New Delhi, July 16
BJP's Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday again attacked the Congress over the 1984 Operation Blue Star.
He claimed in a post on his X handle that after the operation, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who carried out the crackdown with the cooperation of British soldiers, wrote a letter to her UK counterpart Margaret Thatcher, sharing details about the operation.
Dubey raised questions about the sharing of internal problems with a foreign country.
"In 1984, after conducting Operation Blue Star with the cooperation of British soldiers, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent this letter to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher," he wrote on X.
The question that he asked in the post was: "Does the Prime Minister of a sovereign nation ever discuss their internal problems with another country?"
The BJP leader concluded his post by saying, "Strategic cooperation is needed to fight foreigners, but what is it called when foreign strategic cooperation is used to kill unarmed people of one's own country?"
He also shared the purported letter from Indira Gandhi to Thatcher on X, which narrated the need for the operation and the situation prevailing in Punjab then.
In an earlier social media post, the BJP MP alleged that the controversial Operation Blue Star of 1984 in the Golden Temple was conducted in collaboration with the British government.
Dubey claimed that British military officers were present in Amritsar during the operation, which targeted militants holed up inside the Golden Temple complex.
"In 1984, Indira Gandhi ordered an attack on the Golden Temple in collaboration with the British. British army officers were present in Amritsar at the time," Dubey said in a post on X on July 7.
"For the Congress party, the Sikh community has always been treated like a political pawn," he added.
Dubey cited a top-secret and personal letter dated February 23, 1984, written by Brian Fall, then Private Secretary at the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The letter was addressed to Hugh Taylor, Private Secretary to the Home Secretary.
The letter shared by Dubey stated: "The Indian authorities recently sought British advice over a plan to remove Sikh extremists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Foreign Secretary decided to respond favourably to the Indian request and, with the Prime Minister's agreement, an SAS (Special Air Service) officer visited India and drew up a plan which has been approved by Mrs Gandhi. The Foreign Secretary believes that the Indian Government may put the plan into operation shortly.”
Dubey alleged that the Congress-led government not only orchestrated the military operation with foreign involvement but also used constitutional appointments to placate public outrage in its aftermath.
"While innocent devotees were killed during the 1984 attack on the Golden Temple, the Congress government appointed Giani Zail Singh as the President of India,” he said.
He further claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's appointment in 2004 was a political move to "shield" Congress leaders implicated in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
