Operation Bluestar was aimed at neutralising militant Sikh preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale and his band of armed supporters ensconced in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar. ... The assassination triggered anti-Sikh riots in which some 3,000 people were killed, many of them on the streets of New Delhi.

Why Golden Temple was attacked?

The Golden Temple, known as the Harmandir in India, was built in 1604 by Guru Arjun. ... To suppress the separatist revolt, which had claimed more than 400 Hindu and Sikh lives and virtually shut down Punjab, Prime Minister Gandhi ordered Indian troops to seize control of the Sikh bases by force in June 1984.

How many Indian soldiers died in Operation Blue Star?

The most reliable estimates of the total number of deaths during Operation Bluestar range from 5,000 to 7,000. It was a tragedy that could have been avoided if – and it is a big if – Indira Gandhi had had the vision to reach a political settlement with the moderate Akali leadership.