Chidambaram’s Op Blue Star comment sparks controversy

Former Union minister P Chidambaram stirred a debate on Saturday as he said Operation Blue Star, the 1984 military operation ordered by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, was carried out in the “wrong way” and Gandhi “paid with her life for that mistake”.

- HT Correspondent

P Chidambaram

Speaking at the Khushwant Singh Literature Festival in Kasauli, Chidambaram made the remarks during a discussion on They Will Shoot You, Madam, a book by journalist Harinder Baweja. The Congress leader said though the operation was a mistake, the decision was not Gandhi's alone.

“No disrespect to any service officers present here but that was the wrong way to retrieve the Golden Temple. Three to four years later, we showed the right way to retrieve the Golden Temple by keeping out the army,” Chidambaram said.