Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today rapped the evasive silence of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal over his role in Operation Bluestar. Capt Amarinder asked him to tell the people of Punjab, particularly in Amritsar, as what transpired between you and the then Union Home Minister PV Narsimha Rao on March 26, 1984. “Your evasive silence will only establish your guilt of not only having betrayed your leader but the people you were supposed to represent”, he told Badal.Capt Amarinder said, he had been asking Mr Badal for the last six months to reveal what transpired in that secret meeting but he has sheepishly kept quiet so far.“Is it not a fact that during that secret meeting on March 26, 1984, you requested Mr Rao to send military to the Darbar Sahab to flush out the militants led by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale as you were fatally scared of him?” he asked Badal adding, as why did he need to meet Mr Rao alone when he was not authorised to do so.
The former Chief Minister said, Sant Harchand Singh Longowal had authorised three people to hold negotiations with the government of India. They included Parkash Singh Badal, Gurcharan Singh Tohra and Surjit Singh Barnala. He said, they were not supposed to meet anyone inpidually but why did Badal meet Mr Rao without the knowledge of Longowal and his two other colleagues. “Obviously he had stuck a deal with the GOI to get rid of Bhindrawale”, he disclosed.Capt Amarinder, who resigned from the Congress and the parliament to protest against the Operation Bluestar, asked Mr Badal as why he went into hiding on May 26, 1984, nine days ahead of the planned operation, which he (Badal) was already in know of. “Why you preferred to skip the all important meeting Sant Longowal had called on June 2 at Darbar Sahab Amritsar, while Mr Tohra and Mr Barnala made it there?” he asked Badal, adding, “it was clearly your guilty conscience which prevented you from attending that meeting as you knew that you had already given your nod for military operation”.