Was Operation Blue Star unavoidable, and why was it timed for the Shaheedi purab of Guru Arjan Dev?

The claim: Blue Star was the last resort, and its dates were forced by events. Ramachandra Guha (Scroll, 2015) sets out what Brar was told on 31 May 1984: the civil administration had lost control, talks with the Akalis had run aground, the Akalis could not make Bhindranwale dismantle the fortifications, Longowal had announced a movement from 3 June to stop grain leaving Punjab, and a siege had been rejected for fear of a rural uprising. Pranab Mukherjee's memoir, reported by IANS in January 2016, says that by May 1984 "there was no alternative but military action". The Tribune (1 June 2014) adds the government's claims of a Khalistan declaration around 10 June and orders to kill Hindus after that date. On the date, Brar told Rediff in 2004 that the overlap with Guru Arjan Dev's Shaheedi purab "was a coincidence" and that the government had "just about three or four days".

The sourced facts:

• Near-settlements. Kuldip Nayar (The Tribune, 8 July 2012) writes that in late 1983 a Cabinet subcommittee accepted a formula agreed with the Akalis through Swaran Singh, but the statement placed before Parliament differed substantially, and "Indira Gandhi had changed her mind at the last minute". The Christian Science Monitor (26 June 1984) wrote that agreement with the Akalis was "virtually achieved" at least three times in 20 months and each time the Prime Minister turned back at the 11th hour.
• Army dissent. Maj Gen Jagdish Singh Jamwal, who commanded the division at Amritsar, told The Tribune: "The Operation was not needed. We should not have ordered it." Lt Gen P. C. Katoch, wounded in it, called it "rushed through". The Sikh general under whom Brar and Shabeg Singh had served in 1971 said, in Guha's account, "The army was used to finish a problem created by the government." Brar himself said "I wish a task of this nature had been avoided", but argued that a siege was not feasible: the complex had wells and food, and word would bring "a flood of people" (Rediff).
• Others close to power. Punjab's Governor, B. D. Pande, spoke against the operation and resigned soon after (The Tribune). Tarlochan Singh, press secretary to President Zail Singh, wrote in The Caravan that the President "had little knowledge about the planning". Kamal Nath's book, quoted by The Caravan (Hartosh Singh Bal, 2014), says that on 13 May he told Indira Gandhi "We could deal with Sant Bhindranwale from outside", but could not convince the others.
• The calendar. The Tribune records that General Sundarji got the Centre's go-ahead on 27 May, that Brar was told to submit plans by 3 June, that hundreds of devotees were in the complex on 3 June for Guru Arjan Dev's martyrdom day, and that the main assault began on the night of 5 June. Guha writes that on 3 June the Amritsar curfew was lifted "to allow pilgrims to mark the anniversary"; Bal calls the choice to begin on 5 June "highly problematic" because a curfew had trapped pilgrims. The sources differ on whether pilgrims could leave.

The Panthic answer: Bhai Ajmer Singh holds Indira Gandhi's government responsible for the sequence that led to June 1984. In Vihveen Sadi Di Sikh Rajneeti he shows the Akali leaders' long talks with her in 1981 and 1982 producing nothing, and argues that her government chose violence against the Sikhs to consolidate the Hindu vote. In a talk for Unstoppable Punjab he says that around her at the time of the attack there were several men of one kind who not only advised her but, to some degree, pressed and persuaded her while she was wavering. He names Arun Nehru and Arun Singh, possibly Chidambaram and KPS Gill, and others like them, and says Arun Singh was the most important. He also corrects the record on President Giani Zail Singh: as a matter of fact, he says, Zail Singh's signatures were not on it and he was not taken into confidence, which is why, when he came, it was only after the attack. The Sikh Research Institute (4 June 2024) argues that the government meant to attack whether or not Bhindranwale was inside, had planned it for months, and "chose the timing of the attack carefully to inflict maximum civilian casualties". The Tribune notes that many Sikhs believe the day was chosen "to teach Sikhs a lesson", which governments have denied. Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh, on the 40th anniversary in 2024, called the attack the third Ghallughara, and SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said the government should apologise in Parliament (SGPC). Tarlochan Singh wrote that "Peace in Punjab was nipped in the bud by some people around Indira Gandhi".