Who is Guilty - the Invisible Hand in Sikh Genocide 1984

Where All Fingers are Pointing at?

Is there really a direct link between words and actions? Can words and images inspire people to commit acts of genocide?

"We must remember Indiraji. We must remember why her assassination happened. We must remember who could be the people behind this. When Indira's assassination happened, there were riots in the country. We know that the hearts of the Indian people were full of anger and that for a few days people felt India was shaking. When a big tree falls, the earth shakes."

These infamous words have come to be remembered as Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's justification for the carnage that took place after his mother's death. It seemed to suggest that the Congress party saw the anti-Sikh riots as a natural response to the assassination, a shaking of the earth.

The savage conspiracy to kill hundreds of Sikh men, rape women, plunder their homes and mock their religious beliefs in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination is undoubtedly one of the blackest moments in independent India’s history. A Prime Minister who justifies the killing of innocent citizens, deserves to be condemned by all.

Please hear it for yourself in the YouTube video below:

The fact that Rajiv did not want the genocide probed or investigated and was happy to let the guilty walk tells us their monstrous crime must have had his approval. The judicial commission he set up under Ranganath Mishra was a farce; subsequent commissions and committees established to probe various aspects of November 1984, such as the complicity of police, were either ineffective or had their recommendations brazenly cast aside. Many of the politicians named by survivors and independent citizens’ inquiries all prospered in Rajiv’s time and late.

The Planners

Now lets analyze the Congress leaders who conspired this genocide. According to Tarlochan Singh, press secretary to President Zail Singh, a meeting of Congress leaders including Arun Nehru, HKL Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler took place on October 31, even before Rajiv Gandhi’s arrival at the hospital. The slogan ‘blood for blood’ was coined as the rallying cry.

Pav Singh, author of the book 1984 - India's Guilty Secret, suggests what is commonly believed in political circles in Delhi, that even before Gandhi’s death the local Congress was preparing the grounds to create a backlash against the Sikhs — with an eye on the forthcoming general election. Her untimely death set off the spark which turned into an inferno, the extent of which, probably, the perpetrators of the original plan had not anticipated. The author quotes a Congress worker as saying, “The Sikhs had to be taught a ‘small lesson’ but matters ‘had got out of hand’.’’ This was the party worker’s explanation as to why the mobs completely disappeared after three days.

Accused #2: Arun Nehru
Arun Kumar Nehru (24 April 1944 – 25 July 2013) was an Indian politician and cousin of Indira Gandhi. As te leader of the faction that wanted Rajiv to succedd as Prime Minister of India after Indira's assasination, he played a pivotal role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The riots broke out after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi. According to then petroleum secretary Avtar Singh Gill, Nehru gave "clearance" for the killings in Delhi.

Arun Nehru escorting President Singh at AIMS

In an article by the Caravan magazine’s political editor Hartosh Singh Bal in the latest issue, Gill is quoted as saying that on November 1, 1984, “Lalit Suri of Lalit Hotels, who used to come and see me often, dropped by. He was the errand boy for Rajiv Gandhi, and since he often needed some work done, he was close to me. He came to me in the ministry and said, ‘Clearance has been given by Arun Nehru for the killings in Delhi and the killings have started. The strategy is to catch Sikh youth, fling a tyre over their heads, douse them with kerosene and set them on fire. This will calm the anger of the Hindus.”

“That Arun Nehru had a role in the violence has long been widely rumoured, but Gill’s statement marks the first time a senior government official has put the accusation on record,” writes Bal. “His story offers the first coherent explanation for the nature of the violence in Delhi,”

Accused #2: HKL Bhagat
The Information and Broadcasting Minister, HKL Bhagat played a sinister role as propogandists. He had total control over government owned radio and TV boadcasts. Here are some of the methods deployed by Bhagat's ministry to create false propoganda and incite violence against the Sikhs:

HKL Bhagat in Trans Yamuna Delhi

Doordarshan, the state owned and the only TV channel in India did not show any constraint and clearly stated that Indira was shot dead by her "Sikh Bodyguards".
TV channel shows uninturrpted view of Indira's dead body lying in her home and mourners stating spiteful comments on live TV. The bloodthirsty chants of "Blood for Blood" and "Sardars are Traitors" can be heard 24 hours non-stop in the background.
TV and Radio news warned public that the water system has been poisoned by the Sikhs and untrue reports of trains arriving from punjab with dead bodies of Hindus.

Additionally, as local MP from the Trans-Yamuna area of Delhi, HKL Bhagat has been accused by the inciting Congress mobs that killed hundreds of Sikhs in his own constituency.

Accused # 3: Bhajan Lal

Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal's tough stand against Sikh protesters planning to oppose the 1982 Delhi Asiad made him a favorite of Indira Gandhi. During his reign in Haryana, Sikh passengers from Punjab travelling to Delhi were harassed and insulted. During the Sikh Genocide of 1984, hundreds of Sikh passengers were killed in Haryana on the trains, buses, and vehicles coming from Punjab.

32 Sikhs were killed on 2 November 1984 in the Hind Chillar village of Rewari district of Haryana, allegedly by the members of Indian National Congress during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The killers arrived in state owned bus and local police did not intervene in the massacre despite repeated requests from the Sikhs and others from the village. The mass graves at the massacre were rediscovered in January 2011. A similar massacre occurred in nearby Pataudi, Haryana.

Hond Chillar - Site of Sikh Massacre

It has been accused that Bhajanlal ordered the release of violent criminals from Haryana jails who were escorted in Haryan Roadways buses to Delhi to take part in killings of Sikhs. The last anti-Sikh act of Bhajanlal was 1994 when he threatened Delhi CM Madanlal Khurana when the state stopped supplying water to the capital. This was done to stop the judicial probe against Congress leaders for their role in Sikh Genocide of 1984.

Accused 4: Congress Leaders in Delhi (Numerous)

Once the plan was chalked out by the leaders, it was executed on the streets of Delhi. Congress leaders in Delhi competed with other on who leads in the number of Sikhs killed. The Congress leaders accused for their part in the genocide include, Lalit Maken, Kamal Nath, Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdass Shastri, and Arjun Dass. The list is incomplete without naming the middle and low rank local Congress leaders, and the Congress Sewa Dal.

Delhi Congress Leaders 1984

Accused 5: Delhi Police

Delhi Police officials were complicit in the anti-Sikh riots that hit the city following after the assassination of the prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, says a new sting by Cobrapost, an investigative news website. Cobrapost says the sting shows retried police officials admitting on camera to to their failure as a force" and how "the top brass of the police force colluded with the government of the day to teach Sikhs 'a lesson'".

According to Cobrapost, "the police force had succumbed to anti-Sikh sentiments, thus abetting rioting and arson, even encouraging rioters."

All such confessions lead to this unmistakable inference that police inaction cannot be by chance but by design, and proves complicity of the force in what came to be known as worst state-sponsored pogrom of a minority community.

Role of Opposition Party Leaders

The silverlining in this dark period of Indian history was the role played by the opposition leaders in saving sikhs and putting pressure on the government to stop the genocide. On the morning of November 1, 1984, BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee heard a commotion outside his home in New Delhi's Raisina Road. On the opposite side of the road was a taxi stand and a frenzied mob wanted to burn the taxis and lynch the drivers. Alarmed by the sight, Atal hastened to the other side of the road to stop the violence. The ringleaders heeded his words and the mob dispersed slowly. Atal stood at the spot till the last man had left.

Later in the day - after an emergency meeting at the BJP's headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road, where he heard harrowing tales of the targeting of Sikhs from colleagues - Atal, along with long-term associate LK Advani, went to see home minister Narasimha Rao. The Opposition leader was not satisfied with Rao's lukewarm assurance that he would look into the problem; moreover, Rao was non-committal about deploying the Army on the streets as Atal suggested.

Disappointed, Atal came back to the party office and told local BJP leaders like Madan Lal Khurana and Vijay Kumar Malhotra to get the party cadres in the field to protect Sikhs and their properties.

The Opposition MPs led by Biju Patnaik, George Fernandes, Chandra Shekhar and Madhu Dandavate made repeated attempts to contact Ministers and officials but yielded no results. In a final desperate move accompanied by Mr. Dandavate, NGO volunteers went to 1, safdarjung Road, the Prime Minister's official residence, and managed to meet a Congress (I) MP - Mr. Arun Nehru. When the group conveyed to him the request of the Trilokpuri residents, he said that he would sent a "wireless message" for army deployment. Only after this, were troops sent to Trilokpuri - but that also again merely for patrolling.

The Guilt of Propogandists

In the trial of Nazis, war crimes courts tried propagandists—individuals whose spoken words, images, and writings had contributed to Nazi aggression, persecution, and mass murder. The prosecution of propagandists for "crimes against humanity" established an important precedent invoked by international bodies and courts to the present day.

When will the victims of 1984 Genocide of Sikhs recieve "Jusitce"? When will the Congressmen who incited violence, Congress leaders who planned the genocide, Delhi Policemen who abeted, and those whose spoken words contributed to the genocide of innocent Sikhs, be punished?

The history awaits when the Indian Judicial system will wake up from 30 years of ignorant sleep and act against these instigators ...

References

The Real Story of Heer Ranjha

We all are familiar with Waris Shah (Urdu: السيد وارث علي شاه النقوي الرضوي البهكري البدراني‎) , ਵਾਰਿਸ ਸ਼ਾਹ (Gurmukhi); 1722–1798) who was a Punjabi Sufi poet of Chishti order, renowned for his contribution to Punjabi literature by immortalizing the love story of Heer Ranjha . His poetic verse is a treasure-trove of Punjabi phrases, idioms and sayings. His minute and realistic depiction of the details of Punjabi life and political situation in the 18th century, remains unique and the entire poem is an album of colorful and enchanting pictures of life in the Punjab, deeply absorbing. Abdur Rehman Chugtai painting of Heer and Ranjha Waris Shah was deeply learned in Sufi and domestic cultural lore. His depiction of story of romantic love is a poetic expression of the mystical love of the human soul towards God – the quintessential subject in Sufism and a recurring theme in both Sufi and Sikh mysticism. The Legend Heer is an extremely beautiful woman, born into a wealthy fam...

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