Amritsar

Mrs. Gandhi’s last and most courageous battle was literally fought on a battlefield, unlike her earlier political battles at the ballot box. Under orders from the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple Complex in Amritsar on the night of 5th June 1984. The army began pounding the historic Ramgarhia Bunga at dawn and virtually reduced the Akal Takht to a pile of rubble by the morning of 7th June, when the forces had full control of the Golden Temple. The Indian Army, along with the Border Security Force and the Central Reserve Police Force, had been called in by Indira Gandhi to eliminate Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Bhindranwale had been accused of stockpiling weapons in the Golden Temple and starting a major armed uprising.