Senior Congress leader and former party president Sonia Gandhi's highly anticipated and much discussed autobiography, Belonging: A Journey of Love, has consistently remained a major talking point across political corridors and media platforms. In this compelling book, she has candidly addressed several crucial and sensitive matters, including her close relationships with members of the illustrious Gandhi family, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and the intricate dynamics of national politics. The book also features a prominent and detailed mention of the 1984 Operation Blue Star carried out at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, where she has revealed that the then Prime Minister and her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, was deeply distressed by the military action and that she witnessed her face soaked in tears.
Operation Blue Star was executed in the holy city of Amritsar, Punjab, during the first week of June 1984. During that turbulent period, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a militant leader demanding a separate nation called Khalistan, along with several of his heavily armed supporters, had fortified themselves inside the Golden Temple complex. Consequently, to rescue this deeply sacred shrine from the clutches of these separatists and armed militants, a massive military operation had to be launched. However, the outcomes of this military intervention proved to be far-reaching and tragic, triggering widespread anguish and profound anger among the Sikh community. Just a few months after this historic event, on October 31, 1984, the sitting Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was brutally assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards, which immediately sparked massive anti-Sikh riots across the national capital and various other parts of the country.
Tears of remorse seen in Indira Gandhi's eyes
Sonia Gandhi has made a major and striking claim regarding Operation Blue Star in her book. She writes that when the then Prime Minister and her own mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, were shown photographs and footage of the massive devastation and destruction left behind inside the Golden Temple complex following the bloody military action, tears welled up in her eyes. Recalling that poignant moment, Sonia Gandhi writes that about a week after the tragic incident, an intelligence officer screened a special film for Indira Gandhi depicting the post-incident situation on the ground.
Detailing the visuals of that film, Sonia Gandhi notes that it showed lifeless bodies lying scattered on the ground, including the corpse of Bhindranwale, who had been killed during the fierce conflict, while Also, the film displayed heavy fortifications, underground tunnels and traps constructed beneath the floor from where continuous gunfire had been directed at soldiers, and massive stockpiles of heavy weaponry and rocket launchers that were still positioned at various outposts and fortified locations. Describing the profound psychological impact these visuals had on Indira Gandhi, Sonia writes, I could see her face, Indira's face, drenched in tears—tears of pain and remorse. I believe she was deeply sorrowful about the way the siege ended and the heavy loss of lives incurred during the operation.
Life's crucial aspects covered in 526 pages
Sonia Gandhi has not restricted her narrative merely to Operation Blue Star or political events; rather, this comprehensive 526-page autobiography encompasses numerous other vital and deeply personal dimensions of her life. The book has been published by the esteemed publishing house HarperCollins India. In her autobiography, Sonia has illuminated countless sensitive subjects, ranging from her early childhood days in post-war Italy and her marriage into the historic Nehru-Gandhi family to the tumultuous era of the national Emergency, the tragic assassination of her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, her complex relationship with her sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi, and her eventual unexpected entry into active Indian politics.
Sonia Gandhi has also addressed the anti-Sikh riots and the subsequent legal proceedings with notable candor in her book. She writes further that during that period and across several subsequent years, spanning the tenures of both Congress and anti-Congress governments alike, numerous commissions of inquiry were established. Formal criminal proceedings were initiated against several individuals, including members of the Congress party who faced serious allegations of inciting or directing the violence. On top of that, Sonia Gandhi mentioned that multiple criminal cases were also registered against members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh allegedly involved in the killings during these brutal riots. Out of the hundreds of First Information Reports registered at police stations, which record cognizable offenses and initiate the formal criminal justice process, four or five specific cases led to the formal arrest of Congress workers, out of whom one individual is still serving his prison sentence, while thus, Sonia Gandhi's autobiography brings several historical chapters of Indian politics into the public domain.