New Delhi : A book that documents Shiromani Akali Dal president Simranjit Singh Mann’s stay in a prison and the story of his family in the aftermath of the Operation Bluestar was launched in Delhi.
Authored by his daughter Pavit Kaur, the book titled Stolen Years: A Memoir of Simranjit Singh Mann’s Imprisonment has been published by Random House India.
Priced at Rs.399, the 239-page book was launched here Thursday evening.
“This book tells about my father’s stay in the prison. This is also a personal story. A story of our family during the most trying times,” Pavit Kaur said at the launch.
“I hope this book opens the way to discourse for those who suffered at that time (during Operation Bluestar),” she said.
In 1984, Mann resigned from the Indian Police Service in protest the Operation Bluestar when heavily armed terrorists led by separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale were flushed out of the Golden Temple complex by the Indian Army. The operation was ordered by then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Mann was subsequently charged, among other things, with conspiracy to assassinate Gandhi, which forced him to go underground. He was apprehended while trying to flee the country and spent five years in prison, after which all charges were dropped.
Speaking at the launch, Mann dedicated the book to all the Sikhs who were a witness to the “terror” that followed Operation Bluestar.