Turbulent times of Punjab discussed at Kasauli lit fest

Tribune News Service

Solan, October 16

Was Operation Blue Star avoidable? Was it a botched-up operation? All such questions came alive in a scintillating session on the concluding day of the three-day Khushwant Singh Literary Festival at Kasauli.

The session thrashed out the entire gamut of the operation that decisively changed the course of events not just in Punjab but also in the country.

The session on the book “Turmoil in Punjab, Before and After Blue Star” written by former Punjab Chief Secretary RI Singh was anchored by Gul Panag.

There was an animated discussion on the turbulent times in Punjab which mainly focused around Operation Blue Star.

RI Singh explained how the entire administrative system was handed over to the Army in the entire state and how the entire communication system was paralysed overnight to give full power to the Army.

Singh, who was Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, during operation, underlined that the operation should have been executed with more precision to ensure that Sikh sentiments were not hurt.

Justifying his acceptance of the Padma Shri, he said it was bestowed on him for his administrative services and was purely a professional call.

Senior mediaperson Kanwar Sandhu, who was a co-panellist, said that the civil administration failed to discharge its duty during the operation and abjured all its powers and responsibilities to allow the Army a free hand.

Sandhu said it was the failure of state governance that allowed the 1978 Baisakhi Day violence in Amritsar, causing the death of 13 persons. He said it was a glaring administrative failure that no subsequent inquiry was ordered into the incident and not even into Operation Blue Star.

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