Massacre of Sikhs in 1984 will Remain a Black Spot on Indian Democracy
For centuries India always had autocracy and a rule by kings and emperors. The darkest period of Indian history was Muslim rule over India. Without going into details, historians have concluded that Hindu population declined by 80 million during Muslim rule. The books of that period like the "Baburnama", note with glee the erection of pyramids of Hindu skulls by the Muslims. This fact is not mentioned in history text books authorised by the Congress party. In a way the Congress party was bad for India.
The only period in Indian history when no massacres took place on religious bases was during British rule. There is not a single instance of any killings by British on basis of religion.
After 1947 India opted for a democratic system based on the Westminister model of England. One hoped that the British tradiation would continue and massacres based on religion a thing of the past. Unfortunately in 1984 in the wake of the assassination of Indira Gandhi, unleashed a voilent episode that cannot be brushed under the carpet.
Justice Katju the eminent Supreme Court Judge in his blog has clearly stated that orders to kill Sikhs emanated from the highest authority in the government at that time. He accuses Rajiv Gandhi for this. I cannot comment on this, but the fact is that once the killings began no action like deployment of army was taken. The killings continued for 3 days and thousands of Sikhs were massacred in Delhi and Kanpur, states ruled by the Congress party.
It is worth pondering that killing on racial and religious lines authorised by a government is not seen anywhere. Even Hitler did not allow any killings of Jews on streets of Berlin. Yet thousands of Sikhs were killed in broad daylight on the streets of Delhi. I have no hesitation in stating that these killings could not have happened in case there was no saunction for the same. The police were not to be seen and Army not called in. Despite 3 commissions of inquiry, the truth has not emerged. The reason is simple, as the party in power the Congress government did not wish for the truth to emerge.
Its a traversity of justice that just a handful have been convicted for death of thousands of Sikhs, many of who were burnt alive. This episode will remain a black mark on Indian democracy and it will take a long time to erase this act from the minds of the Sikhs.
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