Ensure return of articles taken during Bluestar: MP

New Delhi, July 19

Shiromani Akali Dal MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Friday said the incumbent and preceding Union governments have not acted on the demand for the return of articles, including books and documents, taken away by the Army from the Golden Temple complex during Operation Bluestar in 1984.

Raising the issue during “Zero Hour” in the Rajya Sabha, Dhindsa urged the Centre to constitute a committee to resolve the issue in coordination with the SGPC.

The Army had taken away valuable articles, including books, manuscripts and documents. They were of great historical significance. “They are priceless,” Dhindsa said, stressing on the temporal and spiritual importance of the articles, he claimed to be still in the possession of the Army.

He informed the House that the SGPC and other Sikh organisations had taken up the matter with the present government and the preceding government for return of all articles.

He told the House that the SGPC had constituted a committee to take stock of the missing articles. As per its records, 12,613 books were missing. Of them, 1,506 have been returned.

Of the 512 copies of Guru Granth Sahib missing, only 205 had been returned, Dhindsa said, and added that the account presented by him was only partial confining only to books. — TNS