1984
Mass Murderer Jagdish Tytler:
A Reminder
SUNDEEP DOUGAL
For those who came in late...
It is a mere matter of record that Gujarat Chief Minister - and mass murderer - Narendra Modi "promoted" Maya Kodnani from an MLA to a minister in 2007, despite knowing the serious charges of having led the the Naroda Patiya brutalities and killings of 2002.
While five years were allowed to elapse in the case of Ms Kodnani, Mr Jagdish Tytler's rise was far swifter, as Manoj Mitta and H.S. Phoolka record in When a Tree Shook Delhi:
...the political career[] of ... Tytler, far from suffering on account of 'the taint of 1984' blossomed as if [he] had been rewarded for engineering the violence. Having won the 1984 election under the shadow of the carnage, Rajiv Gandhi immediately ... inducted Tytler into the government for the first time as minister of state ... [He] remained in the Rajiv Gandhi government till the end of its tenure in 1989 ...
He remained a minister whenever Congress returned to power: He was
back under P.V. Narasimha Rao, and then again under Manmohan Singh in
2004, till he was forced to resign under duress, following his
indictment by Nanawati Commission report on 1984 anti-Sikh violence.
Which of course was claimed by the worthies of the Congress to be "in
keeping with the high traditions of sacrifice exemplified by the party"
The "high tradition" was of course followed with first a CBI "clean
chit" and then a usual ticket for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
It took a
shoe thrown at India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram by the courageous 'Lion of Delhi', Jarnail Singh, that
eventually resulted in Tytler's not contesting the Lok Sabha elections,
something the party had cheerfully allowed him all through these
decades.
They may have been forced to keep him out of Parliament, but he has
since been let loose on the rest of the country, as General Secretary in
charge of one state or the other. And soon after the Kodnani judgment - which sent Narendra Modi's key Minister to jail for her role in the anti-Muslim massacre - as if on cue, there he (Tytler) was, back to lead a mob.
In the words of BJD MP Pinaki Mishra, Mr Tytler was "at the vanguard of those instigating the mob, saying "todo, todo, todo".
But Mr Tytler of course is only following the "high tradition" when he
points out how "there are two sides of the story" and "our people have
also been injured"
Ironically, earlier, the very same day, when this was playing out in Bhubaneswar, Pratap Bhanu Mehta wrote in the Indian Express:
The Naroda Patiya judgment was significant for several reasons. It has, for the first time, convicted senior politicians for complicity in a [massacre]. This will send out a powerful message. As many people have pointed out, if such convictions had been achieved in the case of the 1984 pogroms, our history would have been different.
As would, clearly, our present. And that is the pity -- and the shame -- of it.
From the archives:
The Credible Evidence
The full texts of the two affidavits referred to by the Nanavati
Commission while recordings its finding "that there is credible evidence
against Shri Jagdish Tytler to the effect that very probably he had a
hand in organizing attacks on Sikhs".
Jasbir Singh, Surinder Singh
'Ever Since I Deposed Against Tytler...'
'...I have not had a moment's peace,' says Surinder Singh, who was a
granthi at Gurudwara Pulbangash in Delhi during the 1984 riots and adds
that he vividly remembers 'seeing Tytler urging rioters not to waste
time on looting but to get down to killing people'
Chander Suta Dogra
Standing Up To Be Counted
A few damaging witnesses, who the CBI claimed could not be traced, have
surfaced in the last few days to say, that they are ready to depose
against the high profile accused Congressmen if they are assured of
rehabilitation and some protection.
Chander Suta Dogra
Khushwant Singh:
When Jagdish Tytler claimed that none of the commissions of inquiry
implicated him in the anti-Sikh violence, he was lying. You can see it
in the smirk on his satanic face. Only sarkari commissions let him off
the hook.
[Courtesy: Outlook. Edited for sikhchic.com]
September 14, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Harmeet Singh (USA), September 14, 2012, 11:48 AM.
This whole thing is a charade. Why do these people not question that India has no laws pursuing crimes against humanity or race crimes, let alone an independent and democratic law enforcement and judiciary.
2: H. Singh (United States), September 16, 2012, 11:08 AM.
The conviction of Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi and 31 others was a big step in the right direction for India. But there won't be any real progress until they delve out justice re 1984.