Chidambaram terms Operation Blue Star a mistake; Congress leadership 'very upset' over remark

Congress leader P Chidambaram said Operation Blue Star was not the right way to capture militants holed up in the Golden Temple in 1984, due to which the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, "paid with her life".

"There was a way to retrieve and capture all militants but Operation Blue Star was the wrong way and I agree that Mrs Gandhi paid with her life for the mistake but the mistake was cumulative decision of the Army, intelligence, police and civil defence and you cannot completely blame (just) Mrs Gandhi," the former home minister said during a book launch in Himachal Pradesh's Kasauli on Saturday.

Chidambaram made the remarks during a conversation with journalist and author Harinder Baweja on her memoir 'They Will Shoot You Madam: My Life Through Conflict' at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival.

Operation Blue Star was a military operation held between June 1-10, 1984, to remove Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest site among Sikhs.

Later that year, Indira Gandhi, the prime minister at the time, was assassinated.

Chidambaram said, "No disrespect to any service or military officer, but Operation Blue Star was not the right way to retrieve the Golden Temple and about 3-4 years later we showed the right way by keeping the Army out in Operation Black Thunder."

Operation Black Thunder was carried out in 1986 and 1988 to flush out militants hiding in the Golden Temple.

Baweja said that Operation Blue Star led to the next chapter of violence in Punjab. She added that Indira Gandhi "mixed religion with politics and engaged Bhindranwale to help control the Akalis", which she said was a "supremely bad idea".

Chidambaram objected to the suggestion that Bhindranwale was "created" by Gandhi. "I am not sure whether that accusation against Mrs Gandhi is correct that she created Bindranwala."

The Kashmir issue was also discussed at length at the book launch. Baweja, who has covered several conflicts in the Valley, said, "I think Kashmiris very early understood that Pakistan was using them but somehow New Delhi never seized the opportunity to reduce the trust deficit with people of the Valley.

"We are talking about the wounds conflicts inflict on the population", she said.

Chidambaram said there is an alternative story of Kashmir than the one "seen on television every evening".

The Congress leadership is "very upset" with former Home Minister P Chidambaram for his remarks on 'Operation Bluestar', and is of the view that senior leaders should be careful before making public statements that create embarrassment for the party, sources said on Sunday.

Party sources said the Congress leadership was of the view that "senior leaders, who have got everything from the Congress party, should be more careful in making statements that create embarrassments for the party. And, this cannot become a habit".

They said senior leaders should make public statements with care because their repeated statements create problems for the party which is not correct.

"The top party leadership is very upset and the entire party is very upset. The rank and file of the party is agitated why this is happening repeatedly," the sources said, in the context of Chidambaram who has in the recent past too made some remarks that have embarrassed the party.

At the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival in Himachal's Kasauli, Chidambaram said, "There was a way to retrieve and capture all the militants but Operation Blue Star was a wrong way".