Degenerate Congress Leaders Responsible for Sikh Genocide 1984

The 1984 Sikh Genocide in India, was a series of organized pogroms against Sikhs in India by violent mobs (notably Congress Party members) in response to the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Independent sources estimate the number of deaths at about 8,000 - 17,000. Official Indian government reported about 2,800 Sikhs were killed in Delhi. The involvement of Congress leaders and rank has been proven without doubt by various investigations, commissions, and by courts.

Sanjay Gandhi with the Degenerates of Youth Congress

The Degenerate Congress Leaders of 1984

The Congress leaders primarily responsible for the genocide of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984 belonged to the new blood added by Sanjay Gandhi during the Emergency of 1975. Most belonged to Youth Congress (I) and claimed unconditional loyalty to the Gandhi family. After the death of Sanjay Gandhi in an air crash, this group changed loyalty to his brother Rajiv Gandhi. During the funeral of Indira Gandhi, this group was visible around the dead body mourning.

HKL Bhagat with Tytler and Sajjan Kumar

These mediocre leaders shot to prominence during the funeral and took control of the Greater Delhi region as they represented theses constituencies in Parliament as well as Delhi Assembly.

Congress Hand in 1984 Sikh Genocide

HKL Bhagat

Hari Krishan Lal Bhagat (4 April 1921-29 October 2005) was an Indian politician of the Congress party. Earlier he served as Deputy Mayor, Mayor of Delhi and as the leader of Delhi Congress Committee (DPCC).  In 1984 he was serving as the minister of information and broadcasting and was directly responsible for repeatedly transmitting blood-thirsty slogans by Congress mobs on Doordarshan, the state owned TV station.

HKL Bhagat - East Delhi

During the anti-Sikh pogroms, he was allegedly the one of the most visible senior Congress ministers on the streets of Delhi. Eyewitnesses in his East Delhi constituency reported seeing him over the four days inciting people to commit murder, distributing money to mob leaders even leading some of the gangs himself. 

His political career declined after losing from East Delhi in 1991. Towards the end of his political career, he was indicted by the Nanavati Commission for his involvement in the Sikh Genocide. The victims testified that Bhagat led groups of armed attackers and incited them to violence. The Commission concluded that there was "credible evidence" that Bhagat "probably... had a hand in organizing attacks on Sikhs"; it recommended the Government "take further action as may be found necessary."

HKL Bhagat with Congress Workers

In 1996, Delhi Additional Sessions Judge S.N. Dhingra had framed charges against former Union minister H.K.L. Bhagat in two cases pertaining to the November 1984 anti-Sikh riots which followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

Indian government ultimately declined to prosecute Bhagat because of his poor health by that time. Bhagat died repenting in a hospital after prolonged illness and he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The Congress has rewarded the family by appointing  his son Deepak Bhagat as the current general secretary of Delhi State Committee.

Sajjan Kumar

Sajjan Kumar (born 23 September 1945) is an Indian politician elected from Outer Delhi as a member of the Indian National Congress. He was a tea shop owner and a Sanjay Gandhi loyalist when he was elected in 1980 from Outer Delhi constituency. He was reelected in 1991, and then again in 2004. In 2004 he won by the largest number of votes ever in India, 855,543, representing Indian National Congress. He then served as Member, Committee on Urban Development and Committee on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme.

Sajjan Kumar - Outer Delhi

He was accused of leading rioters in the 1984 Sikh Genocide. Eyewitnesses had testified how Sajjan Kumar incited mobs to kill Sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination. He continued to enjoy patronage of Gandhi family and support from Congress party.

On September 11, 1990, CBI organized a raiding party to search Kumar's house and arrest him. But by the time it finished its search, seizing documents and six swords in the house, the MP organized a mob to assemble in front of his house who raised slogans against CBI and blocked the exit gate. Soon, the mob swelled and smashed cars of the CBI officers. Ultimately, the search party could leave only after HC granted anticipatory bail to Kumar in an urgent hearing and the order was received and conveyed to the mob on a makeshift public address system by Kumar.

In 2012, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) prosecutor told a Delhi court that riots targeting the Sikhs had the "patronage" of Sajjan Kumar. He started losing his influence after Congress had to cancel his candidature in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, along with that of another Delhi MP, Jagdish Tytler, following protests due to their alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Still he managed to get a ticket for his brother Ramesh Kumar in his place.

Sajjan Kumar with Sanjay Gandhi

In December 2018, Delhi High Court sentenced Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment until death for his role in the genocide of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. Kumar, who was an MP at the time, was found guilty of inciting crowds to kill Sikhs. In a scathing verdict, the Delhi high court judges said the accused evaded justice due to "political patronage".

Jagdish Tytler

Jagdish Tytler (born 17 August 1944) is an Indian National Congress politician and former Member of Parliament. He was a leader of Youth Congress and an ardent follower of Sanjay Gandhi.

Jagdish Tytler - West Delhi

The official report of the Nanavati Commission of the Government of India found 'credible evidence' against Tytler, saying he 'very probably' had a hand in organizing the attacks. The Indian government, however, decided not to prosecute Jagdish Tytler due to lack of concrete evidence. Tytler claimed innocence, and maintained that it was a case of mistaken identity. On 10 August 2005, his resignation from the Union Council of Ministers was accepted by the President of India on the recommendation of Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh.

Tytler with Rajiv Gandhi carrying Indira's Ashes

Tytler was accused of being involved in the killing of Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh who had taken shelter at Pul Bangesh Gurdwara on November 1, 1984. Delhi High Court in Dec 2015, directed CBI to record statement of Abhishek Verma, arms dealer, who had accused Tytler of influencing chief witness Surinder Singh through money and with an assurance to send his son Narinder Singh to Canada. As promised Rs 50 million was deposited in Narinder Singh’s account. The amount was initially frozen by the Canadian government but was later released with the help of Tytler.

Repenting Tytler on National TV

On December 8, 2011, a leaked video showed Jagdish Tytler admitting to murdering 100 innocent Sikhs during the 1984 Sikh genocide carried out following the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He could also be seen pointing out that he lost the confidence of then Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh due to this reason.

Jagdish Tytler has denied his role in Sikh Genocide and claimed that he himself belonged to a Sikh family. CBI case against Jagdish Tytler for inciting violence against Sikhs during 1984 Sikh Genocide is pending in Delhi High Court.

Kamal Nath

Congress leader Kamal Nath, who is now the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, was accused of leading attackers during the riot. Mohit Suri, a senior journalist from Indian express saw Nath controlling the rioting mob at the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib. Moments later, an “old age Sikh gentlemen” and his son were set on fire by the mob when he was persuading them against attacking the gurdwara.

Kamal Nath - Rakabjang Gurdwara

 “After the mob was able to enter the Gurudwara it tried to break the main door…but could not succeed. Therefore, it set it on fire,” the commission noted. “He (Mukhtiar Singh), along with other devotees and staff members, extinguished the fire and again pushed the mob out…by throwing stones and bursting crackers. The mob, believing bursting of crackers as gunshots, ran out…”

"When the mob again attempted to get inside the Gurdwara, one person who was inside the Gurdwara and had a licensed gun fired some shots in air so as to frighten the mob ...”
Singh told the commission that the “mob became bigger” after it was forced to retreat the first time, and at that time Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Vasant Sathe “were seen in the mob”.

Sikh Genocide 84 - Kamal Nath

Suri had told the commission that he went to Gurudwara Rakab Ganj around 4 pm and “saw a big crowd of about 4000” led by Congress leader Kamal Nath. “The mob was making attempts to enter the Gurudwara. But the Congress Member of Parliament and other leaders of the Congress were able to keep them under control ...” the report quotes him. The report states, referring to Suri’s testimony, “…he (Suri) stated that Kamal Nath tried to control the crowd and the crowd was looking at him for directions.

A confidante of Sanjay Gandhi during the 1970s, Nath carried on with his belligerent streak even after the death of his friend from the dynasty. He does not deny his presence outside Gurdwara Rakabganj but claims he was there to stop the mobs from attacking the Gurdwara.

Lalit Maken

Lalit Maken was a Member of parliament, a political leader of Indian National Congress and a labor union leader. Maken was the son-in-law of late President of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma.

Lalit Maken - South Delhi

Maken was alleged to be involved in the killings of Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. In a 31-page booklet titled 'Who Are The Guilty', People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) listed 227 people who led the mobs, which killed up to 3,000 Sikhs over three days. Lalit Maken's name was third on the list.He was accused of inciting and leading violent mobs targeting Sikh households in his constituency. It was alleged that he distributed liquor, iron rods, and gasoline to the rioters, mostly factory workers belonging to his trade union. He reportedly paid to mob Rs. 100 each plus a bottle of liquor. A white ambassador car reportedly belonging to him came 4 times to the G.T. Road area near Azadpur. Instructions to mobs indulging in arson were given from inside the car.

Rajiv Gandhi remembers Makens

Lalit Maken and his wife Gitanjali, the daughter of former president Shankar Dayal Sharma, were gunned down by Harjinder Singh (Jinda), Sukhdev Singh (Sukha) and Ranjit Singh Gill (Kuki) for his involvement in riots outside Maken's Kirti Nagar residence in West Delhi on 31 July 1985.

Arjun Dass

Arjun Dass, a Punjabi Hindu, was a close friend and associate of Sanjay Gandhi, the late younger brother of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Dass had been named in a civil liberties group's report as an instigator of violence against Sikhs during the riots in November after the killing of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.

Arjun Dass - Safdarjang Enclave

Arjun Dass, 46, a member of the Delhi Metropolitan Council and a Congress-I party activist here, was killed by gunmen carrying automatic weapons as he crouched behind a filing cabinet in his street-front office, where he also operated a garage. The two unidentified gunmen sprayed at least 29 shots into an auto parts shop Dass owned in a crowded marketplace in south Delhi.

Mourning at Arjan Dass Assassination

Dharamdass Shastri

Dharam Dass Shastri (born 10 March 1937 in Hyderabad, Sindh, (now in Pakistan)) is politician from Delhi, India. He belongs to Indian National Congress Party and was elected from Karol Bagh (seat reserved for ''backward castes'') constituency of Delhi.

Dharam Dass Shastri - Karol Bagh

In the aftermath of the mass slayings set off by the assassination of Indira Gandhi, a New Delhi daily, The Indian Express, reported that Mr. Shastri had intervened at New Delhi's Karol Bagh police station to win the release of 300 people who had been rounded up for looting. ''Let them take away the recovered property, but there is no need to arrest,'' Mr. Shastri was reported to have told the police. ''These people are not criminals.''

The episode was reported in Indian newspapers suggesting a complicity between the marauding mobs and local representatives of the Congress Party. The mobs were mostly composed of untouchables and low-caste slum dwellers - the sort of people who form the backbone of Mr. Shastri's constituency. Sikhs in refugee camps have spoken of seeing Congress Party activists at the head of mobs, singling out Sikh dwellings and businesses to be pillaged and burned.

''I saw it happen, and I saw this man Shastri leading and directing the crowd,'' said Jitender  Singh, who was surrounded by a sympathetic clutch of Hindus and Sikhs in the Amritsar railroad station. ''He had lists.''

Dharam dass Shastri with Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, and HKL Bhagat

Mr. Shastri denied being involved in the riots and also denied the report in The Indian Express that he had intervened to free looters at the police station. He insisted that he had only tried to gain the release of members of local vigilante groups defending Sikhs after the police failed to do so. ''There was no hanky-panky,'' he said solemnly.

Dharam Dass Shastri died of old age in Delhi.

Dr. Ashok Kumar

The Sikh Genocide in Trilokpuri, a trans-Jamuna resettlement colony in the east of Delhi, between October 31 and November 2 were a gruesome picture of the intensity of the butchery. Within just 48 hours, at least 400 Sikhs, mainly young men were burnt alive, with the connivance of the local police machinery and active participation of an organized group of miscreants led by a Congress (I) Councillor, Dr. Ashok Kumar.

The genocide of Sikhs in the Trilokpuri of Delhi could be traced to the night of October 31 when local Congress (I) Councillor Ashok Kumar, a doctor who runs a clinic in Kalyanpuri, one km from Trilokpuri, held a meeting at his place. The violence that broke out immediately following the meeting reached its climax the next morning, when Gujjar farmers from the neighboring village of Chilla landed at Trilokpuri, and accompanied by a group of local inhabitants (described by the residents as scheduled Caste people) raided Blocks 28, 32, 33 and 34 and systematically attacked the Sikh houses, dragged out the young men, killed and burnt them and set the houses on fire. In some cases, the assailants hit the victims with iron rods on their heads before pouring kerosene on them. 

Dr. Ashok Kumar was assassinated by an unknown person in his clinic.

Rajiv Gandhi

Can the key beneficiary of Indira Gandhi's assassination and the Sikh Genocide, Rajiv Gandhi who became the Prime Minister of India during this turbulent and violent period in Indian history escape blame for the acts of his party workers?

Is it not true that Rajiv Gandhi toured the mob violence hit Delhi regions with Lalit Maken, Jagdish Tytler, and HKL Bhagat? Sukhbir Singh Badal has alleged that Nanavati Commission has recorded that the most number of Sikhs were butchered in areas which Rajiv Gandhi visited on November 1, 1984 immediately after the assassination of his mother and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on the preceding day. “The Nanavati Commission states that 39 Sikhs were killed in Adarsh Nagar, 35 in Sabji Mandi and 15 in Kingsway camps. These areas also witnessed burning of twelve gurdwaras, 64 factories, 133 shops and 45 houses”.

Is it true that Giani Zail Singh, the President of India was put under virtual house arrest in the Rashtrapati Bhavan?

Angry looking Rajiv Gandhi with Giani Zail Singh

What we know that Rajiv Gandhi justified the genocide of Sikhs as a natural reaction to the assassination of his mother. AAP leader from Delhi, Jarnail Singh said, "Not only massacre was planned and engineered by then government, Rajiv Gandhi justified the heinous crime by saying "when a big tree falls to earth is bound to shook". Prime Minister Office didn't deploy Army to control the massacre and Police was clearly supporting the rioters instead of saving the innocents.

Here is what Rajiv Gandhi said, "Some riots took place in the country following the murder of Indira Ji. We know the people were angry and for a few days it seems India had been shaken. But, when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it shakes. But, from the way you put a stop to it, from the way India has been brought back to the path of unity with your help, and is able to stand united again, the world can see that India has become a genuine democracy.”

Human rights group called Citizens for Democracy (CFD) prepared a report in January 1985. This report was compiled by rominent judiciary and lawyers in India like Justice V. M. Tarkunde, former Chief Justice S. M. Sikri, Rajni Kothari, and other prominent Indians who are concerned with the growing undemocratic action of the "world's largest democracy". 

The conclusions of CFD’s “Report to the Nation” were:

1. The violence was not spontaneous but organized by members of the Congress (I) party
2. It was not a communal riot although it endangered communal harmony in its aftermath
3. It was meant primarily to arouse passions within the majority community – Hindu chauvinism – in order to consolidate Hindu votes in the election held on December 27, 1984

Prominent Sikh journalist Khushwant Singh names the Congress leaders from Delhi as perpetrators of the crimes but tries to protect Rajiv Gandhi from being included in the list.

Another Sikh leader from Congress party, Capt. Amarinder Singh does the same but makes attempt to shield the Gandhi family from the blame. “Rahul Gandhi in an open hearted manner had said that Congress people may have been involved in Delhi riots ... I can give you the names as I was in Delhi from November 1 to 3 after riots broke out on the night of October 31, 1984, and visited all the refugees who had taken shelter in various gurdwaras in Delhi,” said Singh adding that the “names I heard were HKl Bhagat, Dharam Dass Shastri, Arjun Dass, Lalit Maken and Sajjan Kumar”.

References

• https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/29/india-no-justice-1984-anti-sikh-bloodshed#
• https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/victory-to-the-mob/228338
• https://www.news18.com/news/politics/congress-leader-kamal-nath-involved-in-anti-sikh-riots-delhi-bjp-leader-1975719.html
• http://www.sacw.net/aii/WhoaretheGuilty.htmlhttps://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/anti-sikh-riots-what-happened-in-1984-and-after-1.60501721
• https://www.dailyo.in/politics/1984-anti-sikh-riots-1984-sikh-massacre-operation-bluestar-congress-jagdish-tytler-kamal-nath/story/1/21828.html
• https://asrandhawa.wordpress.com/india-1984-when-it-backstabbed-betrayed-with-sikh-nation-part-14/ 
• http://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/anti-sikh-pogrom-october-31-november-4-1984-new-delhi
• https://indianexpress.com/article/india/anti-sikh-riots-eyewitness-testimonies-named-kamal-nath-nanavati-panel-said-not-possible-to-indict-him-5498262/
• https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/16/world/anti-sikh-whirlwind-where-did-it-come-from.html
• https://thecandideye.wordpress.com/tag/dharam-das-shastri/
• https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2013/05/heres-what-rajiv-gandhi-actually-said-on-the-1984-riots/