India, Oct. 12 -- Senior Congress leader and former home minister P Chidambaram on Sunday called Operation Blue Star a "mistake", adding former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ultimately paid the price for it with her life.

Speaking at an event, Chidambaram said, "No disrespect to any military officers here, but that (Blue Star) was the wrong way to retrieve the Golden Temple. A few years later, we showed the right way to retrieve the Golden Temple by keeping out the Army. Blue Star was the wrong way, and I agree that Mrs Gandhi paid with her life for that mistake."

Operation Blue Star, ordered by Indira Gandhi in June 1984, was launched to flush out militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar.

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