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1984

Thirty Years Later, Daughter of President of India Feels Brave Enough to Disclose Crucial Info About 1984

INDIA TODAY

 

 

 

New Delhi, India

"The year 1984 was the most painful year for my father," says Dr Gurdeep Kaur, daughter of former President of India, Zail Singh.

Dr Gurdeep Kaur who now lives here with her engineer husband Surinder Singh Virdi, has now gone public to reveal that her father -- himself a Sikh -- was 'deeply hurt' both by Operation Bluestar and the anti-Sikh pogroms. His 'agony', she says, was that despite being the Supreme Commander of the Indian Defence Forces, he was neither consulted before Operation Bluestar nor could he, in spite of his best efforts, stop the massacres against innocent Sikhs.

"He was a very strong man and he could fight his own battles, but the Operation Bluestar was one that shook him and brought tears to his eyes".

Four days after Operation Bluestar, when he visited the Darbar Sahib and the Akal Takht, he came back 'devastated and in deep anguish'. He was 'shaken' by the 'damage' caused to the sanctum sanctorum, says Gurdeep Kaur.

While giving the firsthand account of events that unfolded at Rashtrapati Bhavan -- the Presidential Palace in New Delhi -- on the night of October 31, 1984, she said that her father was deeply perturbed over breaking out of the killings. He tried calling the Prime Minister's Office, the then Home Minister and other concerned authorities in a concerted effort to stop the atrocities being committed on innocent Sikhs.

She claimed that either his calls were not returned or lines were getting disconnected for reasons unknown, thus revealing  helplessness at that time of 'the Most Powerful Man' of independent India who also happened to be the Supreme Commander of the Indian Defence Forces.

Gurdeep Kaur maintained that her father was 'restless and had sleepless nights' as the mass and widespread killings of Sikhs spread across India unabated. She claimed that with no help or support coming from those who held authority, he tried to utilise his own limited resources including, sending out his bodyguards to rescue the victims. He also tried to send vehicles from Rashtarpati Bhavan for evacuating victims.

She added that he was also 'very upset' as many of the conventions and practices were being violated with impunity. She stresses that in the first 48 to 72 hours, no one including the Prime Minister turned up at Rashtarpati Bhavan to brief the President as is the convention even now in India.

She lamented that though her father was the Supreme Commander, he could not pass an executive order to call even a soldier to stop the massacres.

Gurdeep Kaur also made a revelation that when pressure was built on her father by various Sikh organisations to quit, he called a meeting of his advisors and family members. It was he who took the conscious decision in the larger interest of the nation in general and Sikh community in particular to stay put.

"Had he as supreme commander resigned at that time, there would have been chaos and Sikhs would have suffered immensely. It was because of his decision that Sikhs could become army heads and PM now," she suggested, making the outlandish claim without batting an eyelid.

 

Edited for sikhchic.com

February 4, 2014

Conversation about this article

1: Gurmeet Kaur (Atlanta, Georgia, USA), February 04, 2014, 10:06 AM.

What?? "Had he as supreme commander resigned at that time, there would have been chaos and Sikhs would have suffered immensely. It was because of his decision that Sikhs could become army heads and PM now." - Fool us once ...

2: Kaala Singh (Punjab), February 04, 2014, 10:45 AM.

Why did it take her 30 years to tell this, what relevance does it have today? Everybody knows her father was a stooge. At least he could have resigned, but he chose to continue enjoying the comforts of his Office and immediately after the carnage made a foreign trip.

3: MKS (New York City, USA), February 04, 2014, 11:48 AM.

Dr Gurdeep Kaur, although 30 years late, I welcome your speaking up about the anti-Sikh pogroms of 1984 during the time your father was the President of India. However, please don't waste our time in trying to paint a picture of your father doing what he did for the greater good of India or the Sikhs. His spineless decisions and behaviour helped neither India nor the Sikhs.

4: Rup Singh (Canada), February 04, 2014, 2:16 PM.

I commend Dr Gurdeep Kaur for being a loving daughter and not seeing any fault in her father. According to her, Zail Singh was powerless and unable to do anything for the Sikhs as the President of India, yet he considered it his duty to swear in Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister and stay on as President for the rest of the full term. Not resigning his post after what happened at Darbar Sahib and the genocide in New Delhi, and not uttering a word when atrocities were being committed against innocent Sikhs in Punjab and other states clearly implicates him. Zail Singh was Congress chief minister of Punjab 1972 to 1977. He was minister of home affairs January 1980 - June 1982. President from July 25, 1982 - July 25, 1987. So, to say he was powerless or not well-informed or his calls were never answered, these are nothing but childish excuses for a man who was part of a well-planned and organized genocide of a minority and in the destruction of their shrines.

5: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), February 04, 2014, 4:19 PM.

The only thing that Zail Singh's refusal to resign from the presidency showed was that the Congress could keep Sikh stooges even after raping and murdering thousands of them. Beant Singh (Chief Minister of Punjab), KPS Gill, Manmohan Singh and other so called Sikhs given high positions in Congress as stooges followed in the footsteps of Zail Singh.

6: Jay (London, United Kingdom), February 04, 2014, 6:10 PM.

I'm sorry to say this but Zail Singh was just a dog serving his Indian masters. Nothing else.

7: Raj (Canada), February 04, 2014, 11:29 PM.

With the exception of a few, the majority of our so-called leaders were and are "Jackasses".

8: Kaala (Punjab), February 08, 2014, 10:14 AM.

All the stooges and their progeny now coming out of the woodwork with their pathetic stories to gain our sympathy ... and to pull the wool over our eyes. Beware, guys!

9: Bhapinder Singh Parmar (London, United Kingdom), April 15, 2014, 11:35 AM.

Why wait 30 years to make such a statement? What Gurdeep Kaur needs to appreciate is this: her father continued to defend the indefensible. Did he call out for those responsible for the attack on the Golden Temple and the genocide upon his brother Sikhs to be brought to justice? What he actually did was to continue to align himself with those in authority who had orchestrated one of the worst state-sponsored pogroms in the modern era against a particular faith and its people and institutions. One has to ask, why? This was defended by the state on the trumped-up basis of fighting terrorists. Those who wore turbans, i.e., Sikhs were labelled as such. Torture in the Punjab by police authorities was endemic. Why? What did her father do about that? Congress has never been a party to protect or promote the Sikhs. Many of those Sikhs that did speak up were hounded by the authorities, tortured, killed or made to disappear ... or had to flee India. Our Gurus taught us that those in positions of power must use that power for good and to benefit all! If a leader or a Sikh does not have that strength then he must step down. Guru Gobind Singh Ji never compromised his beliefs!

10: P J Singh (India), May 11, 2014, 1:16 PM.

Her comments have little relevance now as the crocodile tears of the RSS whose cadre were involved in the massacre of innocent Sikhs, especially outside Delhi.

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