Operation Blue Star

Operation Blue Star, Indian military operation in June 1984 ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to root out a group of militant Sikh separatists who had occupied the Golden Temple, the Sikhs’ holiest shrine. The leader of the group was Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a Sikh fundamentalist who sought the creation of an independent Sikh-majority country in Punjab state to be called Khalistan. Bhindranwale and dozens of his followers were killed in the military assault. The buildings of the Golden Temple complex, particularly the Akal Takht, sustained damage. In retaliation for the military operation, Gandhi was later assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.

Beginnings of Sikh separatism

After India’s independence in 1947 the Punjab region was dominated by Sikh agitation for a separate Punjabi-speaking state, led by Sikh political leader Tara Singh and later by his political successor, Fateh Singh. On November 1, 1966, Punjab was divided on the basis of language into the mostly Hindi-speaking state of Haryana and the new, primarily Punjabi-speaking state of Punjab. Although Sikhs had won the use of Punjabi within the state, by the 1980s militant factions of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD; Punjabi: Supreme Eternal Army) and the All India Sikh Students’ Federation were demanding the establishment of an autonomous Sikh homeland, or Khalistan (“Land of the Pure,” a term introduced as early as 1946 by Tara Singh). In order to attain their goal, those groups began to use terrorism, including the indiscriminate killing of Punjabi Hindus and even those Sikhs who opposed the creation of Khalistan.

Bhindranwale in the Golden Temple

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was one of the leaders of the extremist Sikh movement against the central Indian government and in favor of an independent Sikh state. The head of a seminary, he gained prominence in 1978 from his strong opposition to the Nirankari Sikh sect. He spoke passionately in favor of a fundamentalist version of Sikhism and against Hindu dominance in independent India. To some extent, Bhindranwale’s rise from religious leader to political force can be attributed to the support of Sanjay Gandhi—Indira Gandhi’s son— and, especially, Zail Singh of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party), who wished to use Bhindranwale in an effort to break the hold of the SAD in Punjab. But in the process Bhindranwale became increasingly aware of the role he might play in Sikh history. By the early 1980s he had become a militant leader opposed to both the SAD’s leadership in Punjab and Congress rule in New Delhi. Bhindranwale argued against the SAD’s policy of peaceful negotiation with the central government in New Delhi, insisting that political power in Punjab was a Sikh right, not a gift of the Delhi regime. Bhindranwale succeeded in convincing a large number of rural Sikhs that the politics of the SAD were humiliating for them. Bhindranwale was not as vocal as others in the Sikh political world at the time about an independent Khalistan. He would often say: “I am neither for independence nor against it, but if I am offered it I will not refuse it.” He was far more concerned with bringing about the demands for greater Sikh political autonomy proposed by the SAD in the 1973 Anandpur Sahib Resolution. The SAD was willing to negotiate with the union government on these demands, but Bhindranwale wanted them to be implemented in full with no negotiation.

Beginning in 1981 agitation from Sikh separatists quickly escalated into confrontations with the union government. In September 1981 Bhindranwale was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the murder of Lala Jagat Narain, a prominent Hindu newspaper editor who had frequently spoken out against Sikhs and Bhindranwale in particular. He was soon set free for lack of evidence, but his perceived triumph over the government quickly made him into a hero—as he said: “The government has done more for me in one week than I could have achieved in years.” The situation in Punjab devolved into communal violence between Sikhs and Hindus. In April 1982 heads and other parts of dead cows—animals sacred to Hindus—were found thrown into Hindu temples, and the Dal Khalsa, the militant organization that Bhindranwale led, claimed responsibility. In July 1982 Amrik Singh, Bhindranwale’s right-hand man and son of his guru, was arrested; Bhindranwale was infuriated but concerned that he might also be in danger, so he took up residence in a hostel near the Golden Temple that, although not officially on religious ground, was close enough that the union government might hesitate to violate it through police action.

The situation further deteriorated as Sikh agitation and union government reactions pushed many Sikhs from the relatively moderate SAD to the extreme Bhindranwale camp. The SAD planned demonstrations at the November 1982 Asian Games, in response to which the Indian government attempted to prevent all Sikhs from entering the capital, and 1,500 Sikhs were arrested. The government’s actions only further fueled Bhindranwale’s communalist message—as he said to his audiences, “You want to know what are the signs that Sikhs are slaves of the Hindus? The first is that Sikhs were prevented from attending the Asian Games in Delhi.” The interreligious violence in Punjab continued and reached something of a breaking point on October 5, 1983, when a bus was ambushed by undetermined terrorists, presumed to be Sikh militants, and six Hindus were killed. The next day Delhi imposed president’s rule (direct rule from the union government) on Punjab. The police proved unable to control the situation, however, and were targeted by Bhindranwale’s forces. Parliament discussed arresting Bhindranwale. Seeking refuge from potential arrest, and in open conflict with the more moderate Akali Dal leader Harchand Singh Longowal, who also resided in the Golden Temple complex, by the end of 1983 Bhindranwale petitioned the religious authorities to allow him to live in and run his operation from the Akal Takht—the center of religious and political authority in Sikhism.

Military storms the Golden Temple

Indira Gandhi and her government seemed unable to do anything to stop the growing number of politically motivated killings and acts of terror in Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi. Attempts at negotiation between Delhi and the Akali Dal fell apart. Bhindranwale, meanwhile, refused to negotiate with Gandhi, referring to her reproachfully as “brahmin woman” or “pandit’s daughter,” highlighting her Hindu heritage. The communal tension grew more dire as Bhindranwale’s forces eliminated their enemies with seeming impunity. On May 27, 1984, SAD leaders, who had tried and failed to broker a peace agreement with Bhindranwale but were still committed to their own political goals, announced a plan of civil disobedience to stop the sale of grain from Punjab to the government’s central reserves, threatening to drive up food prices. Meanwhile, the militants in the Golden Temple had stockpiled weapons and fortified the structure in anticipation of an attack.

Gandhi knew that nationwide elections would have to be called by January 1985, and she knew that the overwhelming Hindu majority of India’s electorate would likely judge her government too weak to be retained, particularly in light of the concurrent rising Hindu nationalist movement. A decision was made to take action to resolve the Punjab crisis.

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On May 31 Maj. Gen. R.S. Brar was summoned to Punjab and instructed to lead Operation Blue Star, as it was code-named. The assault on the Golden Temple saw its first exchange of gunfire on June 1, 1984. On June 2 Gandhi exhorted Punjabis on All India Radio: “don’t shed blood, shed hatred,” while the military surrounded the Golden Temple complex as well as more than 40 other gurdwaras in Punjab. The state was under a curfew, and transportation and communication lines were cut. June 3 marked the anniversary of the martyrdom of Sikh Guru Arjan—who had built the first Harmandir Sahib, the predecessor to today’s Golden Temple, in 1604—and thousands of pilgrims were on hand in Amritsar for the event. The military offensive erupted on June 4 and continued into June 5 with gun battles and mortar attacks. After midnight on June 6 a full assault ensued, including heavy gunfire and tanks firing shells that destroyed the Akal Takht. The next day Bhindranwale was found dead, with multiple bullet wounds, in the basement of the ruined Akal Takht, though his exact cause of death remained unknown. Among the damages to the complex, aside from the Akhal Takht, there were bullet holes in the Golden Temple, and an important Sikh library, books and all, was destroyed by fire.

Reports vary of the total number killed in the assault. More than 80 soldiers and at least hundreds of pilgrims caught in the crossfire were confirmed dead, according to government officials. Sikh sources, however, suggest that the number of soldiers and civilians killed may have been in the thousands.

Aftermath: assassination and remembrance

Initially, Indian response outside Punjab was positive. Sikhs, on the other hand, were infuriated by the brutal desecration of their revered shrine. Prominent Sikhs spoke out against the action, and there were mutinies of Sikhs in the army. When it came to rebuilding the Akal Takht, Gandhi refused to withdraw the army or to allow establishment Sikhs, who viewed temple repair and maintenance as a religious duty, to carry out the repairs. She also refused to replace her Sikh personal bodyguards, which she had been warned to do for her own safety. To the suggestion that she change her personal detail, she remarked, “Aren’t we secular?” indicating her concern that she might be perceived as targeting Sikhs in contrast to the Indian political secular ideal defined in terms of government neutrality. On October 31, 1984, she was assassinated by two of her Sikh guards inside her garden in New Delhi. The next day mobs of bloodthirsty rioters began to roam the Sikh neighborhoods in and around Delhi, where they set fire to cars, homes, and businesses and launched a massacre of Sikhs that left approximately 3,000 Sikhs dead and many more thousands wounded and homeless.

Rather than eliminating the Khalistan movement, the events surrounding Operation Blue Star furthered the cause for many Sikhs. The deaths of Bhindranwale, his associates, and pilgrims in the Golden Temple during the attack gave the Khalistan movement its first martyrs. Champions of the Khalistan movement abroad in the Sikh diaspora deepened their commitment. In 1986 fundamentalist Sikhs again took control of the Golden Temple, demolished the Akhal Takht that the government had rebuilt because they deemed its construction impure, and rebuilt it themselves. The Golden Temple complex since 2013 includes a memorial where pilgrims can pay their respects to those killed in the raid. Members of the Sikh community annually commemorate Operation Blue Star and the martyrs to the Khalistan cause.