Fake News and Religion: The Making of Operation Blue Star — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

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Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Fake News and Religion: The Making of Operation Blue Star

Name: Flynn Castellanos
Major: History
Hometown: Beach Park
Faculty Sponsor: Stephanie Mitchell
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis

Abstract

This research will look at how the rhetoric, legal policy, and political correspondence between parties and their discourse with the wider national community was misinterpreted or misconstrued, leading to the horror of Operation Blue Star in Amritsar, India, in 1984. Significant research into the topic has suggested several explanations for Operation Blue Star; political debate, economic crisis, foreign intervention, religious persecution, and social distress to name just a few. However, this thesis will specifically examine how all the major parties involved misunderstood their opponent’s stance on key issues, creating a snowball effect that built up to the disaster of Operation Blue Star. Those parties include the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Indian National Congress party, the Khalistan movement leaders, and the infamous Sikh preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Primary sources include memoirs and accounts from historical actors, prominent newspaper magazines, government documents, and transcribed recordings of Bhindranwale’s speeches and conversations.

Poster file