Amritsar:
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today sought to distance himself and the state government from the construction of 'Operation Blue Star' memorial in Amritsar by radical Sikh groups. He said it was a project of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) and Damdmi Taksal (a radical Sikh group).
The foundation stone of the memorial was laid down in Amritsar today to mark the anniversary of Operation Bluestar - in which the Indian Army stormed the Golden temple in Amritsar in a gun battle with terrorists led by the radical Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
To mark the occasion a section of the Sikh clergy from the SGPC also honoured Balwant Singh Rajoana as a 'living martyr'. Rajoana is on death row for killing the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995.
His sister Kamaldeep Kaur received a siropa and memento on his behalf. "My brother had vowed before Akal Takht to kill Beant Singh. He doesn't wants any mercy," she said.
Rajoana was scheduled to be hanged on March 31 for Beant Singh's killing. But a massive uproar by the Sikh community forced the Centre to put a stay on his execution.
BJP, an alliance partner in the state government led by Akali Dal, has opposed the Operation Bluestar memorial saying such a move could encourage the hardliners in the state.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Amarinder Singh warned Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir against "playing with peace" in Punjab. "Punjab has suffered a lot and let us not take the state back to the dark days", he told a press conference in Jalandhar during his campaign tour for civic body elections.
Maintaining that the Operation Bluestar was history now, he condemned the glorification of the Balwant Singh Rajoana.
Operation Blue Star and the assassination of Beant Singh remain deeply emotive issues in Punjab. For the Congress, which reigned in militancy in the state, glorifying a man involved in the plot to assassinate a Chief Minister is unacceptable while the Akalis continue to reflect on the desecration of the Golden Temple at the height of insurgency in Punjab.