P Chidambaram says Operation Blue Star was a mistake

Shimla: Congress leader P Chidambaram said Operation Blue Star was not the right way to capture militants holed up in the Golden Temple in 1984, due to which the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, "paid with her life".

"There was a way to retrieve and capture all militants but Operation Blue Star was the wrong way and I agree that Mrs Gandhi paid with her life for the mistake but the mistake was cumulative decision of the Army, intelligence, police and civil defence and you cannot completely blame Mrs Gandhi," the former home minister said during a book launch in Himachal Pradesh's Kasauli on Saturday.

Chidambaram made the remarks during a conversation with journalist and author Harinder Baweja on her book 'They Will Shoot You Madam: My Life Through Conflict' at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival.

Operation Blue Star was a military operation held between June 1-10, 1984, to remove Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest site among Sikhs.

Later that year, Indira Gandhi, the prime minister at the time, was assassinated.