The 41st anniversary of Operation Blue Star was observed in Amritsar, Punjab on Friday. Ardaas was held at Akal Takht Sahib at 8 am. After this, people raised slogans of Khalistan Zindabad with posters of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala in their hands.
Akal Takht Sahib’s acting Jathedar Kuldeep Singh Gadgaj gave a message to the community in the middle of Ardaas to avoid controversy. In his message to the community, he said that Sikhs should fight for their demands under one flag. Along with this, talk about the release of Sikh prisoners and Balwant Singh Rajoana.
However, this message is given after Ardaas. A few days ago, Damdami Taksal had said that the new acting Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gadgaj has not received recognition from the public and Sikh organizations, so he will not be allowed to give a message to the community from Akal Takht Sahib on the anniversary of Operation Blue Star.
Earlier, as soon as Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar chief Simranjit Singh Mann arrived, his supporters raised slogans of Khalistan Zindabad outside the Akal Takht Secretariat. On the other hand, Sarbat Khalsa’s acting Jathedar Dhyan Singh Mand was stopped from going to Akal Takht. He protested against this. A large number of people gathered in the program.
In the 1980s, extremism was increasing rapidly in Punjab and it was being led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala. The demand for a separate state by the name of Khalistan also arose at that time. Bhindranwala was running all his activities from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. At that time, the Prime Minister of the country was Indira Gandhi, whose government started Operation Blue Star on 1 June 1984 to eliminate Bhindranwala. In this operation that lasted for 8 days, the army killed Bhindranwala. Since then, every year on 1 June, fundamentalists gather at the Golden Temple and celebrate the anniversary of Operation Blue Star.