Abstract

“It was not against Sikhs but terrorists”, the very exact words of Maj. Gen. Brar before the start of a military operation on Indian soil code-named “Blue Star”. Operation Blue Star was carried out between June 1 and 8, 1984 to remove militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in Amritsar, Punjab. On June 1, 1984, after negotiations with the militants failed, Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister gave a ‘go-ahead’ to the controversial operation. Just after five months of the operation, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, and it was somewhat compelling not to notice why. The paper introduces the operation and its main underlying reasons then it goes on to link the events with the political party including how the Khalistan movement bore the seeds of emergency in 1975 before turning to the legal filter and applying it to every aspect of the decade long disturbance. The paper discusses how the emergency was also a triggering event, The Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1983, Article 19, Article 15, the formations of SPG, Black-cat commando forces amongst other prominent legal aspects.

Keywords: Operation Blue Star, Congress, Constitution, Legal perspective, After-effects