1984
Is Manmohan Singh to Blame?
Remember -- Indian Bureaurcracy Today is the Same that Facilitated the 1984 Pogroms
HARINDER BAWEJA
In 2006, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced an enhanced rehabilitation package for survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms.
“We cannot undo the past, but we have the option of building a better future. Let us help the Sikh community get over the trauma of 1984,’’ he had promised in a speech in Rajya Sabha in 2005.
Soon after the PM’s announcement, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued an order to various massacre-affected states to provide jobs to the survivors, in addition to other ex-gratia payments.
It has been six years since the MHA order was issued on January 16, 2006, but the Delhi government is yet to provide a single job despite the fact that Delhi saw the maximum number of killings -- 2,733 as per official records.
H S Phoolka, lawyer for the survivors, says, “One Sikh was killed every minute over 48 hours in Delhi, but the survivors are still running around in various government departments.”
The Delhi government’s website substantiates the charge. It reads, “1,115 requests received in the office of the divisional commissioner, Delhi, since the announcement of the revised package in January 2006.”
But the column for the number of people who have been provided employment, says, “not applicable’’.
An official in the divisional commissioner’s office also confirmed that no jobs have been provided.
So far, the Delhi government has issued offer letters, followed by showcause notices to various candidates.
One such candidate Ajeet Singh, whose father was dragged out of his house and burnt alive in 1984, has submitted an affidavit affirming that nobody in his family has a government job (a prerequisite as per the guideline), but he has received no response to his written pleas addressed to the PM, the Cabinet Secretary and the Chief Secretary.
Another applicant, Rajvinder Kaur was rejected on the grounds that she had got married. Delhi Divisional Commissioner Dharam Pal says such cases can be reviewed.
Asks Kulbir Singh, president, Nishkam Sikh Welfare Council, an NGO helping the survivors, “Which door should we knock on now? We have sent reminders to everyone.”
A caveat: Don't blame Manmohan Singh.
Remember, the bureaucracy whose job it is to implement these programs is the same today that was around in 1984 and had facilitated the genocide then!
[Courtesy: Hindustan Times. Edited for sikhchic.com]
November 4, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Harpreet (USA ), November 04, 2012, 10:20 AM.
To move forward, you have to address the sins of past. If the Indian government wants to move forward, they need to prosecute and bring to justice the guilty, they know who these people are. Successive Indian Prime Ministers have shieded the guilty since 1984. Sikhs are moving forward, but we will not forget 1984. It is offensive when the Indian government comes out and asks Sikhs to forget the 1984 genocide of the Sikhs. Ask any Jew to forget the Nazi Holocaust! This is part of our history, like we remember all the sacrifices of Sikhs in our ardaas, we will never forget 1984!
2: Kanwarjeet Singh (Franklin Park, New Jersey, USA), November 04, 2012, 11:49 AM.
I don't blame Manmohan Singh for the genocide or the following thirty years of negligence but I do however blame him for sleeping with the enemy - twice. The first time he opened the door for growth in 1991 for India (minus Punjab) and then again when he became the PM. He could have outright refused to be party to the corrupt and murderous Congress members. It takes a lot of will power and guts to stand up and say NO. Manmohan Singh is not a typical Sikh who would never side with injustice.
3: Gobinder Singh (USA), November 04, 2012, 1:50 PM.
How can we not blame Manmohan Singh? Who is the leader of the country and responsible for these bureaucracies since 2004? As a Prime Minister of the country, the buck stops there. What is Manmohan Singh's contribution in last 8 years regarding Sikh grievances, or the country's corruption, bureaucracies, and so on? Merely calling him an honest man does not serve any purpose. He may not be a corrupt himself but keeping his eyes closed on what's going on right under his nose makes him part of the problem. A leader is responsible for steering the country to a different course. Unfortunately, the course under Manmohan Singh's leadership has been even more rampant corruption.
4: Bhupinder Singh Mahal (Dundas, Ontario, Canada), November 04, 2012, 3:22 PM.
In India, Sikhs are placed in positions of power as long as they don't forget who the 'master' is. We rejoice as one amongst us is elevated to high office. The Hindus know it is only a public relations ploy: bamboozle the world into believing any member of minority can hold high political office, ergo India is a democracy. The 1984 pogrom was unleashed on Zail Singh's watch. As a good Sikh, he should have resigned forthwith. He did not and he was so beholden to the Gandhi family that he administered the oath of Prime Minster to Rajiv Gandhi post-haste. Manmohan Singh talks a good deal but does not walk the walk. He can ill afford to open the Pandora's Box hiding the Congress villains. He is a puppet.
5: Sarjit Kaur (Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.), November 04, 2012, 7:54 PM.
I agree with Kanwarjeet Singh. Manmohan Singh labelled Sikhs as terrorists to Obama, et al, instead of supporting truth and the Sikh cause, like 1984's long delayed justice, release of innocent Sikhs, and ensuring every member of the evil mob, police, politician was exposed for their crimes, then given appropriate justice. Waheguru jio, forgive me, but as far as I am concerned, Manmohan Singh, and many traitor Sikhs (like K P S Gill, etc) are nothing but dogs (even dogs are more loyal) of evil minds, maya, status! So extremely hypocritical of them to consider themselves practicing Sikhs, yet to slander, torture, murder true Sikhs of Guru Gobind Singh! Even the SGPC is no better to not strip such evil Sikhs from the Panth!
6: Charandeep Singh (Chandigarh, Punjab), November 04, 2012, 10:36 PM.
Had he the intentions and had he been firm (like he had become for passing the nuclear deal in parliament), the situation would have been different. This stands true for other so called 'leaders' of the community too.
7: Devinder Pal Singh (Delhi, India), November 05, 2012, 2:22 AM.
It is apparent the Congress needs the PM as a jewel in their crown to display. The Akalis have little to say as they side with the BJP which according to their own leadership was actively involved in goading the turn of events in 1984. It's apparent and its also etched deep in the Indian psyche, there will never be justice for minorities and for those that are not protected by the ruling party. This is also evident in the center-state relations in India. Unless these facts are observed and facts are analyzed by the world bodies and communities, the age old method of human repression by the ruler will continue, in various forms, and with varied camouflage. The Muslims learnt from their experience first as rulers and then from the partition. Quickly they raised their numbers to be counted in national politics, a fact which every member of the majority whispers and rues. So where lies the answer? Like the Jews in USA, we should strengthen ourselves through economic influence. Please remember that the wealthy are wooed by the ruling bodies and the bureaucracy, but our community stands divided due to self interest. Otherwise, there is no reason why the head of the DGPC would admonish the lawyer for 1984 victims, and remain silent on crucial issues, and why the Prime Minister should suggest that the whole thing should be forgotten, that we should move on. We may wipe the tears off our cheeks, but forget we must not, the butchery that took place and which was endorsed criminally by the then PM: 'when a big tree falls it makes noise'. He too fell under the tree, but this time here was no noise against the fellers of the tree. Because they were his own co-religionists. Such is the manner in which justice is delivered and complied by the majority in India.
8: Jaspreet (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada), November 05, 2012, 6:21 AM.
Manmohan Singh did not cause the genocide, but he did appoint Sikh killers as ministers in his cabinet and works with them daily. Plus, right after Sikhs protested over one of these killers coming into Canada, he took Stephen Harper aside in the U.S. and said Sikhs in Canada were causing extremism in India, etc. CSIS denied it and so did the Punjab Police. Before, in the 90s, he went to a European nation, on behalf of India, and said there were no Sikhs being killed though so many were. One cannot be a Sikh prime minister of a place like India and really care for his people. He does what his Hindu masters tell him to do in the interest of their high positions.