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Congress leader P Chidambaram said Operation Blue Star was not the right way to capture militants holed up in the Golden Temple in 1984, due to which the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, "paid with her life". "There was a way to retrieve and capture all militants but Operation Blue Star was the wrong way and I agree that Mrs Gandhi paid with her life for the mistake but the mistake was cumulative decision of the Army, intelligence, police and civil defence and you cannot completely blame Mrs Gandhi," the former home minister said during a book launch in Himachal Pradesh's Kasauli on Saturday. Chidambaram made the remarks during a conversation with journalist and author Harinder Baweja on her book 'They Will Shoot You Madam: My Life Through Conflict' at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival. Operation Blue Star was a military operation held between June 1-10, 1984, to remove Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the
The Punjab BJP has deleted a social media post in which it paid tributes to "martyrs" of Operation Blue Star, the Army operation which was carried out in June 1984 to flush out armed militants from the Golden Temple. The post on X was shared on Sunday but it was taken down later without assigning any reason for the same. In the post, the Punjab BJP had condemned the then Congress government for "attacking the Golden Temple" and expressed solidarity with the families of those who lost their lives. The post, which has now been deleted, read, "June 1, 1984'?' 'Saka Neela Tara'. A humble tribute to all the martyrs of the day one of the attack on the Darbar Sahib by the Congress government." The BJP had also shared pictures of the damage suffered by the Akal Takht, which is the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, and an armoured vehicle with deflated tyres. The post, which was shared on Facebook as well, was deleted a few hours later. Meanwhile, officiating Jathedar of Akal Takht, Giani K
Security was beefed up across Punjab on Thursday with the state police carrying out flag marches and deploying adequate number of security personnel at crucial places ahead of Operation Bluestar anniversary on June 6. The army had carried out Operation Blue Star in June 1984 to flush out hiding militants from Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Punjab Police on Thursday carried out flag marches in sensitive and vulnerable areas as a measure to instill confidence among the general public. As many as 110 flag marches were conducted covering 192 vulnerable areas across the state, an official statement said. The exercise was conducted on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav. Special DGP (law and order) Arpit Shukla said commissioners of police and senior superintendents of police were directed to conduct flag marches in their respective districts. Police also apprehended 368 suspicious people during these flag marches. He said the exercise was aimed to boost the