The day of 1st June 1984 , when Harmandir Sahib (The Golden Temple) began to drench in blood of its own children for a week long militant fight against the the then very famous religious leader – Jarnail Singh Bindrawala. The operation begin given approval by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi so as to eradicate the militant group of the akal takht . The week long war-like-situation left a deep mark on the history of Punjab and world history too.
OPERATIONS UNDER BLUE STAR
Blue star operation was further bifurcated into two parts – The Operation METAL and The Operation SHOP .
- OPERATION METAL – This part of the operation was confined to Harmandir Sahib so as to extract the militia.
- OPERATION SHOP – This part of the operation was spread in whole of the Punjab region so as to protect the state from any external terrorism. This created a curfew like situation in the whole region .
Later in 1980’s the state of Punjab saw a similar outburst of the operation blue star and the similar operation was named as the OPERATION THUNDER. He first Operation Black Thunder took place on April 30, 1986. The second Operation Black Thunder began on May 9, 1988. The Black cats commandos were used in this operation. The operation saw proved to be far more successful then the main operation of blue star.
WHERE DID IT ALL START ?
It is said by Tarik Fateh “The Pakistan is the best closest relative at its worst.” This clearly states that the Khalistan movement was backed by the ISI so as to attain Punjab and slowly demolish the state . Jarnail Singh – the mastermind behind the plan also had some relation with ISI as traced later after his death.
For khalistan it was also that is Khalistan was considered as a state then it would be have been successful because as sikh would be major part of the state. A state is regarded as one if it has its own culture , language and its own attair. These all constitutes would hav fulfilled the creation of the state.
But, as this would have hampered the unity of India to a very great extend , the then Prime Minister – Indira Gandhi launched an operation known as the ‘Blue Star Operation’. This operation was governed by Kuldip Singh Brar who was retired Indian army officer and was also involved in the Indo-Pak war of 1971.
The mission was to eradicate the the religious guru of Sikhs – Jarnail Singh Bhindarawala. He is regarded as one of the major factor for the working of the operation. He had a very strong influence on the sikh youth of the sikh society. He had influenced the youth to such a great extend that they did not think a word while abiding his orders. The sikh society grew so sensitive about it that they started performing massacres to accomplish the wish of their Guru. Bhinderawala was also a womanizer as he had raped a lot of women and used to capture them at the basement of the Golden Temple.
WHEN DID THE PLAN GO WRONG ?
Lt. Gen. KS Brar who was the one to bring the Operation blue start soon realized that their plan might go in wane. The Gen. took full precautions to keep the state free from any harm. He had deployed the fire fighters too as he thought that there might be a situation of fire. The basic plan was to secure Harmandir sahib in its own condition because if the temple would be distorted by the army it would create a huge hue and cry among the citizen of the people. Therefore, they had planned to go through the ‘sarovar’. But as soon as the army entered they were blown by an open fire through the complex which clearly stated the the planed had to be modified.
HOW WAS THE OPERATION LAUNCHED ?
On the afternoon of the 3rd of June the army had to corner the temple so as to stop the entry of the civilians. It was then realized that there were 17 building at the peripherals of the temple which were captured by the militants.Therefore the first step that had to be taken was to capture the peripherals and kill the terrorist there. They were still given many chances to surrender to the army but refused to many times and didn’t even let the pilgrims to come out. The operation was to be completed by dawn so that the news didn’t spread amongst the villages that ‘Golden Temple is under seize’. Gradually tanks where bought in the Harmadir sahib as it would help the army to in filter in the temple but soon it was realized that this planned would also not work. So the plan shifted to hit the top part of the Akal Takht which would create the sound and the group might surrender in the later had shown its effect.
The firing by the tanks created two presumptions that either Jarnail Singh had diead or escaped. But there was assurance till the time when the body of the so-called-Sant was discovered. even after that there was firing till 8th of June when the president if the country came to visit the temple. On the day of 6th a few people, about 20 of them came out of the Akal Takht and surrendered.
AFTER THE DEATH OF BHINDERAWALE –
When the body of the Sant was kept on the slab of ice there were calls made from Delhi which asked about the confirmation of the death. This was because there was a news spread hat he had escaped and was seen in Pakistan. But later the body was cremated by his family.
CONTRIBUTION OF POLICE
The police had very scant information about anything that was going inside. Especially when it came to the knowledge of the weapons. Whereas the police claims that they had given a pin pointed list if weapons that were inside the temple. The DIG was killed inside the temple and thrown in the gutters. This scared them. They knew that weapons and grains were taken inside the temple. The houses were captured by the militants too. They knew it all but were totally ineffective.
WHICH DEMAND CREATED THE BLUE STAR OPERATION ?
The demand was put up by Sardar Jarnail Singh. He used to portray himself as the religious guru of the Sikhs. He had clearly stated him demand. All he wanted was the creation of a separate state for the Sikhs population all over the word which would be known as ‘Khalistan’.
Later, it was found that the creation of the state would be used for the infliration of the Pakistanis. Therefore, the movement had traced its backing from the ISI-Pakistan.
OPERATION SUNDOWN
This was the aborted plan so as to abduct Jarnail Singh the the golden temple complex. In February, the advisor of prime minister was sent to the temple to analyse the condition of the place. It was then realized that the plan would go through the the akal takht and reach the place where he stayed. But soon the plan was abandoned by the prime minister and soon the operation blue star was executed.
“Bhinderawale had become a state between the state”
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