Chidambaram terms Op Blue Star a mistake

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram described the 1984 Operation Blue Star as the "wrong way" to reclaim the Punjab's Golden Temple, asserting that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi paid the ultimate price for that decision.

"No disrespect to any military officers, but that was the wrong way to retrieve the Golden Temple. A few years later, we showed the right way to retrieve it -- by keeping the Army out. Blue Star was the wrong way, and I agree that Mrs Gandhi paid with her life for that mistake," Chidambaram said at a literature event in Kasauli.

Speaking about the June 1984 Army operation aimed at flushing out terrorists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Chidambaram clarified that the decision was not solely Indira Gandhi's. "It was a cumulative decision of the Army, the police, the intelligence, and the civil service. You cannot blame it only on Mrs Gandhi," the former finance minister said.

He may under pressure: Cong

Responding to former Union Minister P Chidambaram's remarks, senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi accused him of echoing the BJP's line and hinted he may be under pressure. "Whether Operation Blue Star was right or wrong is a debatable issue. But after 50 years, what is P Chidambaram's compulsion to keep targeting the Congress? By saying Indira Gandhi took a wrong step, he is doing exactly what the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi do," Alvi said.