Operation Bluestar anniversary: pro-Khalistan slogans at Golden Temple

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

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

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

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

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

He said Sikhs were never scared and 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.

On this occasion, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex Sikh religious body, displayed the bullet-ridden holy 'saroop' (volume) 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 Bluestar was a military operation carried out in 1984 to flush out militants from the Golden Temple.