaders responded it was unnecessary of the former Home Minister to rake up the issue as the party leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, had apologized for 'past mistakes'. Chidambram’s statement is a half-truth. Recently General Vishwa Nath Sharma who later rose to Chief of Army Staff revealed that during OBS he was posted at the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO). DGMO and the then General of Indian Army Arunkumar Shridhar Vaidya had refused to conduct OBS as they deemed it unconstitutional and believed the Army should not get into political affairs. After that, Gandhi called then Lieutenant General Krishnaswamy Sundararajan alias Sundarji who was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Command and tasked him with OBS. Sundarji decided to assign Lieutenant  General Ranjit Singh Dyal and Major General Kuldip Singh Brar and Sikh battalions to conduct OBS. The DGMO did not want to pit Sikh soldiers to fight Sikh separatists but was overruled. Four decades after OBS, INC keeps peddling half-truths to absolve its leadership. Meanwhile, the Lakhimpur-Kheri police in Uttar Pradesh have lodged a First Information Report against former Union Minister of State for Home and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ajay Mishra Teni, his son Ashish Mishra for threatening witness Baljinder Singh in the case related to the mowing down of four farmers and a journalist during Farmers’ Protests 1.0 in 2021 (earlier coverage).