In India. mobs brutalizing minorities, women, children, and the poor remain the norm ... it's happening somewhere, every day!
1984
Silence of The Lambs:
1984 Victims of Congress Govt’s Crimes Continue to Suffer Under BJP Rule
ANIL DHIR
The rickshaw puller standing beneath the Tilak Nagar Metro Station refuses to take me to C-Block, or the Widhwa (Widow) Colony, as it is known.
“Wahaan to sub jeb katre rehatey hain” he said. (All the pick-pockets live there.)
On my insistence, he agreed to drop me at some distance before the colony.
This is the cluster of homes which were given by the government to hundreds of women and their children who survived the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984, most of them having had their husbands, fathers and sons murdered in cold-blood and their homes looted and razed to the ground.
On first look, the line of two-room dwellings is similar to the many unauthorized colonies in Delhi. Children play cricket in the street, fruit and vegetable sellers pushing their wooden carts through narrow lanes and women busy with housework and cooking. Charpoys (cots) line the streets making walking through difficult.
This survivors' safe haven is now a crime ridden ghetto where drug peddling, prostitution and bootlegging are rampant.
Three decades after the dark afternoon of November 1984, I meet Gurvinder Kaur. She had been living with her family in Trilokpuri’s Block 32 when mobs descended upon them. In an orgy of rape, murder and looting which lasted two full days, 320 Sikhs, men, women and children were butchered in that neighbourhood alone.
Gurvinder was herself repeatedly raped, her husband burnt alive with tyres slung around his neck. All their belongings including the television and refrigerator were carted away by the mobs. Her two year old son had a broken arm which has left him handicapped, while an infant survived because he was hidden in a closet.
Only when the government decided that enough Sikh blood had been spilled that the army was brought in to patrol the streets of Delhi and police officers were given shoot-at-sight orders that the killers vanished.
The violence ended as suddenly as it had started and to this day more than ninety-nine per cent of the killers remain unidentified and the Congress leaders and the BJP accomplices who instigated and led the mobs remain mostly unpunished.
No Succour:
1984 Victims of Congress Party’s Crimes Continue to Suffer Under BJP Rule
Today, 32-year old Maninder is an unemployed drug addict. His younger brother works as a bus driver and supports the family.
“We're all thieves and addicts here," he told me. "When you get no work, when you have no hope left, what else can you do?"
These young people saw no punishment for the monstrous crimes committed against their families; through default, they themselves have turned around to spurn the very system that has betrayed them, by committing petty crimes of their own.
I spent a good two hours with the families there. When I was leaving, Gurvinder insisted that she come along with me to the rickshaw stand outside the colony.
“The boys will cut open you pockets with blades, most of them are smack users. At times they even threaten visitors with knives,” she told me.
I could see the desperation in the blank looks on the faces of the youth strolling around. Their eyes were zombie like and expressionless, it reminded me of the images of the Jews in the Nazi concentration camps.
Quite a few of them approached me for a hand out, but they were shooed away by Gurvinder.
My heart goes out to these wronged families of this ghetto. It was heart wrenching to see them in this condition even three decades later. The Congress led Indian government who organised and perpetrated the diabolic crimes of 1984 never gave justice since they were the criminals themselves.
The new BJP government has proved no better-- now that it is in power, it has failed equally miserably in delivering justice.
A good amount of blame also goes to the Sikh community. It's sad that it has failed to muster the resolve and resources to rehabilitate a few thousand women and children.
My conclusion is that these victims were earmarked by the Congress and BJP mobs during the massacres because they were poor … and because they were Sikh. They were small timers like taxi drivers, auto rickshaw drivers, roadside vendors, tyre repair workers, day labourers, mechanics, etc.
Many well-off Sikhs suffered as well, but mostly they were able to find safe houses, even though their homes were looted and destroyed. Some, like Khushwant Singh, were able to take refuge in foreign embassies. Others defended themselves with guns and kirpans, before which the cowardly mobs melted instantly.
Years later in Gujarat, during the mass-murders committed under the then chief minister, Narendra Modi, the burning alive of former Congress Parliamentarian Ehsan Jaffrey in the Gulbarga Society may have been the reason for the hue and cry.
If only poor Muslims had been massacred, crimes of the BJP/RSS goondas would have gone unnoticed, as do countless other massacres do all the time in today’s India.
But then, the biggest criminal amongst them all then, is now Prime Minister of India!
August 25, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: Kaala Singh (Punjab), August 25, 2014, 12:58 PM.
There will be no justice and succour for our people in this corrupt nation of mass-murderers and lemmings. Sikhs should work to get out of this cesspool as soon as they can.
2: Kulvinder Jit Kaur (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), August 25, 2014, 2:24 PM.
For heaven's sake, 30 years have passed and a few wealthy Sikhs of India could not take care of a few thousand victims. Delhi alone has a large population of rich Sikh business owners. All they had to do was make sure that all the survivors were rehabilitated somewhere where they could be relatively safe and then made sure that their surviving children were admitted in good schools and they took care of the expenses. Not hard. For all the adults they could have easily found employment even as domestic servants. I believe that most of these women are stitching clothes and doing menial work just to survive. The blame and shame is equally on us. Why look far? Delhi Sikhs were witness to their plight, they could have given them a hand to get back on their feet while the victims pursued their cases in the court and waited for justice. To all those that keep comparing the Sikhs to Jews, we just don't have the same mind set. Our similarity is only confined to the fact that we are a minority persecuted by the majority. That is it. That makes us similar to many others. I remember how the Jews had airlifted the Ethiopian Jews to safety in Israel. Perhaps the well-off Delhi Sikhs could have paid the expenses to get these families out of India to anywhere in the world where they could live a safe and dignified life. (Just finished reading about the Sikhs in Italy.)
3: N Singh (Canada), August 25, 2014, 8:22 PM.
#2: Kulvinder ji, you have hit the nail on the head! On a personal note, I have been in Canada for over 20 years. I arrived on my own merit, and have lived here on my own merit. During those intervening years I have had my fair share of ups and downs, including sickness, job loss and loneliness. I can honestly say that, despite there being a sizeable Sikh population in BC, I have never received an encouraging word or kindness from them. Sikh men, in particular the clean shaven type, seem to see me as an easy target, Sikh women are eager to see me married off, something I would have no objection to except that over 95% of the males here are uneducated and terrible husband material. The young generation seems to see me as a 'threat'. Unaccustomed to seeing independent, well educated single Sikh women in my age group, they are anxious to ensure that I don't end up excelling them. The only kindness and help I have received is from 'white Canadians', right down from VIPs and senior executives to the man on the street. In fact to be honest the odd Hindu that has crossed my path has been equally encouraging and supportive. I try not to feel sorry for myself and remind myself that these are the exact same generations who turned their backs on the Widows of 1984, so really their lack of compassion towards me pales in comparison. What a sad, pathetic lot. I am sure the likes of Hari Singh Nalwa and Akali Phoola Singh would 'turn in their graves' if they were to witness this.
4: Leena Kaur (Delhi, India), August 26, 2014, 2:12 PM.
It is shameful that affluent Sikhs in our own community are not ready to extend a helping hand to their unfortunate brethren. Sikhs are known for their large-heartedness, but where is that trait when it is for their own community.
5: Kaala Singh (Punjab), August 26, 2014, 6:28 PM.
Sikhs of today, especially in India, are a highly politicized community. We have several kinds of Sikhs, the "BJP/RSS" kind, and we have the "Congress" variety, and we even have the "Communist" variety, all fighting for power and pelf, but we do not have Sikhs who stand for their own people. The large-heartedness can only be seen in photo-ops on TV and not in reality. Affluent Sikhs waste so much money on "grand parties" and alcohol but will not help these people who have been through terrible suffering. Sikhs and alcohol have become synonymous and some Sikhs take great pride with this image. Where are the gurdwara funds going? DSGMC and SGPC collect so much money, where is all that going? I am afraid these unfortunate brethren will have to fend for themselves. May God give them the strength to endure this suffering.
6: Jasvir Kaur (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), August 29, 2014, 2:45 PM.
I'm almost 50 and have lived here all my life. What I've observed for example in the last 15 years or so in the professional world (oil patch in Calgary) is that even if you are limited or nil qualified Chinese, Filipino, Hindu ... all help their own get into their company. When it comes to work, they even communicate with each other in their native tongue, so someone else can't share the knowledge. Do we do the same or are we hypocrites? We like to be in the forefront with our bullhorns. For example, we eagerly joined the Muslim community in Calgary recently for a rally over the atrocities being committed by Israel in Gaza. Did the Muslims do the same for us vis-a-vis 1984? At the recent 30th anniversary commemoration, for example?
7: Harpreet Singh (Delhi, India), August 30, 2014, 9:26 AM.
Yes. There is another colony, Sardar Colony, in Rohini, Delhi whose population comprises almost completely of poor, uneducated hindi-speaking Sikhs. I had to visit the above colony many years back and was so sad to see the backwardness of the colony. The Sikh residents badly needed a lot of brotherly love, counseling, etc. I talked with many Sikhs about the need for starting some project there but nothing came out it. I am also guilty for not doing anything there on my own. Actually, in my opinion, most of rich Sikhs and Sikh bodies have no concern/programme for upliftment of poor people, especially poor Sikhs or Sikhs in distress / debt / unemployment. Only agenda is to put more gold and marble in gurdwaras, take out big processions, put up costly food stalls (mostly unnecessary). But we have hope from genuine Sikh NGOs/small Sikh groups ... something must surely be done.