Explain in detail operation Blue star
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Operation Blue Star was the codename of an Indian military action carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984 to remove militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in Amritsar, Punjab. The decision to launch the attack rested with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.[12] In July 1982, Harchand Singh Longowal, the President of the Sikh political party Akali Dal, had invited Bhindranwale to take up residence in the Golden Temple Complex to evade arrest.[13][14] Bhindranwale later made the sacred temple complex an armoury and headquarters.[15]
Indian intelligence agencies had reported that three prominent heads of the Khalistan movement—Shabeg Singh, Balbier Singh, and Amrik Singh—had made at least six trips each to Pakistan between the years 1981 and 1983.[4] The Intelligence Bureau reported that weapons training was being provided at Gurdwaras in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. The Soviet intelligence agency KGB reportedly tipped off the Indian intelligence agency R&AW about the CIA and ISI working together on a plan for Punjab. From its interrogation of a Pakistani army officer, R&AW received information that over a thousand trained Special Service Group commandos of the Pakistan Army had been dispatched by Pakistan into the Indian Punjab to assist Bhindranwale in his fight against the government. Many Pakistani agents also followed the smuggling routes in the Kashmir and Kutch region of Gujarat, with plans to commit sabotage.[4]
On 1 June 1984, after negotiations with the militants failed, Indira Gandhi ordered the army to launch Operation Blue Star.[16] A variety of army units and paramilitary forces surrounded the temple complex on 3 June 1984. The army used loudspeakers to encourage the militants to surrender. Requests were also made to the militants to allow trapped pilgrims to come out of the temple premises, before the clash with the army. However, no surrender or release of pilgrims had occurred by 7:00 pm on 5 June.[17] The fighting started on 5 June with skirmishes and the battle went on for three days, ending on 8 June. A clean-up operation codenamed Operation Woodrose was also initiated throughout Punjab.[4]
The army had underestimated the firepower possessed by the militants, whose armament included Chinese-made rocket-propelled grenade launchers with armour piercing capabilities. Tanks and heavy artillery were used to attack the militants, who responded with anti-tank and machine-gun fire from the heavily fortified Akal Takht. After a 24-hour firefight, the army gained control of the temple complex. Casualty figures for the army were 83 dead and 249 injured.[18] According to the official estimates, 1,592 militants were apprehended and there were 493 combined militant and civilian casualties.[9] High civilian casualties were attributed to militants using pilgrims trapped inside the temple as human shields.[19]
The military action in the temple complex was criticized by Sikhs worldwide, who interpreted it as an assault on the Sikh religion.[20] Many Sikh soldiers in the army deserted their units,[21] several Sikhs resigned from civil administrative office and returned awards received from the Indian government. Five months after the operation, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated in an act of revenge by her two Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.[14] Public outcry over Gandhi's death led to the killings of more than 3,000 Sikhs in the ensuing 1984 anti-Sikh riots.[22]
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