At 7:30 am on June 6, 1984, the tanks opened fire. Bullets and shells peppered the walls of Sikhism's most sacred temple. Militants, Indian Army troops, and innocent bystanders fell in the deadly hail. The government of the world's largest democracy was using tanks against its own citizens in the Harmandir Sahib Complex, part of the holy Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. What sparked this bloodbath?

It began in 1983, when the Sikh militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale sought refuge from murder charges by moving into the Harmandir Sahib Complex with his followers, and beginning to fortify it. His ultimate political goal was the creation of a Sikh homeland, called Khalistan, in the Punjab. Bhindranwale and many of his followers believed that the Sikhs had been short-changed in the 1947 Partition of India, with some justification.  Partition created a Hindu nation (India) and a Muslim nation (Pakistan), but left the Sikhs without a country of their own.  However, the Sikh leader's first goal at the time was the passage of the Anandpur Resolution, which called for greater autonomy for Sikhs within India.

Bhindranwale attracted young militants to his cause, and riled them up with charges that they had become slaves to the Hindu majority. Some of the youths responded by attacking local police, and demanding protection money from Hindu villagers in the area. Hindus in the Punjab appealed to the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to do something about the Sikh radicals living in the Golden Temple.

Prime Minister Gandhi was in a difficult position.  Any attack on the holy temple would be sacrilegious, undoubtedly sparking outrage among Sikhs around the world, and likely leading to sectarian reprisals.  However, she needed to show her constituents that she was tough and decisive.  She continued political negotiations with Bhindranwale, while consulting with military leaders about storming the temple.

Meanwhile, Bhindranwale received tactical advice from a military leader, as well.  Former Major General Shabeg Singh of the Indian Army had been dismissed for alleged corruption; a devout Sikh, he led the military preparations at the Golden Temple for the anticipated assault.

Hostilities began on June 1, 1984, with local police and border guards firing on one of the buildings in the Golden Temple complex, killing eight people. Meanwhile, seven divisions of the Indian army sealed Punjab's borders with Kashmir and Rajasthan.  A media blackout covered all of Punjab, and all travel was suspended.  Water and electricity supplies were cut off, and foreigners were barred from entering the region on June 2.

On June 3, the army sealed off the entire Golden Temple complex. The following day, the army began firing at the fortified buildings within the compound with howitzers, while helicopter gunships circled above.  The Sikh defenders were armed with machine guns, anti-tank missiles, and rocket launchers, and put up a very stiff resistance.  When a large number of Sikh non-combatants tried to escape the compound, the army met them with tanks and armored personnel carriers; hundreds or perhaps even a thousand were killed. 

In the morning of June 5, the army began shelling the Harmandir Sahib complex itself. The police and border agents attacked the temple hotel and other buildings, seizing control of them.  In the middle of the night, beginning at 10 pm and continuing into the morning of June 6, the army launched a major three-prong attack on the main section of the complex.  They were met with machine gun cross-fire, and had to fall back initially.  Soon, the troops began to fire teargas at the defenders.  As Indian Army casualties mounted, the general in charge sent three tanks and an armored personnel carrier into the main complex.

Finally, on the fourth major assault of the night offensive, which took place around 7:30 am on June 6, the Indian Army managed to push the militants back.  They used tank rounds to destroy the Akal Takhat building, and burned the library of Sikh religious texts.  A number of Sikhs tried to escape the destruction, but were cut down with machine guns.  By the following day, the army had control of the complex, although a few defenders were still holed up in various places, firing at the troops.

In the aftermath of the bloody assault on the Golden Temple, several of the complex's buildings lay in ruins.  Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale lay dead.  The Indian government has never been forthcoming about its casualty numbers; at the time, it said that it lost 136 killed and 220 wounded, but years later it raised the death toll to 365.  Officially, 492 civilians died in Operation Blue Star, but unofficial estimates range from 5,000 to a rather unlikely 20,000.  In the week after the assault, army and police officers also fanned out across the Punjab and rounded up Sikhs who wore the ceremonial sword or dagger.  These men were assumed to have supported Bhindranwale, and some of them were summarily executed.

On October 31, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.  They acted in reprisal for the desecration of the Golden Temple.  Anti-Sikh riots broke out at the news, and an additional 3,000 Sikhs died in the chaos.  In the longer term, however, Operation Blue Star did essentially end the calls for an independent Khalistan among Sikhs in India.  Today, that cause is espoused primarily by the Sikh diaspora in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, and other countries.