Amritsar (Punjab) [India], June 6 (ANI): Pro-Khalistan slogans were raised by several people at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on the 41st anniversary of Operation Blue Star on Thursday.
People raised slogans of ‘Khalistan zindabad’ as SAD (Mann faction) leader Simranjit Singh Mann reached the Golden Temple on the 41st anniversary of Operation Blue Star and also the death anniversary of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed during the operation.
Operation Blue Star was a 10-day military operation spanning from June 1 to June 10, 1984.
The 41st anniversary of Operation Blue Star was observed by the Sikh community at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Friday. Security has been beefed up around the Golden Temple for this occasion.
On this ocassion, Akal Takht former Jathedar, Jasbir Singh Rode, said, “… The government to this day doesn’t have the answer to why such a holy place of Sikhs was attacked. Sikhs were demanding their rights. They had not announced an attack against the Indian government. Then, without any notice or warning, we were attacked as enemy countries are attacked… People are celebrating today across the seven seas. People have come here across the country to pay their respect to those who laid down their lives for the sake of our religion for us…”
On people raising slogans of ‘Khalistan zindabad’, he said “These slogans have always been raised here and across the world. There is nothing new in this.”
June 6, 1984, marked the day when the Indian Army, under Operation Blue Star, stormed into the Golden Temple on orders of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to contain Sikh militancy under the leadership of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in Punjab. It was reported that Bhindranwale had stashed large quantities of arms on the Golden Temple premises.
Bhindranwale was the head of the radical Sikh outfit Damdami Taksal. He, along with his armed followers, was killed during Operation Blue Star, launched by the Indian Army to flush out the militants from the Golden Temple complex in June 1984.
The Operation was heavily criticised. Months later, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards at her New Delhi residence on October 31, 1984.
Beant Singh and Satwant Singh were Indira Gandhi’s bodyguards and killed her on October 31, 1984, at her residence.
In the Lok Sabha elections held last year, Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of Beant Singh (one of Indira Gandhi’s bodyguards), registered victory from the Faridkot constituency with a margin of 70,053 votes over Aam Aadmi Party leader Karamjit Singh Anmol. (ANI)
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