Thread by @KaurUdhoke

Deliberate burning of countless precious Books 📚 by Indian Army during Operation #Bluestar in #NeverForget1984

[A THREAD]

During the Operation Blue Star in 1984, the Sikh Ref­er­ence Li­brary was ran­sacked be­fore it was burnt by the Indian Army. It con­tained thou­sands of rare books, por­traits and man­u­scripts, many of them bear­ing sig­na­tures of the Sikh Gu­rus.

Among the other damaged articles were at least 2,500 handwritten birs (holy books) of the Guru Granth Sahib from the times of Guru Arjan Dev and Guru Gobind Singh; a sehra (ornament worn on the forehead) belonging to Sikh ruler Naunihal Singh from the early 1800s;

Around 12,613 rare books, including other manuscripts were lost including an 11th Century Gita and 50 miniature paintings. A gold jhallar (wall decoration) and a bunch of gold keys donated to the Golden Temple by Maharaja Ranjit Singh were damaged along with 25 pencil..

...sketches harking back to the age of the Sikh gurus; a handwritten gurbani (hymn book) of great religious and historic importance.

It was an attack by a nation state on a symbol of faith.

According to a list prepared by the SGPC, a chandoa (a diamond encrusted piece of cloth hung over Guru Granth Sahib) gifted by the Nizam of Hyderabad to Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the early 19th century was charred in the violence. It's cost was Rs 200 crore.

The lone survivor staffer of the library from 1984, Hardeep Singh, who served as a helper there from August 1981 to June 4, 1984, and then from 1989 to 1993, said he was in the library with Davinder Singh Duggal, the then in-charge, till 11 pm on June 4.

“After that, the army intensified the attack and imposed restrictions on civilians’ entry. It was impossible to go to the library in such a terrible situation.”

“As my residence was in proximity of the Golden Temple, I came to know that the library’s building was...

safe till June 6, but the material had been taken out from it. The army set the building on fire on June 7 at 10 am”