P Chidambaram calls Operation Blue Star a 'mistake', Congress reacts

New Delhi: Congress top leadership is “very upset” with senior MP P Chidambaram's remarks about 'Operation Blue Star' that it was a mistake and Indira Gandhi paid for it with her life with sources saying leaders must be careful while making statements that can create embarrassment for the party.

Chidambaram was speaking at a discussion on journalist Harinder Baweja's book They Will Shoot You, Madam at the Khushwant Singh Literature Festival in Himachal Pradesh's Kasauli on Saturday when he made the remarks.

BJP targeted the Congress over Chidambaram's remarks with BJP national spokesperson R P Singh claiming that history must record the truth that it was not a national necessity but a “political misadventure” by the former Prime Minister.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “Chidambaram-ji admits the Congress blunders too late. After revealing that India could not respond to Pakistan terror attacks in Mumbai, due to high pressure from US and foreign powers, now he admits Operation Blue Star in Golden Temple was also a mistake.”

Congress sources said the top leadership and the rank and file are upset with such remarks and asking why this is repeatedly happening, referring to his remarks during an interview recently on Mumbai attacks.

He had then remarked that India wanted to take military action against Pakistan but was persuaded not to by the US, prompting the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch an attack on the Congress.

Party sources said senior leaders "who have got everything from the Congress" should be more careful while making statements that create embarrassment for the party. Sources said it could not become a habit for leaders to do so.

The former Finance Minister said Operation Blue Star in June 1984 to oust extremists from the Golden Temple was a "mistake".

"No disrespect to any military officers here, but that (Blue Star) was the wrong way to retrieve the Golden Temple. A few years later (during Operation Black Thunder), we demonstrated the right way to retrieve the Golden Temple by keeping the Army out," he said.

"Blue Star was the wrong way, and I agree that Mrs Gandhi paid with her life for that mistake. But that mistake was a cumulative decision of the Army, the police, the intelligence and the civil service. You cannot blame it only on Mrs Gandhi. Would you?" he said.