This week is the 25th anniversary of the three day long siege of the Golden Temple by the Indian government. That siege of course not only led to the deaths of hundreds of people, but also led to Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the anti-Sikh pogroms in New Delhi and other parts of India, the mid-air explosion of the Air India flight to Toronto (killing over 300 people) and the “counter-insurgency” operations in India which led to the further deaths and imprisonment of tens of thousands of Punjabis.The Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikh religion, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and Sikh radicals are already planning events at the temple complex, where the holiest of Sikh shrines Harmandar Sahib (popularly called Golden Temple) is located, here in the first week of June to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, the army's codename for the operation. Indian Army units had used heavy artillery against the terrorist militia, led by the separatist preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, holed up inside the shrine complex. Hundreds of people inside the shrine, including Bhindranwale and his armed supporters, and army and police personnel lost their lives in the battle.
Operation Blue Star(3–6 June 1984) was an Indian military operation ordered by Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India,to remove Sikh separatists who were amassing weapons in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The operation was launched in response to a deterioration of law and order in the Indian state of Punjab. The operation was carried out by Indian army troops with tanks and armoured vehicles. Militarily successful, the operation aroused immense controversy, and the government's justification for the timing and style of the attack are still under debate. Operation Bluestar was included in the Top 10 Political Disgraces by India Today magazine. Official reports put the number of deaths among the Indian army at 83 and the number of civilian deaths at 492, though independent estimates ran much higher.
Operation Blue Star(3–6 June 1984) was an Indian military operation ordered by Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India,to remove Sikh separatists who were amassing weapons in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The operation was launched in response to a deterioration of law and order in the Indian state of Punjab. The operation was carried out by Indian army troops with tanks and armoured vehicles. Militarily successful, the operation aroused immense controversy, and the government's justification for the timing and style of the attack are still under debate. Operation Bluestar was included in the Top 10 Political Disgraces by India Today magazine. Official reports put the number of deaths among the Indian army at 83 and the number of civilian deaths at 492, though independent estimates ran much higher.
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