Feared for lives of my parents: Puri recalls anti-Sikh riot horrors

Puri, then a First Secretary posted in Geneva, said he feared for the lives of his parents who lived in Delhi.

"Like all other members of my Sikh sangat, this violence also came close to my house. I was then a young First Secretary posted in Geneva at that time and was extremely worried about the safety and well-being of my parents, who lived in a DDA flat in SFS, Hauz Khas. They were rescued in time by my Hindu friend and taken to my grandparents’ first-floor house in Khan Market even as unimaginable violence raged across Delhi and several other cities," the minister said.

Attacking the Congress for enabling the riots, Puri said, "Today is the time to remember those dark days of violence with anger and rage even as we pay homage to the victims and empathise with the anguish and pain of the families they left behind."

"It is time to value the era of inclusive development and peace that we live in under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. Today, India not only keeps its minorities safe but also ensures Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas without prejudice or discrimination," he said asking people to never forget 1984.

Puri described the riots as one of the darkest blots in the history of independent India.

"I shudder even now when I recall those days of 1984 when helpless and innocent Sikh men, women and children were mindlessly massacred, and their properties and places of worship were ransacked by murderous mobs guided and led by Congress leaders and their cronies. All in the name of extracting ‘revenge’ for the dastardly murder of Indira," he said.

The minister added that this was when the police was forced to stand as a mute spectator even as Sikhs were being pulled out of their houses, vehicles and gurdwaras and were being burnt alive.

"The protectors had turned to perpetrators. Voter lists were used to identify Sikh-owned houses and properties; no attempts were made to stop the mobs for several days. Instead with his statement 'When a big tree falls, the earth shakes', then PM Rajiv Gandhi gave his open support to the massacre," Puri said.

He said Congress leaders were seen leading mobs outside gurdwaras, as even the police stood watching.

"The very institutions meant to uphold law and order surrendered their conscience and allowed a free hand to these leaders. At a Congress MLA’s house, leaders met and decided that Sikhs 'must be taught a lesson'. Inflammable powder and chemicals were procured from factories and handed to mobs," the minister noted.

He said years later, all this was corroborated by the Nanavati Commission (2005), which clearly said how: “there is credible evidence against Congress leaders who led mobs and provoked attacks.”

"Even their own report confirmed what survivors always knew. The Congress did not fail to stop the massacre. It enabled it. Later, the Congress shamelessly went to deny the anti-Sikh violence for decades. They protected the perpetrators and gave them plum postings (even party tickets to contest elections) as rewards," Puri rued.