Arun Jaitley targets Indira Gandhi in ‘legacy of 1984’ post, says 'Operation Blue Star a historic blunder'

Union Finance Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that the verdict of a Delhi court, awarding death sentence to one and life imprisonment to another in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, “gives us an opportunity to look back at the legacy of 1984”.

In a Facebook post, Jaitley said that the year would always be known as “amongst the worst for Indian governance”. The senior BJP leader cited several incidents that occurred in 1984, such as change in governance in Jammu and Kashmir to Operation Blue Star.

Targeting the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Union minister accused the Prime Minister’s Office and the Congress party of indulging in “manipulative politics”.

Referring to Operation Blue Star, Jaitley termed it as “a historic blunder”. Jaitley wrote, “The Operation Blue Star proved to be a historic blunder. It was poorly planned and terribly executed. There were no intelligence inputs with regard to the number of militants and their ammunition that they had collected within. Many innocents got killed in the process.”

The BJP leader, who lost during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections against Captain Amarinder Singh of the Congress party, accused the grand old party of allowing “militancy in Punjab to go unchecked”.

He further wrote that the “biggest fallout of the disastrous operation” was the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Calling it “one of the most unfortunate and condemnable acts in Indian history”, Jaitley claimed that the incident “indicated a failure of governance”.

The Union minister went on to accuse the Congress party for the anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

“Anti-Sikh violence started in several parts of the country. Delhi was the worst affected. Congressmen led violent mobs. The Police colluded with them. It did not fire, lathi charge or even teargas the mobs. The rioters were given a free hand to kill and loot.

“Places of worship of the Sikh community were damaged. Sikh houses were burnt. Their trade establishments were looted. Thousands of innocents, men, women and children were burnt, were mutilated. The Police did not even register the First Information Reports,” said Jaitley.