‘Khushwant played key role in defusing tension after Bluestar’

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday recalled the crucial role played by eminent writer Khushwant Singh in defusing tensions in Punjab in the wake of Operation Bluestar.

Turning nostalgic as he recounted several of his personal interactions with late Khushwant Singh while launching a book on the author, the CM said a general feeling of bitterness prevailed in the state at that time and a team was appointed to bring down tempers, with Khuswant being a prominent member of it.

“One of the important legacies left behind by Khushwant was that he believed in truth, and what he wrote was simply truth,” he said.

“The author and his books will live in the hearts and minds of people till posterity,” the chief minister said. In response to a question on Khushwant’s decision to support the imposition of emergency and sterilisation in India, Captain said while one could agree or disagree with the methods adopted at that time, the fact was that population was a matter of serious concern and needed to be dealt with.

“Khushwant was a man who spoke straight from his heart and that was a quality everyone admired,” he said.

The chief minister was guest of honour at the launch of ‘Khushwant Singh: In Wisdom and in Jest’, a book co-authored by Vijay Narain Shankar and Onkar Singh. He was joined on the dais by former Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and former attorney general Soli Sorabjee.