I think we do a disservice by remembering it as Operation Blue Star, because it was much larger. This was an assault on Sikhs. It was a calculated move to crush Sikh psyche.

It was called Operation Blue Star.

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‍“Forty other Sikh shrines were simultaneously attacked. On the pretext of apprehending ‘a handful of militants’ lodged inside the Golden Temple, the Indian Army unleashed a terror unprecedented in post-independence India. It took the use of Vijayanta tanks to win the fight for the army. These let loose a barrage of highly explosive shells, which tore off the entire front of the Akal Takht, the temporal seat of the Sikhs, setting off fires in many of its internal rooms (some of which housed precious historical relics), and badly damaged its dome.
– The Guardian, 13th June 1984
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“It was a virtual massacre. A large number of women, children and pilgrims were gunned down.”
– The Guardian, 13th June 1984

“The army went into Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) not to eliminate a political figure or a political movement but to suppress the culture of a people, to attack their heart, to strike a blow at their spirit and self-confidence.”
– Joyce Pettigrew, The Sikhs of Punjab

‍‍Personal reflection: I am more determined than ever to keep to the memory of those that were massacred in 1984 alive. They did not die in vain!

1984 is in my DNA.

I will not forget.

“It took blood and sweat of multiple generations of Sikhs to build Darbar Sahib, to defend it and to rebuild it.”  

Sardar Patwant Singh, The Golden Temple

Need I say more…

On this the 33rd anniversary of 1984, let us commit to keeping the memory of 1984 alive. May our verses, paintings, writings, and films resound with the stories of 1984.

The act of remembrance is, “to remember proactively so that we will never forget.”