1984
1984:
A Reckoning Awaits
MINHAZ MERCHANT
Delhi's new Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, has demanded a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be set up to probe the genocide of Sikhs in 1984 following Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Rahul Gandhi in his interview to Arnab Goswami on TimesNow said “some Congressmen may have been involved” in the genocide.
Clearly, the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom deserves far more media, public and legal scrutiny than it has received.
Let me quote from a piece I wrote on September 3, 2012 to provide the background to the genocide:
Within hours of Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination, mobs began to gather in Delhi. Between the night of October 31 and the afternoon of November 3, over 3,000 Sikhs were killed in cold blood in Delhi alone. Well-known leaders of the Congress allegedly led the mobs. The lack of television coverage ensured few outside Delhi realised the full horror of what transpired in those three terror-filled days.
But the stories spilled out, bit by gruesome bit. The Sikh neighbour of the Delhi Bureau Chief of one of my magazines was within seconds of being beheaded. Our bureau chief, Atul Dev, himself a retired army major, stood his ground as the Sikh neighbour took shelter in his house in Nizamuddin West. The mob dispersed. Others weren’t as fortunate.
CBI counsel R.S.Cheema declared in open court, presided over by Additional Sessions Judge J.R. Aryan: "The Delhi police acted in a pre-planned manner and kept its eyes closed to the violence. Whatever action was taken by the police was taken against the people who helped the Sikhs. Police did not take action against the main culprits. No policeman recorded complaints. They did not interfere to help the victims. The riots were well-organised and backed by both the government and the police."
A genocide (1984, India-wide) and a riot (2002, Gujarat) can’t be compared ... as the apologists for both Rahul’s Congress and Narendra Modi’s BJP have been doing in order to absolve themselves of their own crimes of commission and/or omission.
But in both justice must be done.
For 1984, justice has not just been delayed, it’s been denied.
Rahul has done the nation a service by answering Arnab Goswami’s question on 1984 and putting the pogrom against the Sikhs back on the nation's conscience.
[Courtesy: The Economic Times. Edited for sikhchic.com]
February 2, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), February 03, 2014, 9:21 AM.
Rahul Gandhi is taking the stance that the Congress was not responsible for the murders of Sikhs, but claims it was instead trying to assist them. Seems like more historical revisionism in a country where lies flow faster than garbage in the Ganges. I wonder how much longer before this lie becomes the official stance of the Congress party in regards to its role in the 1984 pogroms.
2: Kaala Singh (Punjab), February 04, 2014, 10:47 AM.
Victory to the mobs, long live the world's largest mobocracy!