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1984

India & Its 1984 Genocide:
30 Years On, Time for Indian Parliament to Make Amends?

MANOJ MITTA

 

 

 




In the wake of 911, the US Congress passed a resolution “condemning bigotry and violence against Sikh-Americans“.

Such a high-level gesture was made although the attacks on Sikh-Americans, even as they were confused for Arabs in that charged environment, had been sporadic and had, thankfully, led to only one fatal casualty.

This is in contrast to the disdain shown to Sikh-Indians 17 years earlier by the Indian Parliament in the wake of the 1984 Delhi carnage. Emboldened by the unparalleled majority obtained by it in the Lok Sabha election within two months of the bloodshed, the Rajiv Gandhi regime thought it fit to have a parliamentary resolution only to commemorate Indira Gandhi’s death.

Around the same time, in January 1985, the Indian Parliament also expressed concern about the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy. Thus, for the carnage in which the official death toll in Delhi alone was as high as 2,733, the country’s parliament did not pass any resolution condemning it.

The purpose of this comparison is not to suggest that “the world’s oldest democracy“ has been more virtuous -- or more respectful of human rights -- than “the world’s largest democracy“. Whatever the politics behind the congressional resolution concerning Sikh-Americans in the US, it does not detract from one historical irony: that India’s Parliament failed to take cognizance of a much larger scale of violence targeting the same community in India.

The upcoming 30th anniversary of the 1984 carnage provides an opportunity to the Indian Parliament to make amends for its shameful omission. It would be apt for it to pass a resolution on the 1984 carnage even at this belated stage, when the nation has, as they say, moved on.

True, the adoption of any resolution on the 1984 carnage after so many years would rob it of much of its potential to provide a healing touch to those victims who are still around. It may also be argued that the proposed resolution would not make a whit of a difference to the few legal battles that are still going on, including those relating to the alleged complicity of, inter alia, Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler.

But such a gesture from India’s parliament may have more than just a symbolic value, even if it cannot undo all the damage that has already been done.

At one level, the proposed resolution may send out a much-needed signal to the criminal justice system to end the impunity surrounding the 1984-related cases.

The total number of convictions so far for the main charge of murder is estimated to be no more than 30, in a dozen cases of the 1984 carnage.

An equally glaring indicator of the impunity is the specious grounds on which Sajjan Kumar, for instance, was acquitted last year by the trial court even after the complainant had given a credible explanation, supported by evidence, of how her attempts to name him in the immediate aftermath had been thwarted.

The significance of the proposed resolution, at another level, goes beyond the specifics of the injustice suffered by victims of the 1984 carnage. It’s about striking a blow for morality, amid the vagaries of working democracy in India.

Since the idea of teaching a lesson to Sikhs in 1984 had received an electoral endorsement, there was never any question of such a resolution during Rajiv Gandhi’s reign.

Even for the 25th anniversary in 2009, when a Congress-led coalition was headed by a Sikh (namely, Manmohan Singh), all official events commemorated only Indira Gandhi’s death.

But that kind of realpolitik does not apply to the Modi regime. If anything, the proposed resolution should serve as a chance to the BJP to highlight the fact that the largest ever instance of targeted violence had taken place in 1984 on the Congress party’s watch.

Yet, Modi may be wary of touching the 1984 issue because of his own baggage of the 2002 Gujarat carnage. In fact, in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election, it seemed that the two big parties had a tacit understanding to go easy on each other’s accountability, whether for 1984 or 2002. If he accepts the long-standing demand to memorialize the 1984 carnage in some official form, Modi runs the risk of someone from the opposition ranks clamoring for a similar reference to 2002.

The US, on the other hand, has a far better track record in confronting the ghosts of its past. Consider the enactment by the US Congress in 1988 providing an apology and restitution to Americans of Japanese ancestry who had been sent to internment camps during World War II.

Having visited Japan and the US in quick succession, Modi would do well to apply the 1988 and 2001 precedents to the Indian context.


[Courtesy: The Times of India. Edited for sikhchic.com]
October 31, 2014


 

Conversation about this article

1: Kaala Singh (Punjab), October 31, 2014, 12:56 PM.

The so-called Indian parliament is nothing but a congregation of criminals, scamsters, mass-murderers and rapists. Literally. Don't expect civilized behaviour from them. India's pseudo-democracy allows only criminals to attain political power. Elections are won by money-power and other electoral malpractices. Terrorizing the minorities is the best way to win an election in India as nothing else pleases the Hindu majority more than brutal violence against minorities. Examples: Congress gets absolute majority after the anti-Sikh genocide which is unprecedented. Shiv Sena comes to power for the first time in Maharashtra after brutal anti-Muslim violence. BJP consolidates its hold in Gujarat and elsewhere after anti-Muslim genocide ... and the list goes on. Bottom line is that unlike civil societies of other countries, the Hindu (un)civil society of India has not been able to civilize itself until now, this may be a consequence of thousands of years of slavery. The unsophisticated Sikh leaders of 1947 failed to understand this fact and condemned the Sikhs to live with this race to be killed and maimed for petty power and pelf.

2: G Singh (New Delhi, India), October 31, 2014, 2:07 PM.

What a difference a day makes. Modi refused to attend Indira Gandhi's memorial event and had the guts to side with the Sikhs. "...In the same country, 30 years ago, on the birth anniversary of the same leader something happened which cast a blow to the unity of the nation. "Haamare apne logon ko maut ke ghaat utar diya gaya ... Our own people were killed on that day. That incident was not a wound in the heart of any community. It was a dagger in the centuries-old fabric of India's unity," Modi said

3: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), October 31, 2014, 8:01 PM.

It looks as if it is time again for the Indian government to hand out some blood money. Five lakhs (Rs 500,000) for each affected person. I have spent more than that in a single shopping trip on a visit to the bazaars in Punjab.

4: G C Singh (USA), October 31, 2014, 11:45 PM.

Manoj Mitta is a very honest and truthful person who has stood up to the Indian establishment and exposed the criminals and their crimes against humanity and I am sure he means well when he proposes an apology or condemnation resolution in Parliament. But after 30 years, a few crocodile tears from mass murderers and their accomplices in the Indian Parliament are not enough to close the chapter of politically motivated murders of tens of thousands of innocent Sikhs by the Indian state. Some persons have also suggested the formation of a truth commission to "heal the wounds". But at this time the security of the Sikh nation is of paramount importance and it is clear as day light that the Indian army, police, paramilitary forces, judiciary and the country's media have been accomplices in the "great betrayal" and murder of tens of thousands of innocent Sikhs. The security of the Sikh nation can only be trusted in the hands of Sikh security forces. The ONLY way Sikhs can move forward is if Hindu India shares political, economic and, above all, military power with Sikhs as a third major force on the Indian continent so that no power on earth in their wildest dreams will even dare to even think about attacking Harmandar Sahib again, or conduct a genocide of the Sikh people.

5: Kaala Singh (Punjab), November 01, 2014, 12:06 AM.

It was interesting to see that nobody turned up to mark the death anniversary of "Mother India" Indira Gandhi except for the usual stooges like Manmohan Singh and others like Sonia Gandhi and her son who inherited billions of dollars of money stolen from the poor people of India. There was no representation from the Indian State. Where were all her illustrious sons who carried out a genocide of Sikhs to "avenge" their mother's death? Where were the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Mani Shankar Aiyar and Kamal Nath, et al, who spewed venom against the Sikhs? The "mother" must be turning in lair in hell, looks like everyone abandoned their "beloved" mother and herein lies a big fact, these were all paid lemmings who enjoyed the spoils of power and now their loyalties are now elsewhere. The rats, as they say, have abandoned the sinking ship. To say that the carnage of 1984 was a "spontaneous expression of outrage" is a lie. It was carried by paid criminals, paid for with public money and the money made through scams in Govt. contracts.But there is one thing for which we must thank Indira Gandhi and her equally "illustrious son" Rajiv, they jolted us out of our slumber and removed many of our misconceptions. Meanwhile, the news is, to mark the 30th death anniversary of their great mother, her loyal followers re-enacted 1984 in the infamous area of Trilokpuri in Delhi, where the entire Sikh population was wiped out in 1984, but this time not finding any Sikhs, they attacked the Muslims and, if you ask me, this is sadly not an unexpected way in Hindu India to mark the death anniversary of the "mother of death".

6: Hardev Singh (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada), November 01, 2014, 1:07 PM.

Well said, Kala Singh ji. Your comments are always insightful and interesting to read.

7: Kaala Singh (Punjab), November 03, 2014, 1:42 AM.

I dream of the day when the Sikhs will increase their numbers wherever they live and Sikh mobs will confront the mobs of these cowards. We will put the fear of God in the hearts of these creeps.

8: Kaala Singh (Punjab), November 04, 2014, 3:13 PM.

Thank you, Hardev Singh ji. I just try to put in my two cents.

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30 Years On, Time for Indian Parliament to Make Amends?"









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