Operation Bluestar and the British Role in It
As per the Stop Deportations Blog that was declassified in Britain:
- Indians sought the advice of the British during the Khalistan Movement to flush out the terrorists from the GoldenTemple.
- The British Intelligence Officer from the Special Area Service or SAS Agency visited India. He gave an assault plan blueprint with minimum casualty of the civilians to the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
- It also revealed that the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher authorized this operation without informing the parliament because of the fear of the Sikh community backlash in Britain.
General Lt. L. S. Brar, who was the head of the Operation Bluestar, disagreed with this report. He also reacted by saying that there was no involvement of the British forces whatsoever.
Few of the Aftermaths, Post Operation Bluestar:
- It was seen that the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated and she had to pay it with her life, for authorizing this operation.
- All India communal carnage was seen against the Sikhs and innocents were butchered.
- Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said, “Often when a big tree falls, there are tremors in the ground.” It is quite a controversial statement. Some people believe that he authorized and gave sanction to the violence against the Sikhs, which was unleashed in the capital killing many innocent Sikhs.
- As an aftermath of the Operation Bluestar, we observe that the Sikh community until date is seeking justice.
The Reactions from Various Quartets towards the Revelations and The Subsequent Allegations:
- The British Cabinet Secretary was asked to look into the reality of this Stop Deportations Blog revelation, and report back.
- The BJP created a political storm
- They demanded an explanation from the Government of India. It also wanted to know as whether it was a strategic miscalculation.
- They stated, “Why the government let the militant upsurge at the Golden temple in the first place?”
Research and Analysis Wing confirms involvement of British:
Post the revelation, the RAW or the Research and Analysis Wing confirmed the involvement of the British as claimed in the blog,
- They said that the consultation was limited to killing of the terrorist Bhindrawale, who was the holdout in the GoldenTemple. They also consulted the SAS agency to ensure that they come out with a plan with minimum causality of civilians.
- However, the Special Area Service agency or the SAS and their assault plan that was submitted to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi were rejected as it was thought to be unworkable.
- Later on, the Prime Minister authorized the Army for the assault.