Operation Blue Star

Operation Blue Star
Part of the Khalistan movement, the Dharam Yudh Morcha, and the Insurgency in Punjab

Akal Takht being repaired by the Indian government after the offensive; it was later pulled down and rebuilt by the Indian Sikh community.[5][6]
Date1–10 June 1984 (1 week and 2 days)
Location
Akal Takht, Amritsar, Punjab, India
31°37′12″N 74°52′37″E / 31.62000°N 74.87694°E / 31.62000; 74.87694
Result

Indian tactical victory; strategic and political failure[7]

  • Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale killed
  • Harmandir Sahib complex secured after significant Indian and Sikh losses[7]
  • Escalation of tensions between separatist Sikhs and the central government
  • Start of the Insurgency in Punjab
Parties to the civil conflict

India
Units involved:

  •  Indian Army
  • Central Reserve Police Force
  • Border Security Force
  • Special Frontier Force
  • Punjab Police

Sikh militants

  • Damdami Taksal
  • All India Sikh Student Federation
  • Babbar Khalsa[1]
  • Sikh ex-military officers[2]: 56–57 [3][4]
Commanders and leaders
  • Arun Shridhar Vaidya
  • Kuldip Singh Brar
  • Ranjit Singh Dyal[8]
  • Krishnaswamy Sundarji
  • Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale †
  • Amrik Singh †
  • Shabeg Singh †
Strength
List
  • * 9th Infantry Division[9]
    Support provided by:
      • 7th Infantry Division[10]
      • 15th Infantry Division[11]
    • 350th Infantry Brigade
    • Element of 60th Engineer Regiment[12]
    • 7th Battalion of Garhwal Rifles
    • 9th Battalion of Garhwal Rifles[12](failed, heavy casualties)[13]
    • 26th Battalion of Madras Regiment[12][14](failed, heavy casualties)[13]
    • 12th Battalion of Bihar Regiment[12][14]
    • 2 Companies of 15th Battalion of Kumaon Regiment[14]
    • 9th Battalion of Kumaon Regiment[12][14]
    • 10th Battalion of Dogra Regiment[15]
    • 12th Battalion of Dogra Regiment[15]
    • 16th Battalion of Dogra Regiment[15]
    • 10th Battalion of Brigade of The Guards (failed, heavy casualties)[13]
    • 20th Battalion of Rajputana Rifles[16]
    • 80 members of 1st Battalion Para (Special Forces)[17][18][14](failed, heavy casualties)[13]
    • 8th Battalion of Special Frontier Force[19][14]
    • 56th Commando Company
    • 175 Parachute Regiment and artillery units with Ordnance QF 25-pounder guns
    • 700 troops from CRPF 4th Battalion[14] and BSF 7th Battalion[14]
    • 150 Punjab Police officers
    • 8 Vijayanta main battle tanks from 16th Light Cavalry (1 squadron)[14][13]
    • 8 BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, 3 OT-64 SKOT armoured personnel carriers from 8th Mechanised Battalion
    [14][20]
 80-200 militants[21]: 35 [22][23][24]
Casualties and losses

83 killed (initial White Paper claim)[25][26][27][28]: 96 
700 killed (As per a disclosure by Rajiv Gandhi)[29][30]

  • White Paper initial claim: 249 injured[31]
  • 1 APC (OT-64 SKOT) disabled
Independent Estimate: 800-900 injured[32]

From 4,712[33][34] to 5,000+ civilians killed in the complex during the operation,[35][36][37][38] Puran Chand Joshi estimates another 1,000 Sikhs killed in the vicinity of the complex;[39] independent human rights organizations estimate over 10,000 killed total.[9]

White Paper initial claims: 493+ killed (including 309 Sikh pilgrims),[9][40]
though independent estimates ran much higher.[41] (see directly below)
Amritsar
Location of the operation within the Indian state of Punjab
Amritsar
Location of the operation within India

Operation Blue Star was a military operation by the Indian Armed Forces conducted between 1 and 10 June 1984, with the stated objective of removing Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and militants from the buildings of the Golden Temple, the holiest site of Sikhism, in Amritsar. The Akali Dal political party and other Sikh factions had been based there during the course of the Dharam Yudh Morcha. The operation would mark the beginning of the Insurgency in Punjab, India.[42][43][44][45][46]

A long-standing movement advocating for greater political rights for the Sikh community had previously existed in the Indian state of Punjab, and in 1973, Sikh activists presented the Indian government with the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, a list of demands for greater autonomy for Punjab. The resolution was rejected by the Indian government. In July 1982, Harchand Singh Longowal, the president of the Sikh political party Shiromani Akali Dal, invited Bhindranwale to take up residence in the Golden Temple.[47]: 332  On 1 June 1984, after abortive negotiations with the Akalis, the prime minister of India Indira Gandhi ordered the army to launch Operation Blue Star, attacking the Golden Temple and scores of other Sikh temples and sites across Punjab.[48]

Underestimating the firepower possessed by the Sikh militants, Indian forces unsuccessfully assaulted the Temple using light weaponry but quickly resorted to using heavy arms, including tanks, helicopters and artillery to dislodge the well-fortified Sikh militants. Combat devolved into protracted urban warfare, with the Indian forces committing significant forces to slowly gain ground. Eventually, the Sikh militants ran out of most of their ammunition on 6 June, and by 10 June fighting had largely ceased, with the Indian forces in control of the complex. Many civilians were subject to extrajudicial killings by the military during the operation.[49][50][51][52][53]

The military action in the temple complex was criticized by Sikhs worldwide, who interpreted it as an assault on the Sikh religion and the entire Sikh community,[54] as well as the root cause for the subsequent insurgency,[55] which would gain further impetus during Operation Woodrose. Five months after the operation, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated in an act of revenge by two Sikh bodyguards.[46] Her party, the Indian National Congress, instigated and utilized public sentiment over Gandhi's death, leading to the ensuing 1984 Anti-Sikh riots.[56]

Despite accomplishing its stated objectives, the operation has been described as "disastrous" for the Indian military and state.[7][57] It greatly exacerbated tensions between the Indian government and the Sikh community, turning a series of police operations into widespread sectarian violence. The brutality of the operation and high civilian casualties spawned an insurgency in Punjab, which would be waged by Sikh militants for over a decade. The operation has been used as a case study highlighting the importance of respecting religious and cultural sensitivity prior to launching military operations.

The complex would later be raided twice more as part of Operation Black Thunder I and II, with both operations having little to no civilian casualties or damage to the Temple despite larger amounts of militants than Operation Blue Star.[7]

  1. ^ Jerryson, Michael (15 July 2020). Religious Violence Today: Faith and Conflict in the Modern World. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-4408-5991-5.
  2. ^ Brar, K. S. (2014). Operation Blue Star: The True Story. UBS Publishers' Distributors. ISBN 978-8174760685. OCLC 1181348326.
  3. ^ Dogra, Cander Suta (10 June 2013). "Operation Blue Star – the Untold Story". The Hindu.
  4. ^ Mahmood 1996, pp. 91, 21, 200, 77, 19.
  5. ^ Tatla, Darshan Singh (1993). The politics of homeland: a study of the ethnic linkages and political mobilisation amongst Sikhs in Britain and North America (Thesis). University of Warwick. p. 133.
  6. ^ "Architecture & History". akaltakhtsahib.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d Hassner, Ron E. (2006). "Fighting insurgency on sacred ground". The Washington Quarterly. 29 (2). Informa UK: 149–166. doi:10.1162/wash.2006.29.2.149. ISSN 0163-660X. S2CID 110929395.
  8. ^ "Temple Raid: Army's Order was Restraint". The New York Times. 15 June 1984. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  9. ^ a b c Jaijee 1999, p. 151.
  10. ^ Rikhye, Ravi (1990). The Militarization of Mother India. Chanakya. p. 134. ISBN 978-81-7001-060-9.
  11. ^ Tully, Mark; Jacob, Satish (1985). Amritsar, Mrs. Gandhi's last battle. Calcutta: Rupa & Co. p. 163 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ^ a b c d e Dr. Gurmit Singh. History Of Sikh Struggles Vol III. p. 98.
  13. ^ a b c d e Sidhu, G.B.S. (9 March 2001). The Khalistan Conspiracy – A Former R&aw Officer Unravels The Path To 1984. HarperCollins. p. 172. ISBN 9789390327737.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jaijee 1999, p. 53.
  15. ^ a b c Prasad, Shankar (2005). The Gallant Dogras: An Illustrated History of the Dogra Regiment. Lancer Publishers. pp. 198–199. ISBN 978-81-7062-268-0.
  16. ^ "Lance Naik Dilbagh Singh — Operation 'Bluestar' hero with steely resolve".
  17. ^ Bennett, Richard M. (2011). Elite forces : the world's most formidable secret armies. London: Virgin Digital. ISBN 978-0-7535-4764-9. OCLC 1028210354. [A]n 80 strong element of 1st Para-Commando Battalion was involved in Operation 'Blue Star'.
  18. ^ Bennett, R. M. (31 August 2011). Elite Forces. Random House. ISBN 978-0-7535-4764-9.
  19. ^ Krishnankutty, Pia (14 November 2022). "In the shadows of Bluestar, Kargil, LAC, India's 'secret' Special Frontier Force turns 60". ThePrint. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  20. ^ Brar, K. S. (1993). Operation Blue Star: The True Story. UBS Publishers' Distributors. pp. 55, 121. ISBN 978-81-85944-29-6.
  21. ^ Karim, Afsir (1991). Counter Terrorism, the Pakistan Factor. Lancer Publishers. pp. 33–36. ISBN 978-8170621270.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Punjab2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Tarkunde et al. 1985, p. 65.
  24. ^ Jaijee 1999, pp. 53, 72.
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference WhitePaper1984 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ "The Official Home Page of the Indian Army". Archived from the original on 27 May 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  27. ^ "What happened during 1984 Operation Blue Star?". India Today. Retrieved 12 September 2019. Official reports put the number of deaths among the Indian army near about 83 and they put the number of civilian deaths at 493, though independent estimates ran much higher.
  28. ^ Jaijee, Inderjit Singh (1999). Politics of Genocide: Punjab, 1984–1998. Ajanta Publications. ISBN 978-8120204157. OCLC 42752917.
  29. ^ Chima 2008, p. 114.
  30. ^ Jaijee 1999, p. 96.
  31. ^ "Army reveals startling facts on Bluestar". Tribune India. 30 May 1984. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
  32. ^ Sidhu, G.B.S (9 March 2001). The Khalistan Conspiracy: A Former R&aw Officer Unravels The Path To 1984. p. 176.
  33. ^ Marwah, Ved (2009). "India's Counterinsurgency Campaign in Punjab". In Fidler, David P.; Ganguly, Sumit (eds.). India and Counterinsurgency: Lessons Learned. Taylor & Francis. p. 99. ISBN 9781134008094. According to the government, 4,712 persons, including a large number of innocent Sikh devotees, were killed.
  34. ^ Jaijee 1999, pp. 96, 151.
  35. ^ Grewal, J. S. (1998). The Sikhs of the Punjab (The New Cambridge History of India II.3) (Revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 205–241. ISBN 978-1316025338. Retrieved 16 April 2020. ...the total casualties of officers and men were about 700 and of civilians about 5,000.
  36. ^ Karim 1991, p. 35: "As far as the competence of the Army the less said the better. In an age where a handful of Israeli or German commandos could, through a well-planned action overcome a well-entrenched enemy thousands of miles away from them, the best our generals could do was to storm the Temple complex with tanks and armoured cars, blast the Akal Takht to get at Bhindranwale and 200 of his men. In crossfire upwards of 5,000 people, a majority of them pilgrims, including women and children, lost their lives.... Far from doing a competent job, our army commanders botched up a simple operation."
  37. ^ Jaijee 1999, p. 98: "Chand Joshi is a man who likes round numbers: his estimate is 700 troops killed and 5,000 civilians (in "Bhindranwale, Myth and Reality", New Delhi, 1984)."
  38. ^ Dhillon 2006, p. 196.
  39. ^ Jaijee 1999, p. 98: "[Joshi] also mentions that in this operation about 1,000 people were killed in the vicinity of the Golden Temple during this period."
  40. ^ "The untold story before Operation Bluestar". India Today. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  41. ^ "What happened during 1984 Operation Blue Star?". India Today. Retrieved 9 February 2021. Official reports put the number of deaths among the Indian army at 83 and the number of civilian deaths at 492, though independent estimates ran much higher.
  42. ^ Mahmood 1996, p. 83: "Here, I concentrate on the epochal battle at the Golden Temple between the militants and the Indian Army that has spawned what we now know as the Khalistan movement."
  43. ^ Karim 1991, p. 36: "Previously the conflict had been limited to a few radical groups, after [Operation Blue Star], it touched the whole of Punjab, with organized insurgency not taking root in Punjab until after the operation."
  44. ^ Singh, Bhupinder (2010). Punjab Politics: Retrospect and Prospect. Readworthy. p. 120. ISBN 9789350180822. The creation of Khalistan, which Bhindrawale had not demanded openly, now became the main demand of the Sikhs.... The short-sighted, ill planned and ill executed 'Operation Blue Star' thus laid a solid foundation for the creation of terrorism in Punjab for the next few years.
  45. ^ Gates, Scott; Roy, Kaushik (2016). Unconventional Warfare in South Asia: Shadow Warriors and Counterinsurgency. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 978-1317005414. Retrieved 10 October 2017 – via Google Books.
  46. ^ a b "Operation Blue Star: India's first tryst with militant extremism". Dnaindia.com. 5 November 2016. Archived from the original on 3 November 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  47. ^ Singh, Khushwant (2004). A History of the Sikhs Vol II: 1839–2004. Princeton University Press; Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0691030227. OCLC 769219183.
  48. ^ Wolpert, Stanley A., ed. (2009). "India". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  49. ^ Tarkunde et al. 1985, pp. 58–59.
  50. ^ Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon (1996). Truth About Punjab: SGPC White Paper. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar. p. 245. GGKEY:5BNR2KUYRHJ.
  51. ^ Kaur, Amarjit (2004). The Punjab Story. Lotus. ISBN 978-8174369123.
  52. ^ Tarkunde et al. 1985, p. 70.
  53. ^ Tarkunde et al. 1985, p. 76.
  54. ^ Westerlund, David (1996). Questioning The Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics. C. Hurst & Co. p. 1276. ISBN 978-1850652410.
  55. ^ Mahmood, Cynthia Keppley (2014). "'Khalistan' as Political Critique". In Singh, Pashaura; Fenech, Louis E. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies. OUP Oxford. p. 578. ISBN 978-0-19-100411-7. It is this light in which the radical demand for Khalistan must be understood. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who never took up the cry for Khalistan himself, often predicted that if the Golden Temple complex came under attack, the foundation for Khalistan would be laid. This formulation pointed to the responsibility for a rebellion in Punjab at the hands of the government, which is indeed how many Sikhs viewed the situation.
  56. ^ Joseph, Paul (2016). The Sage Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives. p. 433. ISBN 978-1483359885. "around 17,000 Sikhs were burned alive or killed"
  57. ^ Anderson, L.D. (2013). Federal Solutions to Ethnic Problems: Accommodating Diversity. Exeter studies in ethno politics. Routledge. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-415-78161-9. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.