Congress veteran and former Union home minister P. Chidambaram has said that Operation Bluestar was a “mistake” and “the wrong way” to handle Sikh militancy, annoying some in his party and leaving the BJP gloating.
Chidambaram’s comments come just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi interpreted some of his remarks at an interview as an admission that foreign pressure had muted India’s response to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Operation Bluestar, during which the army stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar to flush out insurgents, was conducted in June 1984 when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister. The move alienated large sections of Sikhs, and she was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards four months later.
“Blue Star was the wrong way and I agree that Mrs Gandhi paid with her life for that mistake,” Chidambaram said in reply to a question at the Khushwant Singh Literature Festival in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, on Saturday.
He added, though, that the operation was a joint decision taken by the army, police, intelligence agencies and the civil service. “You cannot blame it only on Mrs Gandhi.”
Union minister Kiren Rijiju posted on X: “Chidambaram Ji admits the Congress blunders too late! After revealing that India could not respond to Pakistan terror attacks in Mumbai, due to high pressure from USA & foreign powers, now he admits operation blue star in Golden Temple was also a mistake.”
Chidambaram, who became home minister shortly after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, had in an interview with a news channel last month said: “Condoleezza Rice, who was then US secretary of state, flew in two or three days after I took over to meet me and the Prime Minister. And to say, ‘Please don’t react’.
“I said this is a decision that the government will take. Without disclosing any official secret, it did cross my mind that we should do some act of retribution….
“The Prime Minister had discussed this even when the attack was going on…. And the conclusion was, largely influenced by the ministry of external affairs and the IFS, that we should not physically react to the situation.”
Rashid Alvi, former MP and current member of the political affairs committee of the Uttar Pradesh Congress, hit out at Chidambaram.
“But what compels P. Chidambaram to attack the Congress party, Indira Gandhi, claiming she took the wrong step, after 50 years? He’s doing the same thing the BJP and the Prime Minister would do,” Alvi told reporters.
“Criminal cases against him are still pending. I wonder if he’s under any pressure to continue attacking the Congress party.”
Chidambaram was arrested in 2019 in the INX Media money laundering case, which is still pending.
His comments on Bluestar were made in conversation with journalist Harinder Baweja about her book, They Will Shoot You, Madam: My Life Through conflict.
Operation Bluestar, and the anti-Sikh pogrom that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination, created a long-lasting chasm between the Congress and the Sikh community, for whom the Golden Temple is the holiest site.