Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was not a ‘terrorist’, declassify Operation Blue Star files: Subramanian Swamy

New Delhi : Bhartiya Janata Party leader and newly appointed Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy on Saturday termed the 1984 Operation Blue Star “foolishness on the part of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi”. Swamy while addressing the students said the leader of Damdami Taksal, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was not a terrorist and demanded to declassify files of Operation Blue Star to bring out the truth behind allowing the army to march into the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Swamy who was addressing a group of students at Lovely Professional University (LPU) said that, he believed slain militant leader Bhindranwale was a preacher. While answering a question posed by a student Swamy said, Bhindranwale promoted Sikhism and motivated young students to stay away from drugs. According to Hindustan Times, Swamy said, “During Operation Blue Star, Bhindranwale was only 35, he was bit aggressive when it came to preaching and that’s what made others think that he was a hardliner, even a terrorist. I met him before Operation Blue Star. He would call media for casual meetings in routine at Akal Takht”. Read Also: (Operation Blue Star: 15 facts about the infamous incident inside the Golden Temple) “Why would any terrorist hold press conferences?” asks Swamy. The BJP MP further explained that, the then communist leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet had allegedly conveyed a message to USSR that if Sikhism returned to Punjab, it would wipe out communism from the state.
Swamy further revealed that a Soviet Ambassador to India has asked Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for the operation. He further said, “the then president Giani Zail Singh had also asked me to convey Indira but she was so obsessed with the USSR that she could not say no”. Swamy, an MP for five times said he has always refused to term Bhindranwale as a terrorist due to which he was always criticised and even lost an election. Swamy said that only declassification of files can uncover the truth.