BJP Slams Congress After Chidambaram Calls Operation Blue Star a ‘Wrong’ Move

October 12, 2025

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the Congress after former Union Minister P. Chidambaram described Operation Blue Star as the “wrong way,” calling the 1984 military operation a “political misadventure” carried out under the direction of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Chidambaram: Indira Gandhi Paid With Her Life for the ‘Mistake’

Speaking at the Khushwant Singh Literature Festival in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, while moderating a discussion on journalist Harinder Baweja’s book, They Will Shoot You, Madam, Chidambaram said that the decision to storm the Golden Temple in Amritsar was misguided.

“Operation Blue Star was the wrong way, and Indira Gandhi paid with her life for that mistake,” he said.

The former Home Minister, however, clarified that the operation was a “cumulative decision” involving the Army, police, intelligence, and civil service, and therefore Gandhi “could not be solely blamed.”

BJP: ‘Sikh Community Will Never Forgive Congress’

Reacting strongly, the BJP said that the Sikh community would “never forgive” the Congress for the events of 1984.

Party national spokesperson R.P. Singh termed the operation “completely avoidable” and said a more strategic approach, similar to Operation Black Thunder, could have achieved the objective without desecrating the sanctity of Sri Harmandir Sahib and the Akal Takhat.

“As a nationalist, I strongly believe Operation Blue Star was completely avoidable, as rightly mentioned by P. Chidambaram,” Singh posted on X.
He argued that Indira Gandhi chose confrontation for electoral gain, portraying Sikhs as “anti-national” ahead of the 1984 parliamentary elections.

“In doing so, she got trapped in her own political web and paid with her life. But the real tragedy was borne by my community — over 3,000 Sikhs were massacred in Delhi and more than 30,000 across Punjab,” he added, calling the operation “a calculated political design that tore apart the nation’s social fabric.”

Sirsa: Congress Can’t Evade Responsibility

Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa also criticised Chidambaram’s remarks, saying they exposed the Congress’s “historic mistake” and attempts to distance itself from accountability.

“Stating that Indira Gandhi was not responsible is not right. She took this decision consciously, out of hatred for Sikhs. Sikhs were killed, and the community will never forget what Congress did,” Sirsa said.