Operation Bluestar was not last minute attack as claimed by General Brar but planned much in advance

 

Operation Bluestar was not last minute attack as claimed by General Brar

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

The timing of the interview given to a news agency (ANI) by Lt General Kuldip Singh Brar on the army attack on Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib) complex that he commanded in June 1984 has triggered fresh controversy, including the motive behind raising this issue at this juncture. The political context that he reiterated was the fear of Khalistan demand  that could be raised by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

He was Major General commanding  Meerut based 9 Infantry Division when he got the message to rush to Western Command at Chandigarh on June 1, 1984 where he was ordered to take over the operation. What is questionable is his version that his troops moved after this decision.

Here is the version given by Brig Onkar Singh Goraya, who was Colonel (Administration) of the 15 Division at Amritsar that contradicts General Brar on the timing: “In the afternoon of 29^th May, as I was proceeding to my office, I was surprised to see a number of vehicles bearing the sign  of Pine Tree, parked in the open space around the Panther Stadium in the Cantonment…The formation sign of 9 Infantry Division is Pine Tree…The GOC  15 Infantry Div, Maj Gen. Jagdish Singh Jamwal had called a conference of the senior staff of the Divisional Headquarters (that included me) at 5 P. M. the same evening. In the conference, we were informed that 9 Div would be moving to Amritsar for some operation and we had to provide requisite administrative support to them”. (Brig Onkar Singh Goraya: Operation…Bluestar…and After, 2013, p. 34).

This writer had come across army convoy moving to Amritsar while returning from there to Chandigarh on May 26.

The Punjab government was questioned about the army movement at a news conference on June 1, 1984: “On June 1, the state government had denied reports about a likely army action while asserting that the movement of the troops was not related to the requirement of the law and order situation”. (Jagtar Singh: Khalistan Struggle-A Non-movement, 2011, p. 170).

General Brar has put the number of army casualties between 300 to 400. As per the white paper released by the government, the number of the army personal killed was 92. The official figure has always been questioned by the people in this part of the region going by the ferocity of the operation. It is different when a much higher figure is given by the operation commander himself.

It is his political statement that calls for more attention. He said prime minister Indira Gandhi allowed Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to become Frankenstein. Some recent books on Punjab written by those who have been part of the government have referred to this dimension of Sant Bhindranwale being Congress creation. This dimension has been  trashed logically at  other level.

What was the need to attack more than three dozen other gurdwaras during Operation Bluestar in case the target was only Sant Bhindranwale?

Moreover, he could have very well escaped. On the evening of June 3, he gathered his associates at Akal Takht and gave them the option to leave. He himself could have exercised this option. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra at his last meeting with Sant Bhindranwale had told him to leave and offered he could get issued a directive from Panj Piaras too. He just refused. He had decided to sacrifice his life for the Panth in the beginning of his career as the Damdami Taksal chief that he took over in August 1977.

In case he was built by Indira Gandhi, it is all the more reason for the BJP government led by Narendra Modi to order a high level probe under supervision of a supreme court judge into the entire narrative of Operation Bluestar. Indira Gandhi herself became a victim of her own actions with her assassination to avenge this army attack. Nothing would suit Modi more than such expose and that too when the Congress is working hard to reclaim the lost space.

The government should also declassify entire record pertaining to the Sikh armed struggle from 1980 to 1992.

It is pertinent to mention that the decision to send army to Golden Temple was not sudden.

The government had sought British consultancy in February 1984 going by the papers declassified by that country.

Times of India in May had opposed army deployment in Punjab in its editorial captioned ‘Keep The Army Out’ that stated:

“The law and order situation in Punjab remains bad, indeed alarming. While the extremists continue to kill, burn and loot at will, the police are unable to gather the necessary intelligence, follow their movements, anticipate their criminal activities and apprehend them….But it does not follow either that those in opposition recommend a course of action that is likely to prove disastrous, or that the government panic and adopt such a course. Yet the first has already taken place; leaders of National Democratic Alliance comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Lok Dal have  demanded that the army be inducted into Punjab. Mrs Gandhi is not the kind of leader who either panics in the face of heavy odd, or who can miss the possible consequences of the proposal, or who is likely to look for a dangerous short-cut in Punjab. Even so the state Governor’s meeting with General Dayal is bound to provoke the speculation that the government might be thinking in those terms….The army is a weapon of last resort; the government must never use it as if it was nothing more than a better equipped police force. In the case of Punjab, it is not even a weapon of last resort; it must not be used at all”. (Times of India, May 18, 1984).

The interview has come at the time when specter of Khalistan is being raised. As per the newspaper reports dated January 22, 2023, “Khalistan extremism emerged as a key security concern” at the all-India annual conference of police chiefs from the states.

Facts must come out for which the entire record pertaining to Operation Bluestar should be declassified.

And lastly, Akal Takht was attacked by tanks. Here is another account of artillery bombing on the Darbar Sahib complex mentioned by Brig Goraya on page 52: “A number of rounds had to be fired at each target. Those that missed the target even by a small margin landed miles away, somewhere in the opposite corner of the town. One round landed on a portion of the Divisional Canteen in the Cantonment. A large splinter landed in may bungalow which was nearby. Luckily, there was no serious damage”. General Brar said his instructions were to avoid firing at Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht.