June 6 marked the anniversary of Operation Blue Star. On this day, pro-Khalistani slogans were raised inside the Golden Temple in Bharat, and similar protests were launched in Canada. Here Khalistani separatists mocked the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by displaying posters outside the Indian consulate.
The posters depicted Gandhi riddled with bullets and glorified her assassins, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh. As of now, no condemnation or reaction to the said protest has come from the side of the Congress party.
Canadian Khalistanis have placed the float of Indira Gandhi assassination outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver
Indira Gandhi is shown riddled with bullets.
There is no check to Islamist and Khalistani radicalism in 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/7nILSncGZc
— Journalist V (@OnTheNewsBeat) June 6, 2024
Similar incidents were reported in India, where pro-Khalistan slogans were raised at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on the 40th anniversary of Operation Blue Star.
Protesters carried posters of the slain separatist leader, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann was also seen among those raising slogans and displaying posters.
In response, security around the Golden Temple was heightened, with Senior Superintendent of Police SS Randhawa Singh stating that measures were in place to monitor any untoward incidents.
This is not the first time such displays have been organised in Canada.
On June 4, 2023, during a 5-km Sikh march in Brampton, a tableau glorifying the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards was featured. The tableau, part of the annual Sikh Martyrdom Parade, included Khalistani flags and posters reading “Revenge of the attack on Shri Darbar Sahib” and “Never Forget 1984. Sikh Genocide.”
In November 2023, Canadian singer and rapper Shubhneet Singh (Shubh) was involved in a controversy during a concert in London. A video shared by a pro-Khalistani handle showed him wearing a hoodie with an illustration of Punjab and a caricature of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, promoting her assassins, Satwant and Beant Singh.
Similarly, last year, Organiser reported, on May 28, that pro-Khalistan posters of Khalistani extremist Jarnail Bhindranwale were placed outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
This came ahead of the 39th anniversary of Operation Blue Star.
The poster outside the Golden Temple read, “Tributes to the martyrs of Sri Darbar Sahib of June 1984″. The operation was carried out by Bhartiya Fauz”.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, head of the radical Sikh outfit Damdami Taksal, and his armed followers were killed during Operation Blue Star. The Indian Army launched this operation on June 6, 1984, on orders from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to flush out militants from the Golden Temple.
The operation faced heavy criticism, and months later, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of Beant Singh (one of Indira Gandhi’s assassins), won the Faridkot constituency by a margin of 70,053 votes over Aam Aadmi Party leader Karamjit Singh Anmol.
Earlier, Lt Gen (retd) Kuldeep Singh Brar, who led the 1984 Operation Blue Star to remove extremists from the Golden Temple, remarked that the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had allowed militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to grow into a “Frankenstein monster” before deciding to “finish him off” when he became too powerful.
In an interview with ANI, the retired 1971 war veteran said, “No one wants an operation, but what do you do? Indira Gandhi allowed him to become “Frankenstein”. You could see every year what was happening. But when he reached the pinnacle, now finish him off, now destroy him. It’s too late.”
He further claimed that the political leadership of the time had permitted the Bhindranwale cult to thrive, driven by internal political dynamics between the Akali and Congress parties. “They had their own little problem support between Akali and Congress. They allowed this cult of Bhindranwale to continue,” the retired army officer stated.
