NEW DELHI: BJP leader and senior advocate HS Phoolka has challenged Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s account of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence and Operation Blue Star in her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, alleging that some of the details contradict official records and historical documents.He has questioned her account of when the Army was called in following Indira Gandhi’s assassination and also disputed her description of the former prime minister’s emotional reaction to Operation Blue Star.Speaking to news agency ANI, Phoolka said he had received several calls from media organisations seeking his response to Sonia Gandhi’s account that the Army was called in on October 31, 1984, the day then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated.“I got several phone calls from media. They said Sonia Gandhi has written that during the 1984 Sikh massacre, the Army was called on 31st October itself. I have purchased the book to read whether this is indeed written in the book. If this is written in the book, it is against the records. It is absolutely false,” Phoolka told ANI.Referring to the Misra Commission’s findings, Phoolka maintained that the Army was formally called in only on the evening of November 1 and reached the affected areas in significant numbers on November 2.Phoolka also cited the commission’s observations on the availability of Army personnel in Delhi during the violence.“Misra Commission stated that 5,000 Army personnel were available within Delhi and they were not deployed. Misra Commission stated that had they been deployed, lives of 2,000 Sikhs could have been saved,” he said.The Misra Commission found that an additional Army brigade of around 1,600 personnel had reached Delhi from Meerut before midnight on October 31, 1984.However, the Delhi administration delayed formally requisitioning Army assistance. The Army became operational in parts of central and south Delhi by the evening of November 1, while five additional brigades arrived on November 2. The commission observed that deploying around 5,000 available Army personnel on the morning of November 1 could have prevented at least 2,000 deaths.”Phoolka also questioned Sonia Gandhi’s account of Indira Gandhi’s alleged remorse following Operation Blue Star, the military operation carried out at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar in June 1984.In her memoir, Sonia Gandhi reportedly recounts seeing Indira Gandhi watching a slow-motion recording of the operation’s aftermath, with tears in her eyes. She describes the former prime minister’s emotional reaction as an expression of pain and regret over the loss of lives during the operation.
Disputing this account, Phoolka said it did not appear to be consistent with the historical record. He referred to a fact-finding report prepared by a team led by former Supreme Court judge Justice VM Tarkunde in September 1984, which he said included postmortem reports documenting the aftermath of the military operation.“This doesn’t seem to be true. In September, Justice Tarkunde’s team wrote a fact-finding report on Operation Blue Star. Actual postmortem report was included in the report. The entire team was arrested and the report was banned,” he told ANI.Questioning the account of Indira Gandhi’s remorse, Phoolka further said, “If you look at the actual facts, you won’t find any regrets or tears. It might be crocodile tears.”