The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee’s (SGPC) decision to build a memorial for those killed in Operation Bluestar inside the Golden Temple on its 28th anniversary has divided the political spectrum as well as the public opinion of the state.
The Akali Dal-led Punjab government allowed the memorial immediately after it was voted back to power.
The Akali Dal’s position on the issue is that there were hundreds of innocent people who were trapped inside the Golden Temple and lost their lives, so there is nothing wrong in building a memorial for them.
Its alliance partner BJP has so far remained silent, but insiders say the party is against such a memorial. But it will not be long before the BJP has to take a stand on this issue.
The biggest problem with the upcoming memorial is that the right-wing
Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal, which was once headed by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, has been chosen by the Akali Dal and the SGPC to build the memorial. It is Jarnail
Singh
Bhindranwale who, along with his armed supporters, moved into the Golden Temple complex and occupied it. The Opposition Congress has taken a diametrical opposite view on the memorial.
State Congress president Amarinder Singh has said that Punjab does not need an Operation Bluestar memorial.
He said that Punjab can ill-afford to have things like a Bluestar memorial. “The impact of
Operation
Bluestar is still felt on the economy of the state. This kind of move will discourage investors from coming to Punjab,” he said.
Many former Armymen who were directly or indirectly involved with the operation want to avoid the issue.