Fetch Your Copy Amritsar: Mrs. Gandhis Last Battle Authored By Mark Tully Offered As Publication

a bad book. I used this as one of the references for my undergrad History thesis, and unless u don't read this book and compare it to other historical books or articles u won't be able to see certain "mistakes" Tully was wrong on the numbers of deaths in the end, but who isn't.
Even the White Papers were, He was very critical on proclaiming Bhindranwale as a terrorist when in fact Babbar Khalsa plays a huge role prior to the attack of, Tully also dismissed the conflicts of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, He made them sound petty, as if Sikhs were asking for too much, When in matter of fact, there was more to the rivers, In order to understand why the Sikhs felt oppressed, in a way majority of the reasons reside in those regional conflicts, Regardless it was a good book, and he lays out everything perfectly in chronological order but it's not something one should solely deprive their opinions from, Excellent realtime narrative of Operation Blue Star as Golden Temple by Mrs Indira Gandhi government, I really enjoyed this book, which taught me a lot about an event I had previously known nothing about, I appreciated how the authors backed up their claims with credible evidence as far as I could tell and made an effort to display all sides of such a multifaceted issue and moment in history.
I came out of the book feeling like I knew each partys role and responsibility at at least a basic level,

The book was also pretty engaging, so Id recommend for anyone interested in diving into a deeply unfortunate moment in history and sorting out how the pieces fit together.
An unbiased work, highly recommended


This book contain so much of information on different topics like origin of Sikhism, about guru nanak and other sikh gurus, Harmandir sahib golden temple, maharaja ranjit singh, kohinoor, akali dal and other stuff about punjab.


The book clearly says that Indira Gandhi was assassinated because of her own bad political decision which she had taken then to take on other rival political parties in punjab.


In fact Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was the creation of Congress party who later became a burden for congress itself,

There is also information available about a subsect of Sikhism by the name of nirankari movement,

The book also includes pictures of golden temple , Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale,and other important personalities of punjab during that time,

There is also a separate chapter on the life of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale,

At the end Indira Gandhi was killed by her own bodyguards by the name of Satwant Singh amp Beant Singh, because of the destruction of the golden temple.


I will recommend you to read this book and enlighten yourself,

I hope u like the review,thanks for reading, Jai hind, Stating facts chronologically and calling out the government when need be this book takes a balanced approach towards the events that led to Operation Blue Star, What a mess.

Mark Tully and Satish Jacob have written an impressive account of the machinations that brought about the assault on the Golden Temple, the most sacred place in the Sikh religion, and the subsequent death of Indira Ghandi at the hands of her Sikh bodyguards.
This is all the more impressive in that the book came about a year after the events it was published in,

There is plenty of blame to go around, Officials at the Punjabi state level, the Indian national government, the Congress party, the Akali Dal a political party representing the Sikhs, the SGPC the body that managed the Golden Temple and Indira Gandhi herself, all took part in promoting, then placating, Jarnal Singh Bhindranwale, a dangerous Sikh preacher who eventually became a law unto himself and inspired and/or ordered a series terrorist acts in the state of Punjab.


Highly recommended for those wishing to learn more about modern Indian history, The precursor. The bloodbath. And the aftermath.
What bloody history!!!
Who was the villain, who was the hero Who knows !!!
Is the corpse of a villain any different from that of a hero Mark Tully and Satish Jacob , who ran the BBC's bureau in Delhi, here trace the long buildup to the storming the Sikh stronghold, the shifts of power within the Sikh community and effort of central government both to utilize and control them.
The book captures rise of Bhindranwale whose extremism played wedge between Sikh and Hindu, Sikh and Sikh and Punjab and India, the indecisiveness of Indira Gandhi who paid for the catastrophic aftermath with her life.
Tully and Jacob bring tragedy of Sikh from many arresting angles, They met Bhindranwale and many other central characters in the drama, They gathered eye witness account from every quarter to fill in this remarkable picture of what occurred and present their thought provoking analysis of what happened, It is really well written and informative, Book starts with a brief history of Sikhs, the long drawn roots of the movement, how it turned into terrorism, to the army operation and its aftermath, And how Punjab government machinery stood meek observer to inhuman killing of innocent people, As pointed out in the book political leadership of the time was more to blame Government did “too much too late”, Too much because they acted too late which closed all the moderate options, Too late because a movement of small issues was allowed to grow into terrorism, It is a must read to understand the blue star operation, An useful book which explains the basics of Punjab insurgency that ended up swallowing thousands of lives which includes the only woman Prime Minister we have had, Though published in,the Amritsar's conclusions still hold value for today's India, There is a line by Mark Tully : " Rajiv Gandhi wants to take India into thest century, He will have to bring the institutions of India into theth century first, " Sadly, Rajiv Gandhi's name can be replaced by the names of all successive prime ministers and the line will still sound true, Who to blame for the Murders, Riots, Operation Blue Star and Assassintaaion of Indra Gandhi

One can say that even SubInspector Beant Singh was a victim himself, carried away by the anger which swept through the Sikh community, anger he had done nothing to create.
It was the creation of those who had taken on the responsibility for leading the Sikh community and of those who had taken on the responsibility of governing India, It is very tempting simply to blame Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his brand of Sikh fundamentalism which was nurtured by hatred of Hindus but fundamentalism does not exist in a vacuum.


A must read if you want to know about Backward and Aftermath of the Operation Blue Star, I must say Author had been unapologetic throughout, book gives account of origin of Sikhism, Gurus, Hari Mandir sahib Golden temple Where Hari is referred to Bhagwan Vishunu and it was four doors, which represent the four varna, Ranjit Singh, Sikhs during the Independence struggle Which will raise question on sikhs say “Asi hindu nu bachaya si” Because Sikhs were loyal to the Britishers, Akali Dal, Bhindranwale and his hindumisia, Murder of those who oppose / critics Bhindranwala, Blue Star and the Mutiny in the Indian army.


And I would like to mention what MP Mrs Amarjit Kaur wrote after the Operation Blue Star Which I personally agree with

“Actually the blow to the Sikh community has been quite profound.
We thought we were the cat's whiskers, The saviour of all. But now it was seen that we did not have the guts to face the situation, We the Sikhs should have been the ones to throw Bhindranwale out of the premises of the Golden Temple, We are now finding it difficult to admit our own failure, Our socalled dynamism and bravery has disappeared, ”

Adding to her statement, Fortification of Akal takht, Occupying the rooms above the Guru Granth Sahib, Manufacturing of the weapons in the temple complex, Killing in the temple complex, throwing grenades over civilians after they had surrendered.
Why didnt the sikh stand against it, some did and they were killed,
The way the writers had put forward the events leading to events in Amritsar is just mind boggling, The good part about this book is that the writers have tried to showcase the events from different points of view and didn't seem to pass a judgment on anyone.
Appreciated the book. Reasonably unbiased account. I strongly recommend this for people who do not have any background knowledge of Punjab insurgency, Since it is one of the earlier books on the subject, it does not throw any new light on it, Most of the facts and interpretations are fairly well known and are in the public domain by now, A great resource to develop basic understanding of the events leading to Operation Blue Star and the overall militancy problem in Punjab, The interpretations and analysis closely resemble those of M J Akbar in 'The Siege Within',
Only one real blemish Mark Tully's soft corner for Mrs Gandhi and her policies is evident, Presentation of facts that explain Mrs, Gandhi's culpability in the whole affair is unbiased, the interpretations are a touch merciful to her, The writer was way too optimistic about Rajiv Gandhi back then, something evident in the last chapter, Can't really blame him for that, everyone in India had the very high hopes from Rajiv back in the day, This is one book I have been waiting for too long, Stark and unapologetic about why this book is needed, the author is clear about the importance of writing this book, Appreciate the research that went into writing bold book as this,

Also read Blood for Blood: Fifty Years of the Global Khalistan Project by Terry Milewski I had always wondered about the reasons for Army's action in Operation Blue Star.
This is a wonderful book detailing the history behind the storming of Golden Temple complex by the Army which also was a major cause for a rise in extremism in Punjab.


It chronicles the events leading to the decision of the Congress government to direct the Army to enter the temple to flush out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his band of terrorists.


It was a blot on the government and the most bitter consequence was the assassination of Indira Gandhi, It details the roles played by Akali Dal, Congress government, the Indian Army, Harcharan Singh Longowal, Zail Singh, Gurcharan Singh Tohra and significantly of Bhindranwale and his rise to notoriety.


Mark Tully and Satish Jacob, who used to work for BBC, has narrated a first hand account of the events leading up to one of the darkest moment in Indian history and it is truly commendable.
The only minor irritant in the kindle version was the spellcheck errors which crept in, Being seasoned writers and journalists, the book would have been definitely edited thoroughly, So it might have been inadvertently crept in the electronic version, This can be a reference book for history buffs and people who are keen to learn about Operation Blue Star, Read this book to understand operation blue star, "Twentieth century ideologies like progressive capitalism, socialism and even communism exist only in name in India, They have not taken any genuine political form, So those who fear for their traditional privileges and those whose expectations of a better life are frustrated fall back on the ancient divisions of Indian society, caste and creed, to fight their battles.
" The book is very engaging, Authors have given multiple point of views for all course of actions, As it is written by reporters, so they have provided access to then ground level as well political class opinions, Assessments and inferences are value neutral as well as objective for most of the part,

But author being British has made allusions to black hole tragedy, This incident was used to rouse British public opinion by English press against Nawab Siraj ud daulah, This theory is completely rejected by historians of independent India, So it was unfortunate that author used it,
Author explained how Indira Gandhi,akalis and other politicians created a situation that gained momentum of its own and it went beyond their control, It also give good insights about communalism in India and why it is a political problem,
All in all it is a good read,

After visiting the Golden temple, I was very keen to know more about operation blue star How and Why At what cost to human life and sentiments of Sikhs What is achieved

Mark Tulley, a very experienced journalist of BBC in India, explains it really well.
I could get answers to these questions at a high level but in a bit more detail, The interviews of various people involved in this gave the perspective from all dimensions, Yikes. Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was a terror,

Firstly, it was interesting to read an account of aevent written in, Life certainly seemed different back then, Those that tended to autocracy were reined in by other parts of society, I was amazed to read fearless critiques of politicians by serving army officers, journalists and even bureaucrats, India needs that again.

Secondly, the book is very well written for the most part, Covers bits of Indian politics, Sikhism and profiles of the dramatis personae, It calls everyone out for their failings, yet does not shy away from admitting that some decisions were the right ones to take despite being damn tough to take,

The opening section of the book describing Mrs Gandhi's death had me completely hooked,

Minor annoyances include a myriad of typographical and spelling errors, and a rather lengthy and boring chapter on the fallout of Operation Blue Star,

Solid read, though, Highly recommended. A must read if you want to know about Operation Bluestar's background and aftermath, Mr. Tully's writing style with tightly packed well researched information makes this book looks like a fiction and reads like one too, I learned a lot about Sikh and Punjab history through this book, The highlight of this book are the chapters, "Sikhs" and "Operation Bluestar". The later revealed lot of hour by hour account of the unknown information about this operation,
What saddened me the most was to learn that like always ,in the name of politics an easily reconcilable and avoidable issue was not solved on time which resulted in bloodshed of so many.

Highly recommended. .