1984 reverberates, again

OFFICIAL figures maintain that just under 3,000 Sikhs were killed after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. The killings were widespread. They took place in Delhi, in other states and cities, on trains.... Members of a religious minority were targeted and those entrusted with law and order generally failed to perform their duties, some were seen actively siding with the perpetrators. This is a shameful chapter in Indian history, unfortunately far from being the only one. The word ‘riots’ is too mild to describe this mass violence. It has been contended, with a degree of validity, that the killings of thousands of citizens have been sought to be airbrushed — the nomenclature downplayed the scale and vehemence of violence; the number of convictions has been abysmal, and justice has not been perceived to have been done. Indeed, it was Home Minister Rajnath Singh who used the word ‘genocide’ to describe the 1984 violence.  The term ‘massacre’ too is often used. 

Now the Ontario Assembly in Canada has passed a motion that calls the 1984 violence ‘genocide’. Foreign governments, regional or national, muddy their hands by dabbling into what is essentially an internal affair of India. Often such foreign intrusions are prompted by local constituency level pressures. Ontario’s move has been, predictably, sharply countered by South Block, but that is posturing at best. The credibility of India as a nation remains dented.

The politicians have run away with the memory ball. Yet there is no getting away from the fact that prosecution was insincere. This led to the perception that the big fish all got away. It could be argued that the Delhi violence was not very different from other such incidents that have taken place in the country from time to time. This highlights how the enormity of such mass killings is minimised and subsequently brushed under the carpet. We can ignore and rebut the foreigners' criticism, but we are yet to rest our own conscience.