The khalistani movement started by the bhindrawale and his supporters where the main cause for attacking them. indian intelligence agencies had reported that three prominent figures in the operation, shahbeg singh, a court martialled indian army personnel who fought the major battles for india , balbir singh and Amrik singh, referred to in reports as the `prominent heads for the khalistani movement`. the weapons where provided by shabeg singh at Akal Takht. the intelligence agencies reported that the training was given in gurudwaras of jammu and kashmir.
On june 1 1984 after negotiations with the militants failed, Indira Gandhi rejected the Anandpur resolution and ordered the army to launch the operation blue star, simentanously attacking scores of sikh temples across the india. 0n june 3 the units of army sorrounded the golden temple complex. the officers stance of army was that warnings where made to facilitate the evacuation of pilgrims but no surrender or release occured by june 5 1984 at 7.00 pm.. the army assault on the operation ended on june 8. a clean up operation codenamed operation woodrose was then initiated throughout punjab. heavily fortified Akal Takht, after a 24 hr long fight the army gained the control of golden temple complex.
It is reported that the casualty in army army where 83 deaths and 249 injured. the government issued white paper stated that 1592 militants were apprehended and there were 554 combined militant and civilian casualties, much lower than independent estimates which were 18000 to 20000.
The military action where criticized by the sikhs worldwide.. many sikh soldiers in the army deserted thier units, several sikhs resigned from the civil services posts. and after five months of the operation blue star on oct 31 1984 the prime minister Indira Gandhi was shot death by her bodyguards satwant singh and Beabt singh. which resulted into the killings of morethan 3000-18000 sikhs across india in anti sikh riots.