Operation Blue Star Anniversary: For the first time, Akal Takht Jathedar refrains from giving annual message
CHANDIGARH: Breaking a 41-year-old tradition of the annual address on the anniversary of Operation Blue Star, Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, the officiating Jathedar (High priest) of the Akal Takht (the highest temporal seat of Sikhs) did not deliver the customary message to the Sikh community.
Instead, he only performed the ardas (prayer), and the event remained peaceful. Notably, he also refrained from felicitating the families of those who died during the operation.
Meanwhile slogans of 'Khalistan Zindabad' were raised by the supporters of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and other sikh organisations in the golden temple complex.
Gargaj refrained from delivering the customary address to the Sikh community from the façade of the Akal Takht and did not felicitate the families of those killed during the 1984 Army operation.
The move was seen as an effort to ensure the peaceful observance of the anniversary, especially after Damdami Taksal chief Harnam Singh Dhuma recently objected to such practices. Tensions between Gargaj and several hardline Sikh groups had already been running high in the lead-up to the event.
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