Solemn prayers and speeches rang out at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest site of the Sikh religion, as the northern state of Punjab marked the 40th anniversary of a deadly Indian military operation. Operation Blue Star, as it was called, left hundreds dead and damaged the temple’s inner sanctum.

At the same time, a group of about 200 supporters of an independent Sikh state called Khalistan gathered in a corner of the temple premises, chanting slogans and declaring that the “Sikh religious flag flies high”.

“The Sikhs must not forget this day,” said 27-year-old student Harmandeep Singh after the ceremony on Thursday. “The day our (inner sanctum) was attacked.”

The military siege in June 1984 was ordered by India’s then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The aim was to track down the militant separatist Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers who had holed up in the Golden Temple and to stifle the burgeoning Khalistan movement for an independent homeland.

According to official figures, around 400 people have died. Sikh groups dispute this figure and believe the death toll is several thousand.

Gandhi was later assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, apparently in retaliation for the bloodshed at the temple. This in turn sparked days of anti-Sikh riots across India in which several thousand people died. The deadly incident also sparked years of violence and unrest in Punjab.

Bitter feelings remain

Even 40 years later, bitterness and resentment over the attack remain strong within the Indian Sikh community, even among the younger generation.

“The Indian state has attacked a pilgrimage temple – a place of peace,” said 24-year-old student Manmohan Singh.

“They used tanks, helicopters and commandos. In full force. To kill Sikhs,” added his friend Harmandeep Singh, who had travelled from the Punjab town of Moga, more than 100 kilometres away, to attend the ceremony.

“Why was it necessary for the police to enter this area?”

Satpal Singh Danish, 75, was a photojournalist in Amritsar at the time and documented the days-long attack by the armed forces after the first shots were fired on June 1, 1984.

It was difficult to estimate how many army officers had surrounded the temple in the days before the attack because they were scattered across different locations, he told CBC News.

But when the military stormed the building, everything suddenly became clear.

“I realized that this was a war,” he said. Fear in the city was enormous, the photographer recalled, especially when residents realized that the military operation was “an attack on a religious site … that cannot be eradicated.”

For 81-year-old Beant Singh, whose brother was killed in the military attack on the temple, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attend the annual memorial ceremonies due to his age.

But the pain associated with Operation Blue Star will never go away, he said in an interview.

Singh’s brother, Sabeg Singh, was a former Indian Army general who was suspended and subsequently joined militant Sikh leaders.

“We were not even allowed to see (my brother’s) body and the government did not give us his belongings,” Singh said.

“This is a huge black mark on Indira Gandhi’s shoulders and on the Indian government,” he said. His community will “never forgive” the government, he added.

Discrimination continues

Forty years after Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple, some of those attending Thursday’s ceremony – held every year on June 6 to commemorate the main day of the attack – felt that the current government under newly re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuing discrimination against Sikhs.

“There is no big difference between Indira Gandhi’s government and the present government,” said 19-year-old student activist Harshwinder Singh.

Singh believes there is a double standard in the nationalist rhetoric of the Hindu majority compared to the Sikh minority, who make up 1.7 percent of India’s population but are the majority in the state of Punjab.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other politicians speak directly about Hindu Rashtra on the stage,” Singh said, referring to the ruling BJP’s rhetoric that India is primarily a Hindu nation. “And nothing happens to them. But when the Sikhs demand Khalistan, they are put in jail.”

He is referring to Amritpal Singh, a self-proclaimed preacher and Khalistani activist who has emerged as the successor to Bhindranwale, the Sikh leader killed during Operation Blue Star.

Amritpal Singh was the subject of a weeks-long manhunt in April 2023 before he was caught and detained. He ran from his prison cell as an independent in the recent Indian general election and won a seat.

The son of one of Indira Gandhi’s murderers, Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, also secured a seat in the Indian parliament.

WATCH | “Fear of brutal measures, fear of harassment”:

For others, the ceremony commemorating Operation Blue Star is not about politics but about educating future generations.

“We have to remember this,” said newlywed Prableen Kaur, who is coming to Amritsar from India’s capital Delhi. “We must not let this happen again.”

She said this was especially important under an Indian government that does not always show consideration for its religious minorities.

“Sikhs are still a minority in this country, and in this nation you never know.”