Pro-Khalistan slogans raised on Operation Blue Star anniversary

Jathedar of Akal Takht Giani Harpreet Singh addressed the Sikh community and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) displayed the bullet-ridden holy “saroop” (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib

Activists of the Dal Khalsa Sikh organisation hold placards during a march on the eve of the 39th anniversary of Operation Blue Star, in Amritsar, on June 5, 2023. Pro-Khalistan slogans were raised on the Golden Temple premises on June 6 by supporters and activists of radical Sikh outfits. | Photo Credit: PTI

Pro-Khalistan slogans were raised on the Golden Temple premises on June 6 by supporters and activists of radical Sikh outfits on the 39th anniversary of Operation Blue Star.

Slogans of “Khalistan Zindabad” were also raised by activists of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by MP Simranjit Singh Mann and his associate former MP Dhian Singh Mand at the Akal Takht. Mr. Mann was also present on the spot.

Radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa’s activists were seen holding placards bearing portraits of slain militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhidnrawale and raising pro-Khalistan slogans.

Hundreds of Sikh youths, led by the Dal Khalsa, were carrying Khalistani flags and photographs of damaged Akal Takht.

The entire marbled periphery of the Golden Temple near Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs, echoed with pro-Khalistan slogans.

Elaborate security arrangements were put in place in Amritsar to ensure that the event passed off peacefully.

The Jathedar of Akal Takht, Giani Harpreet Singh, said in his message to the Sikh community that the need of the hour was that Sikh preachers and scholars should visit villages to promote Sikhism to apprise the youth with rich Sikh tenets and Sikh history in order to unite them under the banner of the Akal Takht.

He spoke about the issue of drug-addiction which has afflicted many youths.

He alleged that governments would never help the Sikh community to make them strong.

He said Sikhs were never scared or panicked even after the incidents that happened in 1984. “Rather, all such incidents had made the Sikh community stronger and Sikhs would continue their struggle to get justice and would never be scared to stand with the truth,” he said.

The Jathedar alleged that conspiracies were being hatched to weaken the Sikh community socially, economically and politically.

Now the time has come for the community to get united, he said.

He said the Sikh community did not have any hopes or expectations from successive governments as they were attempting to take over Sikh religious institutions and also playing a major role in dividing the community through unfair means.

On this occasion, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex Sikh religious body, displayed the bullet-ridden holy “saroop” (physical copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib. The saroop, which was installed in the sanctum sanctorum at that time, was hit by a bullet during the army action in 1984.

The Operation Blue Star was a military operation carried out in 1984 to flush out militants from the Golden Temple.