UPSC Current affairs - Operation Blue Star

Operation Blue Star

 

Context:

  • The Uttar Pradesh government has downgraded the security cover of a retired Brigadier who led Operation Blue Star at Amritsar’s Golden Temple in 1984.

 

About Operation Blue Star:

  • It is a code name given to an Indian Military Operation to remove the separatists who were hidden inside the Golden Temple at Amritsar on 5thJune 1984.
  • The operation was ordered by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, primarily to take control of the Harmandir Sahib Complex in Amritsar (popularly known as the Golden Temple).
  • The Indian military entered into the premises of the temple to drive out the Sikh extremist religious leader, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers.
  • The operation had two components to it, Operation Metal which was the invasion on the temple complex and Operation Shop which was confined to the countryside of the state.
  • This Operation helped in eliminating Khalistani terrorism.

 

Background:

  • Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale wanted the Indian government to pass the Anandpur Resolution, and thereby agree to the formation of a separate state of Khalistan for Sikhs.
  • Since 1982, this radical leader of Sikhism had managed to gain enough support for his cause and by mid-1983 had set up a base inside the Golden Temple complex, with ammunition and his followers.
  • Hence, Operation Blue Star was launched between 1stJune and 6th June 1984, with the aim of getting rid of Bhindranwale and his demands.
  • The operation resulted in the death of Bhindranwale.
  • Few months post-Operation Blue Star, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, followed by severe anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.

Source: THE HINDU.