Anti-Sikh Riots

Even as the news of Indira Gandhi’s death became known, there were sporadic incidents of violence showing anger at the assassination—perhaps a spontaneous reaction in the circumstances. But as her body lay in state at Teen Murti House (Nehru’s residence as prime minister), these sporadic incidents had deepened and widened; by November 1 there seemed to be an organised and brutal mob violence against Sikhs. There was a continual replay on Doordarshan, the state- owned and only television channel available at the time, of the crowds filing past paying their respects to the assassinated prime minister with the grieving son beside the body and the shots of the crowds outside shouting revenge; this would have further instigated the mob.

While most of the Sikhs targeted were in the resettlement colonies in North Delhi inhabited by the poorer section of the population, there was some looting and killing in middle and upper middle-class localities, as well. The mobs, composed mainly of Hindus drawn from the “scheduled caste sweepers who worked in the city, and Jat farmers and Gujjar pastoralists from villages on the fringes”, as pointed out by Ramachandra Guha and many newspaper reports of the time, killed thousands of Sikhs, burnt their homes and looted their houses and businesses. Witnesses indicated that several Congress leaders instigated and encouraged these mobs. Rumours stoked the violence.

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Though we boast of being the world’s largest democracy and the Delhi being its national capital, the sheer mention of the incidents of 1984 anti-Sikh riots in general and the role played by Delhi Police and state machinery in particular makes our heads hang in shame in the eyes of the world polity.

Delhi High Court in 2009

The role of the police and the administration was shocking; the police either turned a blind eye, refused to take action or, more reprehensibly, actively helped the mob. The riots went on unabated for two days. The prime minister and his home minister, Narasimha Rao, did not call in the army immediately; the army could have quelled the riots at once and effectively. It was late on November 2 that Rajiv Gandhi declared over radio and television that acts of rioting should be stopped and that these were casting a slur on the late prime minister. It was only by November 3 that the army got its orders to take steps to control the situation.

On the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi on November 19, Rajiv Gandhi in a speech said that when a great tree falls, the earth around it shakes; it was taken to imply a justification of the riots. Even if one agrees with the view that the public anger was great after the assassination, it was an insensitive remark for a prime minister to make.

The anti-Sikh riots was the official term given to the violence but many called it ‘genocide’. It was an unforgettable and tragic blot in the history of India since independence. The silver lining in an otherwise dark spot in India’s history lay in the efforts made by many Hindus to hide and

help Sikh families during the rioting.