Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal sought to justify the Operation Bluestar memorial inside the Golden Temple complex, by saying that it was coming up in the form of a gurdwara and it would not be a monument.

Answering queries by the media on the controversy, he said that gurdwara is being constructed in memory of hundreds of people that died inside the Golden Temple and at others places during Operation Bluestar.

"It will be a gurdwara where the Guru Granth Sahib will be placed and where anyone can go and pay obeisance. No list of names or photographs of any individual or individuals will be placed in this shrine", he said.

The construction of the memorial is being done through 'kar sewa' by the Damdami Taksal, which was once headed by Jarnail Singh Bhinderwale, who was the head of the millitants, killed in the army action of June 1984.

The construction commenced after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) gave its consent at a meeting of its executive held at Anandpur Sahib in May.

The SGPC had evaded the issue all these years but ultimately yielded to the demand of certain radical groups to construct a memorial inside the shrine.

It formed a committee which identified the place for construction of the memorial. The place where the construction is being carried out is close to the office of the Akal Takht Jathedar.