Every year in the first week of June, something shifts in the air over Amritsar. It is not the security cordons, not the police flag marches, not the official advisories. It is something older and heavier, the return of a memory, mourning and an unfinished chapter of 1984.
In government records, it is called Operation Blue Star. Among millions of Sikhs across Punjab, the diaspora in Canada, Britain and California, it is remembered as a "Ghallughara", a collective wound linked to faith, identity and dignity. The choice of that word is not incidental; it is an argument.
The word Ghallughara has deep historical meaning in Sikh memory. It is generally used for a large-scale massacre or collective destruction faced by the Sikh community. Sikh history remembers the Chhota Ghallughara of 1746 and the Vadda Ghallughara of 1762, when thousands of Sikhs were killed during a period of persecution.
Operation Blue Star was carried out in June 1984 inside the Sri Darbar Sahib complex in Amritsar. The official position was that the operation was meant to flush out armed militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and others who had taken positions inside the complex.
Punjab in 1984 had been bleeding through a very tense period of militant violence. The state had a security problem that required resolution. That much is not in dispute. But the choice of place and timing left a deep scar. For Sikhs, military action inside the holiest Sikh shrine was not seen only as a security operation, but as an emotional rupture linked to faith and dignity.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex gurdwara management body, along with the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, have, this year as in past years, appealed for the anniversary to be observed as Martyrdom Week, peacefully, within Panthic maryada, with remembrance and ardas. Akal Takht's officiating Jathedar, Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, has stressed unity and decorum. SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami had appealed to Sikhs and gurdwara management committees to observe the anniversary as Martyrdom Week from June 1 to June 6, to remember what the SGPC called the June 1984 Ghallughara.
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These are not the words of a community bent on separatism. They are the words of institutions trying to hold together a community that has real and legitimate reasons for grief.
There is another layer: law and order. For the Punjab Police, the anniversary is one of the most sensitive days in Amritsar's annual security calendar. Over the years, senior police officers, often up to DGP level, have personally reviewed arrangements in Amritsar. This year, the Amritsar Commissionerate Police also conducted a flag march across the city. Praveen Kumar Sinha, IPS, Special Director-General of Police (Law and Order), said the official objective is to ensure that remembrance remains peaceful.
In several past observances, pro-Khalistan slogans have been raised after ardas at the Akal Takht by activists of radical Sikh outfits. Traditionally, Dal Khalsa has given calls for Amritsar Bandh and taken out remembrance marches a day before June 6. For the 42nd anniversary in 2026, the organisation announced two-day events, including an Amritsar Bandh on June 6 for business, commercial and educational institutions, and a remembrance parade on the evening of June 5 from Burj Akali Phoola Singh.
The one thing that unifies this diverse landscape is the memory of 1984, not as a political programme, but as a wound. That wound will not heal because it is inconvenient. It will heal when it is recognised. Recognition does not mean capitulation; it means engagement. It means accepting that communities remember trauma through faith, emotion and lived experience. Healing cannot come by imposing official language on wounded memory. 1984 must be remembered with dignity. But its pain must not be used by those who want Sikhs and India to remain enemies forever.
This is where leadership matters. The SGPC, Akal Takht, scholars, politicians, and the Indian government all have a role to play. Peaceful mourning is not a threat. But grief must not be turned into a call for violence. The difference between remembering and inciting must be respected by everyone.
The government must also understand that healing cannot happen in a single statement or ceremony. It requires real, ongoing conversation with Sikh thinkers, farmers, youth, diaspora communities, and religious leaders. It requires honest language. It requires justice, for which Sikhs are waiting far too long. It requires putting real investment into Punjab, so its young people have a future worth staying for.
So the real question is not just what this word "Ghallughara" means; the real question is why, after more than forty years, it still hits so hard.
It hits hard because Sri Darbar Sahib and the Akal Takht are not just structures. They are the heart of Sikh faith, identity, and dignity. And it hits hard because June 1984 did not end in June. It was followed by November 1984, when thousands of Sikhs were killed in organised violence across India, violence that many survivors and Sikh groups call genocide. That second blow deepened the wound and the feeling of betrayal.
For many Sikhs, Operation Blue Star remains a Ghallughara because it struck their holiest place, damaged the Akal Takht, took lives, and broke something deep inside the community.
Punjab does not need more anger. It needs responsible remembrance, justice that is honest, and reconciliation that is real. The goal is not to forget. The goal is to understand. Because a wound does not heal with silence. It heals with recognition.
(Ravinder Singh Robin is a broadcast journalist with over two decades of experience in covering Punjab, Sikh affairs, border issues, India-Pakistan relations and international developments.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.
