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6 years on, ‘shaheedi gallery’ to open for devotees on March 9
Sikh clergy led by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh will inaugurate the gallery in the presence of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami and other religious personalities, said a spokesman of Damdami Taksal.
Nearly six years after the project was initiated, “shaheedi gallery” displaying portraits of those killed during the 1984 Operation Bluestar will be thrown open for visitors on Saturday. A replica of the damaged building of Akal Takht is placed at the centre of the gallery.
Sikh clergy led by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh will inaugurate the gallery in the presence of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami and other religious personalities, said a spokesman of Damdami Taksal.
The gallery has been set up by Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal in the basement of the Operation Bluestar memorial or ‘Shaheedi Yaadgar’ established in 2013 in the form of small gurdwara amid a row over putting up the picture of slain militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed during the operation carried out by the army to flush out the militants from the Golden Temple in June 1984.
Addresses and names of organisations have been mentioned in the captions of the black and white portraits.
Since it is in the basement of the gurdwara-shaped memorial of Operation Bluestar, the gallery is named as “Bhora Sahib”. Bhora means basement.
During the headship of Kirpal Singh Badungar, the executive of the SGPC passed a resolution to establish the gallery to display the portraits of Bhindranwale, who once headed the Taksal, his aides Maj Gen Shabeg Singh (retd), militants and others killed during the operation.
The Sikh seminary constituted a four-member committee to prepare a blueprint of the project and collect the information and pictures of those killed in the operation.
