Operation Blue Star resonates in Khushwant Singh Literary Festival, Kasauli
Babushahi Bureau
Kasauli, October 17, 2022:Was Operation Blue Star avoidable? Was it a botched-up operation? What was it all about?
All such questions came alive in a scintillating session at the Khushwant Singh Litfest in Kasauli which thrashed out the entire gamut of the operation that decisively changed the course of events subsequently not just for Punjab but for the country.
The session on the book, Turmoil in Punjab, Before and After Blue Star was written by former Punjab Chief Secretary Rameshinder Singh, IAS (retd), anchored by Gul Panag had an animated discussion on the turbulent times in Punjab, mainly focused on Operation Blue Star.
Rameshinder Singh explained how the entire administrative system was handed over to the Army in the entire state and how the entire communication system was paralyzed overnight to give entire power to the Army.
Singh, who was deputy commissioner, of Amritsar, during the Blue Star operation clarified that his services were requisitioned in a normal administrative manner since his predecessor had proceeded on ex-India leave already.
He underlined that if at the Operation should have been executed with more precision to ensure that the Sikh sentiments were not hurt.
Justifying his acceptance of the Padma Shri award he said it was bestowed on him for his administrative services which was purely a professional call.
Senior media person Kanwar Sandhu, who was a co-panelist, emphasized that the civil administration failed dismally to discharge its duty during the Blue Star and abjured all its powers and responsibilities to allow the Army a free hand.
Sandhu said it was a failure of the state government that allowed 1978 Baisakhi Day violence in Amritsar causing the death of 13 persons. It was a glaring administrative failure, he said, that no subsequent inquiry was ordered into the incident and not even to the Blue Star operation.