Reviewed by:Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon, Chandigarh

Few books could undeniably be $0 purposeless as the one by Lt General K.S.Brar, Operation Blue Star: The True Story. The book seems to echo the government version of the horrendous event, already published in the White Paper. The whole account is Superficial, biased and partisan. The man who himself led the attack cannot be expected to provide a fair account of the happenings. The book does not reveal facts. Rather it conceals fact. No one expected Gen. Brar, a soldier, to attempt to provide justification for the political blunder to attack the Golden Temple, which Prime Minister Indira Gandhi made. In the context now well known, the General’s school boy like justification of the attack is indeed irrelevant and unwarranted. Few persons believe today that the action was cither wise or inevitable. L1.General Sinha also stated that the Army action was not the last resort as the Prime Minister would have us believe. There were known alternatives to it, far more peaceful and constructive. But Brar, for obvious reasons, chooses to echo the Government version, which has already been given wide publicity by the media. But Brar’s failure is primarily a5 a soldier, and at that he failed at Ieast on three counts. True, orders of the Government had to be carried out. But the question is at the level at which he was, did he show the audacity, courage, imagination or integrity required to caution the political leadership about the perils or the likely political and military fall out of its decision? What kind of Commander was Brar if he failed to anticipate that the proposed orders of the Government would cause an unprecedented muliny in the army? Which was the first of its kind, after independence or that the orders, if carried out, could involve risk to the people at the helm of affairs in the country?. If he failed to anticipate these results, it was a failure of his ability as a Commander and revealed an unpardonable bank rupee of understanding. If he anticipated the disastrous consequences and failed to point these out, it was a failure of his courage, Instead of accusing others of cowardice, he should devote more time to serious self-introspection. Drastic Steps in history have often been the result of miscalculation at the highest level. The Sunday Telegraph, London (June 10, 1984) wrote, “Mughal emperors and British governors alike tried military solutions to the Sikh problem and succeeded only in adding to the roll of martyrs cherished by the proud and prickly people. Sikhs also have long memories. They have never forgotten or forgiven the day in 1919 when General Dyer ordered his troops to open fire in the sacred city of Amritsar and Mrs.Gandhi may well have cause to rue the day she did the same.” It is pity that our wiseacres and Generals failed to perceive what was so obvious to a journalist thousands of miles away.

Secondly, the operational plans drawn up by Brar were of the most ruthless kind, without any spark of brilliance. It was a dis mal tale of the imposition of total curfew of the most savage kind for 72 hours in the peak of the summer season, a total news blackout, indiscriminate killings, the use of tanks and the burning of centuries old Sikh Reference Library and Archives after the resistance had come to an end,

Brar is guilty of gross misrepresentation, when he tries to justify the ghastly ‘Operation’ on the grounds that the Sikhs were asking for Khalistan. It is well known that, before the attack, the demand for Khalistan was never found on the Akali agenda. Even Bhindranwale had not asked for anything more than the acceptance of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. Before launching the attack, it was drilled into the rank and file of the army that the Sikhs were separatists and posed a grave threat to the Country’s unity and integrity, which they had all sworn to uphold. No wonder the Army was filled with communal frenzy and the promiscuous carnage was executed without dis crimination of innocence or guilt, age or sex.

Among the victims were not only Bhindranwale and his men, who had put up resistance against the Army but also hundreds of innocent pilgrims, Priests, $.G.P.C. employees and Akali workers. There is more rhetoric and little substance in the oft repeated claim of Gen. Sunderji that the army went inside the temple with prayers on their lips and humility in their hearts. Brar maintains a guilty silence regarding the number of people killed inaction nor has the Govt, till this day released the list of casualties in this horrendous action, Brar toes the line of the White Paper when he puts the number of army men killed at 83 and the injured at 249. Whereas according to Brahma Challency of the Associated Press (AP), the army lost about 200 soldiers. Three months later Rajiv Gandhi, while addressing the Nagpur session of the National Students Union in September, 1984 said that 700 soldiers and officers were killed in the ‘Operation.” We do not know who is misleading, the late Prime Minister or Gen. Brar,

Brar fails to trace the roots of the Punjab Crisis. He takes no note of the basic unresolved politic economic issues which could have been sorted out within the framework of the Indian Constitution. A glaring instance of his lack of knowledge of the political events preceding the Blue Star, is his criticism of the Center for dragging ils feet in regard to the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib resolution. Little does he seem to know that no government ever thought of implementing the Resolution which was branded as separatist by the late Prime Minister.

Thirdly, General Brar has harped on the failure of the Indian intelligence and the consequent lack of preparation on the part of the army, He squeals that the defenders were well armed. Does he suggest that he did not know of it? Press reports indicated that everything had been conveyed to the concern headquarters and that the Indian army had Started rehearsing the attack months before actually storming the temple in June. This has been corroborated even by British correspondents of the Sunday Times, London (June 10,1984), Like the White Paper, Brar be gins the story from June 1, though there is evidence to prove that army units were rushed to Punjab on May 27.

The commandos who were especially trained at Chakrata for the purpose were moved to Amritsar, Brar claims to be a devout Sikh, Asa Sikh didn’t he know that the day chosen for storming the Temple was the martyrdom day of the fifth Guru Arjun, the architect and builder of the Temple, when thousands of Sikhs come from towns and villages to commemorate the occasion? The judgment of the historian on the horrendous act is bound to be uncomplimentary.

Brar claims to have made an attempt to prevent history from degenerating into mystery, Self-righteousness is nothing but ignoble, Brar has certainly allowed history to degenerate into “My Story,” A more befitting title for the book would be, “Blue Star: My Story.”

Article extracted from this publication >>  June 11, 1993