Op Bluestar anniversary: Bullet-hit Guru Granth Sahib put up for display at Amritsar's Golden Temple

Amritsar (Punjab) [India], June 3 (ANI): The bullet-hit 'bir' (scripture) of the Guru Granth Sahib has been put on display at the Golden Temple complex in Punjab's Amritsar to mark the 38 th anniversary of Operation Bluestar.

The Sikhs consider a physical copy of the Guru Granth Sahib as a living guru and treat it with the utmost respect. The physical copy is called Saroop or bir in Punjabi. 

The bir which was struck by a bullet during the operation conducted in 1984 has been put on display at the Sri Shaheed Ganj Baba Gurbaksh Singh Gurdwara, located near Akal Takht of the Golden Temple.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has put the bullet-hit bir on display for the second consecutive year for “darshan”. Last year, after 37 years, the sangat were given the darshan of the bullet-hit bir for the first time.

While speaking with ANI, head granthi of the Golden Temple Giani Gurmukh Singh, said that the bir will be put up on display daily from morning 9 am to evening 7 pm till June 5.

"We have put on display the bullet-hit bir, the bullet that had hit the bir, and the remains of the holy pages that were damaged because of it," he said.

Former senior vice-president of the SGPC Surjit Singh condemned the attack and said that these days bring back memories of the deep wounds the then Congress government gave to the Sikh community.

"The then Congress government inflicted deep wounds to the Sikhs by attacking Sri Harmandar Sahib and Sri Akal Takht Sahib in 1984. These wounds have not been, and will never be forgotten. The youth sees and knows the brutal assault carried out by the then government,” he said.

Thanking the BJP government for giving the community some justice after the '84 riots killed thousands, Surjit said, "1984 induced riots across India, killing thousands of Sikhs. We were never given justice. The BJP government has helped us achieve some justice by putting a few people behind the bars. We hope to get complete justice."

Meanwhile, the security has been heightened in Amritsar city ahead of the Operation Blue Star anniversary.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Amritsar, Parminder Singh Bhandal said that the paramilitary forces have been deployed in advance.

"We have got two teams of Rapid Action Force and two companies of Central Reserve Police... Check posts have been set up across the city," Bhandal said.

The Indian Army carried out Operation Blue Star in 1984 between June 1 and June 8. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, had ordered the military operation to flush out Sikh terrorists including Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who were accumulating weapons inside the premises of the Golden Temple. (ANI)