Operation Blue Star was mistake, India Gandhi paid price with her life: P Chidambram
He also underscored that she alone should not be held responsible as it was a cumulative decision of the Army, the police, the intelligence and the civil service".
PTC News Desk: Veteran Congress leader P Chidambram on Sunday during an event said, Operation Blue Star, the Indian military’s operation to flush out Sikh separatists from inside of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, was “the wrong way" to secure the temple.
He said former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who gave a go ahead for the operation had to pay the price with her life. He also underscored that she alone should not be held responsible as it was a cumulative decision of the Army, the police, the intelligence and the civil service".
"No disrespect to any military officers, but that was the wrong way to retrieve the Golden Temple. A few years later, we showed the right way to retrieve it -- by keeping the Army out. Blue Star was the wrong way, and I agree that Mrs Gandhi paid with her life for that mistake," Chidambaram said.
“You cannot blame it only on Mrs Gandhi. Would you?" he questioned during a panel discussion at an event.
"It was a cumulative decision of the Army, the police, the intelligence, and the civil service. You cannot blame it only on Mrs Gandhi," the former Finance Minister said.
Operation Blue Star was a military operation carried out by the Indian Army in June 1984 to remove Khalistan separatists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple complex in Punjab's Amritsar.
The Operation resulted in a massive fallout, which was immediate and severe. On October 31. 1984, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in response to the attack on Golden Temple, triggering anti-Sikh riots across India.