Operation Blue Star

Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab

In June 1984 the Indian military were ordered by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to storm the Golden Temple – one of the holiest sites in Sikhism – and other gurdwaras across Punjab. This was prompted after a leader of the Khalistan movement, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and other separatist militants began operating from the Golden Temple to evade arrest. Separatist sentiments were growing in popularity across India, as increasing numbers of Sikhs pushed for greater autonomy for Punjab and, in some cases, independence. On 3 June the Indian armed forces began a violent campaign in the Golden Temple complex. The assault on the holy site and the killing of pilgrims, who were in the temple as part of an annual Sikh celebration, was condemned globally.

On 10 June, 25,000 Sikhs from across Britain marched from Hyde Park to the Indian High Commission, with some chanting ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ in support of a separate Sikh state. Local gurdwaras also organized demonstrations. In response, the Indian High Commission produced videotapes and leaflets which attempted to offer context about the Indian Government’s actions. These materials, which were distributed to gurdwaras and Sikh households across the UK, were publicly burned.

In addition, UK-based separatist organizations such as the Khalistan Council and the International Sikh Youth Federation were created in direct response to the operation. The Khalistan Council, which was founded in Southall in June 1984, was led by Jagit Singh Chohan, a Sikh separatist leader who travelled internationally in an effort to set up a Sikh government. In a controversial interview with the BBC after Operation Blue Star, he called for violence against Gandhi and her family. The organization, which had a headquarters in London, went to gurdwaras across the UK to promote their ideas. The emergence of these organizations led to conflict amongst local gurdwara committees, particularly in Leicester, Derby and Nottingham where committed Khalistan supporters won control of the gurdwaras in committee elections.

On 31 October 1984 Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in response to Operation Blue Star. This triggered anti-Sikh riots across India, leading to the massacre of thousands of Sikhs. Some Sikhs migrated in response to the violence.

The journalist Neil Barry, in a news article for New Society, reported that the operation negatively affected Sikh relations with the British Government. Representatives of the International Sikh Youth Federation – which was classed as a terrorist group by the British Government in 2001 – told Barry that they believed the British Government was being encouraged to sign an extradition deal with India to be used against Sikhs in Britain, highlighting the distrust some young Sikhs had for the British state. Moreover, in 2014 a government document was leaked which suggested that then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent an SAS officer to India to advise Gandhi and her government on how to extract Sikh militants from the Golden Temple. The Sikh Federation UK published a report on British complicity in Operation Blue Star named Sacrificing Sikhs and Prime Minister David Cameron ordered an investigation, which stated that the British Government was not involved in the campaign. Bhair Amrik Singh, Chair of the Federation, sent an open letter to Cameron stating that the time period of investigation was too narrow and did not include the aftermath of the military operation, such as India’s threat of sanctions against the UK and other countries in late 1984 for being sympathetic to Sikhs in the diaspora.