NEW DELHI: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday criticised the Congress over Sonia Gandhi’s remarks on Operation Blue Star, saying that she had given a “clean chit” to “the killers of thousands of innocent Sikhs.”“Congress leaders in Punjab must break their silence over Sonia Gandhi’s clean chit to those responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent Sikhs in 1984,” the former Punjab deputy chief minister said in a post on X.Badal also claimed that Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, “Belonging: A Journey of Love,” released in India on Tuesday, contained an “admission” that Rajiv Gandhi had “purposely and personally” decided against deploying Army units in Delhi because they included Sikh personnel.Also Read | Sonia Gandhi memoir: BJP’s Phoolka questions Army timeline, Indira’s tears on 1984 riots“This finally provides the clinching evidence of the Congress government’s patronage of the anti-Sikh massacre. The Congress government could send a Sikh general to lead Operation Blue Star at Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib and Sri Akal Takht Sahib, but would not deploy Sikh Army personnel to protect innocent Sikhs in 1984?” he asked.The SAD chief was referring to lieutenant General Kuldeep Singh Brar, who commanded the Army’s Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab.Badal further asked whether Punjab Congress leaders “endorse” Rajiv Gandhi’s decision not to deploy the Army in Delhi.“Do Punjab Congress leaders, including Sikh leaders, endorse this decision to leave innocent Sikhs at the mercy of marauding killers belonging to the Congress party and the government headed by Rajiv Gandhi? Will they ask Sonia Gandhi to explain why Rajiv Gandhi chose to stop the army deployment to save the lives of innocent Sikhs? Cowardly silence won’t do,” he added.Anti-Sikh violence erupted across the country, particularly in Delhi, following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. The assassination came months after Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple in June 1984. Indira Gandhi was succeeded as Prime Minister by her son, Rajiv Gandhi.In her memoir, Sonia Gandhi writes that her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, was “left with no choice” and “reluctantly” ordered the armed forces to launch Operation Blue Star.“Then intelligence reports informed Mrs Gandhi that the declaration of Khalistan as an independent state was imminent: Bhindranwale and his cohort planned to announce it and hoist its flag on the Har Mandir Sahib, the Golden Temple, on India’s Independence Day, August 15,” she wrote.
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The former Congress president was referring to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who led the movement for a separate Sikh homeland of Khalistan. Bhindranwale and his supporters had been based inside the Golden Temple complex since 1982.“Indira Gandhi’s own relationship with the Sikh community was a deep and strong one, but the problem was spiralling; she held meetings until late hours of the night, hardly ate her meals and looked disturbed for days … A week or so later, an intelligence official brought to Mrs Gandhi a film with harrowing visuals of the aftermath: As my mother-in-law watched the slow-moving record, I could see her face wet with tears — tears of pain and regret, I think: sorrow at the manner which the siege had ended, at the large number of lives lost.“Sonia Gandhi further wrote that Indira Gandhi had “flatly refused” to remove her Sikh bodyguards, a decision for which she ultimately “paid” with her life when two of them opened fire on her.(With PTI inputs)