'Khalistan Zindabad’ cries return to haunt Golden Temple on Operation Blue Star anniversary

Golden Temple

Pro-Khalistan slogans were heard at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Thursday as Sikh activists marked the 41st anniversary of Operation Blue Star and the death of militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Videos shared by ANI showed supporters chanting "Khalistan zindabad" when Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann faction) leader Simranjit Singh Mann arrived at the shrine.

According to News18 report, former Akal Takht Jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode downplayed the sloganeering, stating, "These slogans have always been raised here and across the world. There is nothing new in this." He criticised the 1984 military operation, saying, "The government to this day doesn’t have the answer to why such a holy place of Sikhs was attacked. Sikhs were demanding their rights. They had not announced an attack against the Indian government. Then, without any notice or warning, we were attacked as enemy countries are attacked."

#WATCH | Amritsar, Punjab: People raise slogans of 'Khalistan zindabad' as SAD (Mann faction) leader Simranjit Singh Mann reaches the Golden Temple on the 41st anniversary of Operation Blue Star and also the death anniversary of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed during pic.twitter.com/f0kmGBa1le
ANI (@ANI) June 6, 2025

Launched between 1-10 June 1984, Operation Blue Star was a military offensive ordered by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to flush out Bhindranwale and armed militants from the Golden Temple complex. The Khalistan-supporting militants had stockpiled weapons inside the shrine, escalating tensions. Bhindranwale, head of the radical Damdami Taksal, was killed during the operation, which remains a deeply polarising event.

The operation’s aftermath saw Indira Gandhi assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, on October 31, 1984. Decades later, the political legacy persists - Beant Singh’s son, Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, won the Faridkot seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as an independent.

The anniversary comes amid renewed pro-Khalistan activity in Punjab. In February 2023, supporters of radical preacher Amritpal Singh — now an MP — stormed a police station in Ajnala, injuring officers to secure the release of an associate. Separately, a Tarn Taran man was arrested for allegedly sharing Indian Army intelligence with Pakistan-based Khalistani figures, including Gopal Singh Chawla.

In a provocative act ahead of the anniversary, a statue of BR Ambedkar in Nangal village was defaced with black paint and a Khalistan flag sticker bearing the stamp of banned group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ). SFJ claimed responsibility, releasing footage of the vandalism.

Authorities heightened security around the Golden Temple as devotees gathered to honour those killed in 1984. Jasbir Singh Rode remarked, “People are celebrating today across the seven seas. People have come here across the country to pay their respect to those who laid down their lives for the sake of our religion for us..."