After Swamy and Harsimrat, now SGPC wants Bluestar files public

Endorsing the demand raised by BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy and Union food-processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar on Monday asked the Centre to make the Operation Bluestar files public.

Endorsing the demand raised by BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy and Union food-processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar on Monday asked the Centre to make the Operation Bluestar files public.

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar (HT File Photo)

Recalling the army raid on the Golden temple in June 1984 to flush out armed militants, Makkar claimed in a press release issued here that army’s field guns and tanks ha killed thousands of innocent Sikh devotees and demolished the Akal Takht, highest temporal seat of Sikh faith. “More innocent Sikhs were massacred in the 1984 riots. If the files related to this episode are made public, people can know the entire truth,” he said.

“The community still carries the scars of the two episodes but hasn’t received justice yet,” said Makkar, adding: “Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, one of the prime accused in anti-Sikh riots, who claims himself to be innocent, will be exposed once the files are out.”