‘Operation Blue Star Was Wrong, Indira Gandhi Paid The Price’: Chidambaram

Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram has said that Operation Blue Star, the 1984 military action ordered by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, was “the wrong way” to handle the crisis, and that Gandhi “paid with her life for that mistake.”

What Did P Chidambaram Say?

Speaking at the Khushwant Singh Literature Festival in Himachal Pradesh’s Kasauli on Saturday, Chidambaram said the operation was not the decision of any one person. “It was a cumulative decision of the army, the police, the intelligence and civil service,” he said, adding that Gandhi could not be solely blamed.

“Wrong Way To Retrieve The Golden Temple”

Moderating a discussion on ‘They Will Shoot You, Madam’, a book by journalist Harinder Baweja, the former Home and Finance Minister reflected on the events of June 1984, when the Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple complex to remove armed militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

“No disrespect to any service officers present here, but that was the wrong way to retrieve the Golden Temple,” Chidambaram said. “Three to four years later, we showed the right way to retrieve the Golden Temple — by keeping out the army,” he added.

“There was a way to retrieve and capture all the militants. The Blue Star was the wrong way. I agree that Ms Gandhi paid with her life for that mistake. But that mistake was a cumulative decision… we can’t blame it on only Ms Gandhi,” the senior Congress leader noted.

Operation And Aftermath

Operation Blue Star, conducted between June 1 and 8, 1984, aimed to crush a separatist movement in Punjab led by Bhindranwale. He was killed during the army operation, which left parts of the Akal Takht, which was one of Sikhism’s holiest sites, and it was in ruins, fuelling deep resentment within the Sikh community.

Months later, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. Her killing triggered widespread anti-Sikh violence across the country. According to government estimates, more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in Delhi and elsewhere.

The Congress’s handling of the crisis and its aftermath — including former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s remark that “when a big tree falls, the ground shakes” — has continued to shadow the party for decades. The Bharatiya Janata Party has repeatedly invoked the 1984 riots to target the Congress in political debates.