Sikh activists clash with members of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee ( SGPC) during commemorations for the 30th Anniversary of Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on June 6, 2014. PHOTO: AFP
At least two people were wounded in the violence, according to an AFP photographer at the temple in the city of Amritsar, which is the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion.
Hundreds of Sikhs had gathered at the shrine to pay their respects to those killed in the June 6 1984 raid of the temple by Indian troops aimed at flushing out armed separatists demanding an independent Sikh homeland.
"Today we were supposed to have a solemn remembrance for the martyrs of 1984 so what has happened is very sad," said a spokesperson for a radical Sikh outfit called the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) whose supporters were involved in the clashes.
"The Temple has once again been dishonoured today," the spokesperson Prem Singh Chandumajra told reporters.
Television footage showed two groups of Sikhs sporting blue and saffron turbans chasing each other with swords on the marbled staircase of the revered shrine in Punjab state.
The clashes broke out after members of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) insisted they be allowed to speak on the microphone first.
The NDTV network put the number of injured at 12, adding that the situation had soon been brought under control when extra security was deployed inside the temple.
At least 400 people were killed in the army's infamous Operation Blue Star.
The army's operation enraged Sikhs who accused the troops of desecrating the faith's holiest shrine.
India's prime minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her own Sikh bodyguards in October 1984 in revenge for the operation.
Her assassination triggered mass anti-Sikh riots in which some 3,000 people were killed, many of them on the streets of New Delhi.
On Thursday, supporters of several radical groups carried out a 'Genocide Remembrance Parade' around the streets of Amritsar, shouting slogans to hail the "martyrs" of 1984.
Despite the outrage over the Golden Temple raid, support for an independent "Khalistan", or the land of the pure, has waned in the last three decades.
Support for the independence movement remains strong among sections of the Sikh diaspora in Britain, Canada and the United States.
Kuldip Singh Brar, the commander of Operation Blue Star, was seriously injured in 2012 when he was stabbed on a London street. A Sikh gang was found guilty of the attack which was to avenge the 1984 raid.
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@John B:
You are putting out lot of crap! The Nation of Sikhs have often shown the quality of their backbones but very seldom the right intelligent nuance. They normaly fight in their own temples, we have of witnessed several incidences in Europe. They were fools to opt for India, leaving their homes in Punjab and were massacred on the orders of the Hindu Prime Minister. This resulted in a mass migration of its community seeking asylum across the world. They are unsuitable for integration and are now being used for atrocities in Kashmir against muslim population. .
Rex Minor
@Hilarious:
Hilarious of you to think that deaths caused by sword-fighting aren't newsworthy in this age and time. Tragically funny!
I'm glad this made headline news across the world, Shame on this so called Sikh Leaders.
@Hilarious: I think ET has realised that many Indians have an obsession with Pakistan and are just trying to cash in on it.
I am always surprised when a news report that narrates the background of a story tweaks it to bias the opinion of the new readers who have no idea of the true event. Here are the facts: The kalistan movement was funded by PAK across the border, with separatists taking refuge there, supported by NRI Sikh community in UK and Cannada and possibly in the US in 80s which started off as a displeasure over revenue sharing between the Punjab state and the Federal Govt. Many Hindus who lived in Punjab were targeted by Sikhs and killed by the sikh extremists, and many policemen were deputed from other states of India because of the collapse of local law and order and got killed.
The temple was used for arms cache and India did the right thing to curb it at early stage. The price for that was very high for India. The news report also fails to mention that Sikh extremists in Canada bombed an AI flight and the bomb was placed in Toronto and the conspirators and financiers were never brought to books except one or two on minor charges in Canada after procrastinated trial, influenced by the local politics in Canada. I may add AI has never resumed the flight operation to Toronto after that.
The riot in delhi following PM assassination was no excuse, but it was nothing compared to what havoc the kalistan separatists did in precious years.
I am surprised that the sikh commuity in India who never supported them even during the peak time of their activites are even allowing them into the temple today.
The operation blue star was not an "infamous" army operations as the report states. It was well thought out and many sikh soldiers got killed. The report narrates the background in a biased sympathetic manner to the separatists as if they were legitimate.
Kalistan organization is designated as terrorist organization, which is also not mentioned.
The interesting fact is that after the movement was curbed Punjab prospered and the Indians moved on very quickly. Now and then the Sikh diaspora in UK, Canada and in the US wanted selective justice for Delhi riot victims but never once morned the one they killed in India and in AI flight.
at the same time almost no sikhs are left in pakistan
Religion is worst then drugs.Gangs of religions have destroyed humanity in whole world.
ET may as well start reporting the weather in various cities in India now that so much coverage is given to everything happening here. No end to your obsession, is there?
Fight against drugs , not among yourself over speaker . When you do such things , you send a wrong message to the NRIs settled abroad .