P Chidambaram Operation Blue Star: On Saturday, the second day of the Khushwant Singh LitFest in Kasauli, Congress MP P. Chidambaram said that the method of Operation Blue Star was wrong and the former Prime Minister paid the price for the mistake with her life. Read the full story…
Congress MP P. Chidambaram criticized Operation Blue Star in 1984 under the Indira Gandhi-led government, calling it a wrong approach. He said that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi paid the price for this mistake with her life. Speaking at the Khushwant Singh LitFest 2025 on Saturday, the former Union Home and Finance Minister said that Operation Black Thunder was the right method to reclaim the Golden Temple by keeping the army out of the Sikh place of worship.
P. Chidambaram said that Operation Blue Star in June 1984 was a cumulative decision by the army, police, intelligence, and civil services. He said that while there is no disrespect to any military officer, that (Blue Star) was the wrong way to reclaim the Golden Temple. A few years later, we showed the right way to reclaim the Golden Temple by keeping the army out.
“Indira Gandhi alone cannot be blamed”
The former Union Minister said, “You cannot blame Mrs. Gandhi alone for this.” Chidambaram was addressing a gathering during a discussion with author Harinder Baweja on “They Will Shoot You, Madam: My Life Through Conflict.” Operation Blue Star was a 10-day military operation that lasted from June 1 to June 10, 1984. On June 6, 1984, the Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple under Operation Blue Star, ordered by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to suppress Sikh insurgency led by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in Punjab.
There were reports that Bhindranwale had hidden a large quantity of weapons in the Golden Temple complex. Bhindranwale was the head of the radical Sikh organization Damdami Taksal. He was killed along with his armed followers during Operation Blue Star, launched by the Indian Army in June 1984 to flush out militants from the Golden Temple complex. This operation was heavily criticized. A few months later, on October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated at her New Delhi residence by two of her Sikh bodyguards. Beant Singh and Satwant Singh were Indira Gandhi’s bodyguards and they assassinated her at her residence on October 31, 1984.
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