Operation Bluestar: A story of courage, miscalculations, and sights nightmares are made of — Part 2

I grew up reading India Today . It’s a privilege for my sons generation to be told these stories by you . They don’t make journalists like you any more . You are our Shirer

Just a suggestion to ThePrint team. I think SG should be doing a separate series called "SG Files", a recollection of his interesting experiences & stories of all his reportage, rather than making this CTC.

Honestly, this was gut wrenching. SG's narration brings out the pain of a horrendous time in Indian history, which we hope and wish never ever happens again.

I almost cried while listening to this. This has to be a master class in journalism. Mr. Gupta I just tell you how envious I am of you. Although I work as a IT professional I once dreamt of being a journalist and oh my god you are so fortunate to see so many unfortunate stories in front of you and tell us the young generation like dadu or Nanu would tell us about family legacy. Along with CTC please give us something from your stories atleast once a week.

The mention of 26 Madras was significant to me. My battalion took over the Kargil Defended Area from 26 Madras in 1995. I had the privilege as a 2nd Lieutenant (we had that rank back then) - "baby of the battalion" as you put it - of being part of the advance party and of taking over a company post from (then) Capt Shanmugham of 26 Madras.

For me the best videos are those where Shekhar sir just tells us an interesting story.

Please more of these Mr SG, no one does it better than you, thank you for all you do to keep us better informed.

As a country with a very large population that were either too young, remote or not born it is so important (perhaps gory) to know this chapter so recent yet not in memory of many... Everytime killings of any kind from mob lynching to riots to anything it's our people dying .. there can be better ways to co-exist.. must we see such things again and have another generation of traumatized indians before we be careful in how unaccommodating we are (self check thing) Thank you Shekar and print team And sorry about your traumas ... It's easy to forget that a journalist must have such profound mental impact on them so also appreciation and gratitude for the years persistent work

General Shabeg Singh didn't merely believe that he was victimized, he was actually victimized and dismissed, without any court marshal, from army disrespectfully just before the day of his retirement. He was acquitted of all the charges against him by Supreme Court. This shows that the story told by you couldn't be believed wholly as you might have missed or manipulated many things deliberately.

This is an absolute gem. A documented history which can be preserved and can be shared with generations. Love your episodes and it’s my morning routine while I get ready for work.

I was a witness to these sad and unfortunate events in 83-84. Thanks Shekhar Gupta for a very hard hitting account. It has brought tears to my eyes.

Episode is epitome of honest experiences and I am grateful for you to share them. Life is short to learn from mistakes, especially when they have already been made before.

Incredibly detailed story telling by SG leaving unforgettable imprints in the mind. “Moral dimension to leadership“ in intrinsic to military leadership and is so much different from what we generally see in business and political leadership . But on rare occasions when moral dimension of leadership is actually there in a business or political leader, the result is magical. Learnings of Leadership actually stems from military leadership. Thank you SG for a wonderful episode of CTC.

Shekar Gupta - you are a national treasure!! 👏🏿 I was only 7 yrs old back then…and living in south India. My knowledge of this history has been poor. Your recent episodes on the current situation in Punjab couching it in historical context has been a brilliant history lesson! A history that our citizens, especially younger ones should know, and wow to never let happen again. Kudos to your entire team for this brilliant piece. I’m renewing my subscription!

Sant jairnail singh bhindrawale was the bravest saint soldier of 20th century

Mr. SG, i grew up reading India today and honestly, your columns were the most favourite. This two part episode is like a movie and nobody could have done this better than you. Thank you so much for shedding light on this very important & painful history of our country 🙏

I had streams of tears flowing through my eyes at the end of the episode. Thank you SG for such a detailed report. We can never fully understand the magnitude of the catastrophe of 1984 and the aftermath.

The small Sikh community in the south were also affected and not to be forgotten. I was 7, but remember seeing the burnt Gurudwara at Coimbatore, and it still makes me angry.

What a solid narration Mr Shekhar. This brings back the memory of those horrific times we all Punjabis lived through. Have always tried to encourage the younger generation to stay away from radicalism but your narration of facts is powerful and I hope and pray that all Punjabis watch this more so the young ones. Regards

After listening to ur experience, general brar's interview and subramanian swamy 's interview my conclusion so far is that Russia inspired Indira Gandhi to take on this Mission (high chances), bhinder wala wasn't pure separatist but govt thought him to be a threat, whole situation was created by incompetence govt in center and state, army was sent at the last moment when everything was mess, army tried their best to solve the situation with less casualties but they couldn't handle the mission properly. A mistrust appeared from both sides, sikhs now hated Hindus and Indians were fed that Sikhs were separatist.