Fwd: [bangla-vision] THE SIKH POGROM: GAMES PEOPLE (BRAHMINS-HINDUS) PLAY: COMMISSION AFTER COMMISSIONS & COMMITTEES AFTER COMMITTEES; this is the Brahmins-Hindus' democracy

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Date: Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 1:28 PM
Subject: [bangla-vision] THE SIKH POGROM: GAMES PEOPLE (BRAHMINS-HINDUS) PLAY: COMMISSION AFTER COMMISSIONS & COMMITTEES AFTER COMMITTEES; this is the Brahmins-Hindus' democracy
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THE SIKH POGROM: GAMES PEOPLE (BRAHMINS-HINDUS) PLAY: COMMISSION AFTER COMMISSIONS & COMMITTEES AFTER COMMITTEES; this is the Brahmins-Hindus' democracy

 

By Momin Iftikhar

The assassination of Indira Gandhi on 31st October 1984 and its aftermath which found the Sikh community in India, particularly in Delhi, in the midst of a no-holds-barred pogrom, continues to haunt the India polity even after a period of 26 years.   The merciless manner, in which Sikhs were killed, burnt and their property put to torch, remains one of the saddest chapter of Indian History. Sikhs with their natural dynamism and acceptance within the Hindu way of life enjoy a privileged position in the social hierarchy of India. Yet their pathetic helplessness at this dark hour poignantly reflects the obtaining state of sidelined minorities who have learnt with due pain to bear with recurring communal violence. Superior judiciary which is projected as the strongest pillar of the Indian democracy and guardian of its secular ethos should be the shelter in hours of such communal turmoil. Yet this pillar of supposed strength turns partial, even stoop to low dishonesty while addressing the cries of the aggrieved minority.  In case of the Sikh pogrom of 1984 there may be a poetic justice whereby an affidavit has recently been filed by a legal luminary concerning compromised integrity of Justice Ranganath Mishra, who as sitting judge of the Supreme Court had headed the commission of inquiry into the 1984 anti Sikh riots. Mishra, who later on rose to be the Chief Justice of India, obliged the Congress Government by giving it a clean chit in return for the favor of a seat in the Rajya Sabha as an MP of Congress Party. No wonder that despite passage of quarter of a century – and more, the killers of the Sikhs roam free and the community is still seething with anger at this injustice. By 1984 Sikh grievances with Indira Gandhi, who ruled India the longest from 1966-77 and 1980-84, were surely and steadily mounting with the passage of time. When Sant Jarnail Bhindranwale, a Sikh leader from Dam Dami Taksal, a Sikh seminary, established a morcha in the venerated Golden Temple in Amritsar, to project the grievances of his community, Indira decided to take him out with the use of brutal force. Operation Blue Star, launched by the Indian Army in first week of Jun 84 to flush out Bhindranwale and his armed companions succeeded in eliminating the opposition but left the over four centuries old Akal Takht in a state of ruin. It was a sacrilege which sealed Indira Gandhi's fate; for an inexorable Sikh retribution lay in wait. The moment of truth for Indira Gandhi arrived on 31 Oct 1984 as she walked the pathway from residence to her office.  Her two Sikh bodyguards Beant Singh and Satwant Singh shot her to death in revenge for the destruction of the Golden temple. Indira's death let out the demons of communal hate that were reminiscent of the days of the partition of the subcontinent. Orgy of loot and plunder murder and mayhem got unleashed on the Sikhs in Delhi even as the Police hovered around nonchalantly. Nov 2 and 3 were the bloodiest days for Sikhs in the history of Delhi. Marauding bands of bloodthirsty Hindu hooligans, some led in person by Congress leaders, surrounded Sikh neighborhoods and indulged themselves in an orgy of bloodshed, lootings and rape. Sikhs on trains, buses taxis and auto rickshaws were dragged off and butchered. In the three days following Indira's assassination at least 5000 Sikhs were slaughtered; more than 3000 in Delhi alone. Some of those who survived did so because they cut their hair and beards to pass as Hindus. Over 50 000 Sikhs fled from the capital to the security of Punjab. Another 50 000 sought the refuge in camps in Delhi, similar to those set up in the aftermath of partition of India in 1947.    As the Army got called in and the situation began to limp back to a semblance of normality, Sikhs began to demand an official enquiry into the pogrom , particularly the role played by leading Congress activists in leading the berserk mobs. A number of allegations blamed two central Congress Ministers; H.K.L.Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler.  It speaks of the Government partiality that whereas Thakkar Commission to investigate the assassination of Indira Gandhi was swiftly instituted on November 5, 1984 , it was on April 25 , 1985; six months after the tragic events that the Rajiv Gandhi Government announced its decision to set up a one member Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission of Inquiry. The Commission was not asked to probe the causes and the course of events, the adequacy of measures to control them and the identity of those responsible for perpetrating the crimes. The terms of reference of the Mishra Commission were drafted in a manner which allowed Justice Mishra to proceed with his mandate so that the culprits with Sikh blood on their hands would never be called in to face justice.  This is what Mishra obligingly delivered. Instead of nominating the culprits who facilitated and committed the pogrom, the Commission recommended setting up of two more committees – one to investigate the role of Police and the other to inquire whether the cases of violence had been properly investigated.   The working of both these committees was overtaken by the time and the result is that no body has been held responsible for the deaths of thousands of Sikhs killed in India in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Mishra nevertheless got his reward; becoming the chief Justice of India and later on entering Rajya Sabha as a Congress MP. The revelations of Justice Mishra's dishonesty which enabled the Congress Party to retain a façade of secular identity and denied justice to the deeply grieved Sikh community comes as no surprise to India watchers . As the recent verdict on the Babri Mosque title case has shown, the Indian judiciary is leaning to the Hindu right to promote an ambience that is dark saffron instead of the secular white represented in the Indian national flag. This is a reality to which the Muslims and Sikhs in India will have to acquiesce in a state of abject surrender.

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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/