Chandigarh: Sukhbir Singh Badal, president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), has expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media for his comments on the 1984 Operation Blue Star in Parliament and demanded an apology from the Government of India to the Sikh community. The move has sparked rumours of a possible reunion between the SAD and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Although both parties have denied any possibility of reviving their decades-long alliance, Badal warming up to the Prime Minister is being seen as the first move in that direction.
The Akali had broken off its alliance with the BJP in 2021 over its opposition to the three farm laws passed by the Modi government. While the BJP went on to ally with Punjab Lok Congress — a breakaway faction of the Congress led by former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh — the Akalis tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party. Both alliances, however, performed miserably in the 2022 assembly elections that brought the AAP to power in Punjab.
With the Congress now leading the INDIA bloc — a united opposition alliance against the National Democratic Alliance — political circles are abuzz with the possibility of the Akalis and the BJP coming back together.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Saturday, Badal appreciated the Prime Minister’s statement on the 1984 Operation Blue Star as an “outrageous attack” on the Golden Temple Amritsar adding that it should be followed by an unconditional apology from the Government of India.
In his reply to a no-confidence motion in Parliament earlier this week, the Prime Minister had referred to Operation Blue Star as an “attack on the Akal Takht”, the highest temporal body of the Sikhs. Modi was criticising the Congress government led by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who had, in 1984, ordered the Indian Army to enter the precincts of the Golden Temple in Amritsar to flush out Sikh militants. For the Sikhs, this was considered to be an act of sacrilege and the defiling of their holiest shrines.
“Is it right to get the civilians attacked by the Air Force in our own country? Who was ruling at that time — Indira Gandhi. The Akal Takht was attacked. It is still fresh in our memory. They had developed this habit in Mizoram. And that’s why they went on to attack the Akal Takht in my own country, and now they are preaching (to) us,” said the PM, also referring to the 1966 Air Force attack on Mizoram.
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‘No reason left to not tender unconditional apology’
Acknowledging the Prime Minister’s statement, Badal tweeted: “While I welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement finally acknowledging the guilt of #OperationBluestar as an outrageous attack on the holiest Sikh shrine, Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib and the highest seat of Sikh religio-political authority (Miri-Piri), Sri Akal Takht Sahib, there is no reason whatsoever left now for the Govt of India not to tender an unconditional apology to the Khalsa Panth for this most tragic outrage against the Guru’s abode.”
Badal said the next logical step would be for the Government of India to place on record an unconditional apology for Operation Blue Star.
“Therefore, I call upon the Prime Minister to follow up his honest statement about the Army assault on Sri Harmandir Sahib in June 1984 with the only obvious and logical next step — placing on record an unconditional apology of the Govt of India to the Great Guru Sahiban and to their most sacred religious shrine and seat of our spiritual and temporal authority, as well as to the entire Sikh quom (community),” wrote Badal.
The SAD president in his post added “This will go a long way in putting an emotional closure to the deep and still festering wounds of the Sikh masses and in restoring the age-old bonds between two principal communities in Punjab and the country.”
“This in turn will strengthen the atmosphere of peace and communal harmony across the country. It will also be a major step towards removing the dark blot from the country’s image and also restore faith and confidence in the minds of the minorities in the country, especially the patriotic Sikh community,” he added.
Badal even asked Delhi’s Chief Minister and convener of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal to also offer an apology as a member of the opposition alliance.
“I call upon leaders of all political parties to join the PM in this initiative and not play politics over it. I especially urge AAP convener @ArvindKejriwal to come forward to offer this apology as a member of the opposition alliance of which the perpetrator of the horrendous and inhuman crimes of 1984 is a major component. Kejriwal’s party now rules Punjab and he has, therefore, a special moral responsibility in this regard,” Badal said in the post.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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