Indira Gandhi paid with her life for carrying out Operation Bluestar: P Chidambaram

P Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram remarked 1984 Operation Blue Star as the "wrong way" to reclaim the Punjab's Golden Temple, reiterating that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi paid the ultimate price for that decision.

"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 at a literature event in Kasauli.

“You cannot blame it only on Mrs Gandhi. Would you?" the Congress leader questioned during a panel discussion at an event.

Talking about present-day Punjab, Chidambaram observed that calls for Khalistan have largely faded, while economic distress has emerged as the state's pressing issue. "My visits to Punjab have led me to believe that the cry for Khalistan or separation has practically died down. The real problem is the economic situation. Most illegal migrants are from Punjab," he said.

Operation Blue Star was a military operation carried out by the Indian Army in June 1984 to remove Khalistani armed separatists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab.

The operation lasted from June 1 to June 8, 1984 and was a complex military operation that led to casualties among soldiers and civilians even though the violent separatists were eliminated.

It also had far-reaching consequences as eventually led to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984, which triggered widespread anti-Sikh riots across India.

Shortly after Blue Star, the Indian government carried out Operation Woodrose across rural Punjab, aimed at detaining armed separatists who had fled the Golden Temple. The operation targeted separatists who went into hiding in rural Punjab.