Political row erupts over Sonia Gandhi’s account of Operation Blue Star

The release of Sonia Gandhirsquos memoirs Belonging A Journey of Love ignited a sharp political row on Tuesday drawing simultaneous attacks from both the Aam Aadmi Party AAP and the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP over its framing of Operation Blue Star and UPAera governanceThe memoir published by HarperCollins in India went on sale on Tuesday It traces Sonia Gandhis journey from her childhood in postwar Italy and her romance with Rajiv Gandhi at Cambridge to her life in India and the personal losses that shaped her bond with the country including the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv GandhiReacting to Gandhis account of Indira Gandhirsquos postOperation Blue Star reflections AAP Delhi President Saurabh Bharadwaj dismissed the narrative as an attempt to help people move past these woundsSonia Gandhi is now attempting in her own way to help people move past these wounds However had Indira Gandhi herself expressed such remorse at the time it would have carried far greater significance This sentiment coming from Sonia Gandhi is merely hearsaymdashit cannot be independently verified It should be viewed as a political statement tailored to the current political climate Bharadwaj told ANIBharadwaj said Sonia Gandhi had probably now come to realise that the deployment of the army into the Golden Temple an operation involving cannons and artillery along with the open massacre of Sikhs on the streets of Delhi casts serious doubt on the Congresss secular credentialsRajya Sabha MP Satnam Singh Sandhu questioned Sonia Gandhi recalling that Indira Gandhi was filled with remorse seeing the aftermath of Operation Blue StarThis is a dark chapter in history that Sonia Gandhi has mentioned in her book Now she has said that when Indira Gandhi found out when she saw the pictures of the Golden Temple she felt remorse and she had tears in her eyes But my question is after seeing this scene of devastation those tears in Mrs Indira Gandhirsquos eyes who will take responsibility for that devastation Who is responsible for it To date Congress has not taken responsibility for it And the perpetrators of that the aftermath of that the massacre of the Sikhs who is behind them If there was remorse like Sonia Gandhi has said before Indira Gandhi passed she had the realisation the feeling that her death was imminent And she had told her family how they had to handle themselves So firstly my question is was that remorse for the injustice that happened to the Sikhs Was it for the attack on the Golden Temple or was it about her own political decision he saidJune 6 1984 marked the day when the Indian Army under Operation Blue Star stormed into the Golden Temple on orders of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to contain Sikh militancy under the leadership of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in Punjab Reports said Bhindranwale had stashed large quantities of arms on the Golden Temple premisesBhindranwale led the radical Sikh outfit Damdami Taksal He along with his armed followers was killed during Operation Blue Star launched by the Indian Army to flush out the militants from the Golden Temple complex in June 1984The Operation was heavily criticised Months later Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards Beant Singh and Satwant Singh at her New Delhi residence on October 31 1984BJP MP Bhola Singh alleged that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a namesake leader in a government run by remote controlHe said there was a great deal of material available on her personal life and political activities including how she controlled the Congress party and ran the governmentIn the memoirs recounting Operation Blue Star Singh charged the Congress with a recurring pattern of abuse of powerIt is a fact that the atmosphere in Delhi and Punjab at that time where Sikhs were dragged from their homes and killed reflects a recurring pattern in the Congress partyrsquos modus operandi Whether it is imposing the Emergency or inciting riots the Congress has consistently shown a willingness to go to any lengths in its hunger for power he saidIn her memoir Sonia Gandhi recalled that as Indira Gandhi watched a video of the aftermath of the operation As my motherinlaw watched the slowmoving record I could see her face wet with tearstears of pain and regret I think sorrow at the manner in which the siege has ended at the large number of lives lost she wroteThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever