Now that Teesta landed with an egg that broke on her face, it’s time to revisit the past. If not for anything but to simply compare the shrill hollering that accompanies the Gujarat riots and the deafening silence on the subject of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots planned and executed with meticulous barbarity by the Congress party. Funny how the secular mafia, which strains till day to keep the “memories” of the Gujarat riots alive is mostly silent on the plight of the 1984 riot victims’ families. No pleas for justice, no furious editorials of “delayed justice=denied justice,” and no frothing-at-the-mouth sanctimony about Nazism and Fascism.
In his typical style, Kanchan Gupta narrates a blow-by-blow account of what the Congress party did when “the big tree fell.” The earth shook. Curiously, only 4000+ Sikhs died.
Worth reproducing the piece in full. Read and weep.
When a big tree fell
Kanchan Gupta
Manmohan Singh and Congress suffer from selective amnesia as they rake up the 2002 Gujarat violence to malign the BJP. But even if they choose to forget the 1984 pogrom that left more than 4,000 Sikhs dead, the story remains fresh in the minds of many, among them survivors waiting for justice for 25 years
Caught on the wrong foot over the brazen manner in which it tried to absolve Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar of the serious charges that have been levelled against them by survivors of the 1984 pogrom that resulted in the slaughter of 4, 733 Sikhs, the Congress has struck back at its principal political adversary, the BJP, by once again raising the bogey of the 2002 post-Godhra violence in Gujarat.
Addressing a Press conference in Mumbai on Monday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who would like people to believe that he was “not informed, not consulted, over the CBI’s clean chit to Jagdish Tytler” although that is an impossibility, has said, “Nor will I be found wringing my hands in frustration while one of my Chief Ministers condones a pogrom targeted at minorities.”
Ironically, even as the Prime Minister was seeking to resurrect the Gujarat ‘pogrom’ and remind people of the ‘atrocities’ committed against Muslims, the Special Investigation Team set up by the Supreme Court and headed by former CBI director RK Raghavan submitted its report, refuting the allegations that have sustained the myth-making aimed at demonising Mr Narendra Modi and tarring the BJP’s image.
The SIT’s report shows Mr Singh’s description of the Gujarat violence as a “pogrom targeted at minorities” is as fanciful as his denial of any knowledge about the CBI exonerating those who are accused of leading murderous mobs during the 1984 violence, planned and executed by Congress ‘leaders’ to avenge the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi. Noted writer and veteran journalist Khushwant Singh, recalling those terrible days of 1984, told the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry, set up by the BJP-led NDA Government, that the hideous bloodletting left him “feeling like a Jew in Nazi Germany”.
It is possible that Mr Manmohan Singh has no memories of that massacre; selective amnesia is a disease from which too-clever-by-half politicians tend to suffer. It is also possible that he and his patrons in the Congress believe that by pretending nothing of note happened in 1984, those born after Congress mobs ran amok on the streets of Delhi, garlanding Sikhs with burning tyres, can be persuaded to vote for a party which claims to stand against the BJP’s ‘divisive politics’.
Such sanctimonious self-righteousness is best avoided by the Congress, not least because its then president — and India’s Prime Minister — Rajiv Gandhi had no qualms about justifying the carnage. “Some riots took place in the country following the murder of Indiraji,” Rajiv Gandhi said on November 19, 1984, even as thousands of families grieved for their loved ones killed by Congress hoodlums, “We know the people were very angry and for a few days it seemed India had been shaken. But when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little.” Some riots? Only natural? Shake a little?
Of course, Mr Singh would claim no knowledge of any of this. Perhaps he would even insist that he was “not informed, not consulted” by Rajiv Gandhi, or, for that matter, the mobs that bayed for blood (and feasted on it) for four days before someone called the Army in.
Twenty-five years is a long time. Public memory is notoriously short and it is unlikely those who have attained the right to vote in these 25 years would know what the protest against the Congress deciding to give party tickets to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar is all about. It would, therefore, be in order to recall the chain of events lest we be persuaded to believe that nothing of consequence happened by a Prime Minister who spends sleepless nights worrying about a terror suspect held in distant Australia but blithely disowns responsibility for the shocking attempt to whitewash the crimes of his party and its ‘leaders’ committed against thousands at home.
So, here is the story, briefly told, of how more than 4,000 Sikh men, women and children were slaughtered; in Delhi alone, 2,733 Sikhs were burned alive, butchered or beaten to death. Women were raped while their terrified families pleaded for mercy, little or none of which was shown by the Congress goons. In one of the numerous such incidents, a woman was gang-raped in front of her 17-year-old son; before leaving, the marauders torched the boy.
For three days and four nights the killing and pillaging continued without the police, the civil administration and the Union Government, which was then in direct charge of Delhi, lifting a finger in admonishment. The Congress was in power and could have prevented the violence, but the then Prime Minister, his Home Minister, indeed the entire Council of Ministers, twiddled their thumbs.
Even as stray dogs gorged on charred corpses and wailing women, clutching children too frightened to cry, fled mobs armed with iron rods, staves and gallons of kerosene, AIR and Doordarshan kept on broadcasting blood-curdling slogans like ‘Khoon ka badla khoon se lenge’ (We shall avenge blood with blood) raised by Congress workers grieving over their dear departed leader.
In mid-morning on October 31, 1984, Mrs Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh guards posted at her home. Her death was ‘officially’ confirmed at 6 pm, after due diligence had been exercised to ensure Rajiv Gandhi’s succession. By then, reports of stray incidents of violence against Sikhs, including the stoning of President Zail Singh’s car, had started trickling in at various police stations.
By the morning of November 1, hordes of men were on the rampage in south, east and west Delhi. They were armed with iron rods and carried old tyres and jerry cans filled with kerosene and petrol. Owners of petrol pumps and kerosene stores, beneficiaries of Congress largesse, provided petrol and kerosene free of cost. Some of the men went around on scooters and motorcycles, marking Sikh houses and business establishments with chalk for easy identification. They had been provided with electoral rolls to make their task easier.
By late afternoon that day, hundreds of taxis, trucks and shops owned by Sikhs had been set ablaze. By early evening, the murder, loot and rape began in right earnest. The worst butchery took place in Block 32 of Trilokpuri, a resettlement colony in east Delhi. The police either participated in the violence or merely watched from the sidelines.
Curfew was declared in south and central Delhi at 4 pm, and in east and west Delhi at 6 pm on November 1. But there was no attempt to enforce it. PV Narasimha Rao, the then Home Minister, remained unmoved by cries for help. In his affidavit to the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry, Lt-Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, decorated hero of the 1971 India-Pakistan war, said, “The Home Minister was grossly negligent in his approach, which clearly reflected his connivance with perpetrators of the heinous crimes being committed against the Sikhs.”
The first deployment of the Army took place around 6 pm on November 1 in south and central Delhi, which were comparatively unaffected, but in the absence of navigators, which should have been provided by the police and the civil authorities, the jawans found themselves lost in unfamiliar roads and avenues.
The Army was deployed in east and west Delhi in the afternoon of November 2, more than 24 hours after the killings began. But, here, too, the jawans were at a loss because there were no navigators to show them the way through byzantine lanes.
In any event, there was little the Army could have done: Magistrates were ‘not available’ to give permission to fire on the mobs. This mandatory requirement was kept pending till Mrs Indira Gandhi’s funeral was over. By then, 1,026 Sikhs had been killed in east Delhi. Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were among Congress ‘leaders’ who, witnesses said, incited and led mobs. Both deny the allegation, but the evidence is overwhelming.
A report on the pogrom, jointly prepared by the PUCL and PUDR and published under the title, Who Are the Guilty? names both of them along with others. The report quotes well-known journalist Sudip Mazumdar: “The Police Commissioner, SC Tandon was briefing the Press (about 10 Indian reporters and five foreign journalists) in his office on November 6, at 5 pm. A reporter asked him to comment on the large number of complaints about local Congress MPs and lightweights trying to pressure the police to get their men released. The Police Commissioner totally denied the allegation… Just as he finished uttering these words, Jagdish Tytler, Congress MP from Sadar constituency, barged into the Police Commissioner’s office along with three other followers and on the top of his voice demanded, ‘What is this Mr Tandon? You still have not done what I asked you to do?’ The reporters were amused, the Police Commissioner embarrassed. Tytler kept on shouting and a reporter asked the Police Commissioner to ask that ‘shouting man’ to wait outside since a Press conference was on. Tytler shouted at the reporter, ‘This is more important.’ The reporter told the Police Commissioner that if Tytler wanted to sit in the office he would be welcome, but a lot of questions regarding his involvement would also be asked and he was welcome to hear them. Tytler was fuming…”
The slaughter was not limited to Delhi, though. Sikhs were killed in Gurgaon, Kanpur, Bokaro, Indore and many other towns and cities in States ruled by the Congress. In a replay of the mayhem in Delhi, 26 Sikh soldiers were pulled out of trains and killed.
After quenching their thirst for blood, the mobs retreated to savour their ‘revenge’. The flames died and the winter air blew away the stench of death. Rajiv Gandhi’s Government issued a statement placing the death toll at 425!
Demands for a judicial inquiry were stonewalled by Rajiv Gandhi. Human rights organisations petitioned the courts; the Government said courts were not empowered to order inquiries. Meanwhile, Rajiv Gandhi dissolved the Lok Sabha and went for an early election, which the Congress swept by using the ‘sympathy card’ and launching a vitriolic hate campaign.
Once in office, Rajiv Gandhi was desperate for a breakthrough in Punjab. He mollycoddled Akali leader Sant Harchand Singh Longowal into agreeing to sign a peace accord with him. Sant Longowal listed a set of pre-conditions; one of them was the setting up of a judicial commission to inquire into the pogrom.
Thus was born the Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry, which took on the job of crafting a report that would suggest extra-terrestrials were to be blamed for whatever had happened. Worse, submissions and affidavits were passed on to those accused of leading the mobs; some of these documents were later recovered from the house of Sajjan Kumar. Gag orders were issued, preventing the Press from reporting in-camera proceedings of the Commission.
For full six months, Rajiv Gandhi refused to make public the Ranganath Misra Commission’s report. When it was tabled in Parliament, the report was found to be an amazing travesty of the truth; neither were the guilty men of 1984 named, now was responsibility fixed.
Subsequently, nine commissions and committees were set up to get to the truth, but they were either disbanded midway or not allowed access to documents and evidence. India had to wait for the report of the Nanavati Commission for an approximate version of the real story.
Justice Nanavati’s report said, “The Commission considers it safe to record its finding that there is credible evidence against Jagdish Tytler to the effect that very probably he had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs.” This is not an indictment, Mr Manmohan Singh and his Government decided, so why bother about it? Four years later they remain unrepentant, their attitude remains unchanged.
Two thousand seven hundred and thirty-three men, women and children killed in Delhi, another 2,000 killed elsewhere, scores of women raped, property worth crores of rupees looted or sacked. Families devastated forever, survivors scarred for the rest of their lives.
But the Congress doesn’t care!
Tags: Commentary, Communal Politics, Gujarat Riots, India, Indian Politics, Indian Secularism, Politics, Pseudosecularism, Pseudosecularism Hall of Shame, 1984 anti-Sikh Riots, Kanchan Gupta, Pioneer, When a Big Tree Fell
That is really a powerful hard-hitting piece of writing by Kanchan Gupta. Barbaric Congress goons will never acknowledge their role in this inhuman massacre nor will they allow judiciary system to conduct fair trial. As long as Congress is there, there will never be any justice to the victims of 1984 massacre. At least Rajiv Gandhi paid the price for his bad Karma when he died a death with no one to identify him through his face..
Jai Ho, Kaangress, Jai Ho.
These disgusting dogs should be taught a lesson they would never forget.
I wonder if gargi will make an appearance and offer a comment here.
It took a shoe for the Congress and for Barkha Dutt to recall the gory details of 1984, and so was the case with the rest of the English Language Media. To take up cudgels against ‘communalism’ seems to have become a sacred duty of the ELM.
Sandeep, please go through this!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-rosen/going-to-the-mat-confessi_b_186332.html
This guy, Nicholas Rosen is making many outrageous statments here. These guys made a docu movie called Enlighten Up!
This guys is the subject of finding out if Yoga leads to enlightenment. Sample this:
The REAL yoga, ancient and obscure, was nothing like the feel-good hippie stretching of today. It was more like black magic: transforming one’s semen into magical nectar, flying around and taking over other peoples bodies, and the like. Yogis were like boogeymen and dark sorcerers. This according to David White, the leading American scholar in ancient yoga, who noted, “I haven’t seen them teaching this stuff at the local yoga studio.”
In a rare interview, BKS Iyengar, the 90-year old ambassador of yoga to the West, told me that his yoga, as taught to him by his master, was a purely physical exercise and completely unrelated to ancient philosophy. He says he invented and refined much of it himself. It wasn’t until 1960, while on a visit to London, that English intellectuals introduced Iyengar to the ancient “yoga sutras”. Five years later, he combined the yoga poses and the Hindu teachings together in his book “Light on Yoga,” which then sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the United States. And voila — the modern yoga craze was born. But it was basically a new age invention, not an ancient practice.
The attempt seems to be to prove that Yoga was lost until West remade the Yoga to be in its current form!! I am frustrated, angry!!! This is bull shit!!!
As some one who witnessed this ‘pogrom’ in his teens, I know what Kanchan has said is absolutely true.
I with my own eyes have seen the bodies of charred Sikhs at Zakhira, Shiva Ji Marg (Najafgarh road as known as then), Rajourie Garden, Khayala all these places I visited with my maternal uncle – (not among us any more) then working with Indian Express.
I happened to live in a posh colony of west Delhi then, from my roof top I saw smoke billowing from the resettlement colonies of Manglore Puri and Sultan Puri. I witnessed looting at Madi Pur (Sajjan Kumar’s house is there).
I am proud to say that in our area ‘we all’ – including few Muslim families too – stood vigil for more than a week to save and protect our Sikh Neighbors.
Equally proud I am that my Nani (Palam Village) stood vigil to save Sikh Brothers @ risk oh her life – she was so shocked t see the massacre that she died of heart attack same month when she knew her best friends son was burnt alive.
25 years on…if I remember all this, imagine the agony of those who still live in 20X20 feet flats in Tilak Vihar (West Delhi)?
Our supposedly SIKH Man Mohan Singh is a slur on the name of SIKHS. I am a hot blooded PUNJABI and very proud of it…this Man Mohan brings shame and shame only to me and tro my Punjabi brothers in particular and to WE INDIANS in general.
Please care to have a look at this.http://theprudentindian.wordpress.com/2007/10/25/so-what-did-the-doctor-say/
PI.
Vivek,
Relax and chill. I can show you 1000s of such articles. Don’t waste your breath on that. It’s simply not worth it.
While the people (un-brainwashed)understand the Congress’ duplicity, the “secular” champions fail to ask the right questions. When faced with any question the immediate Congress reaction is to fault the BJP and NDA. But never does it explain its own failure to correct all the alleged faults by the NDA. After all it was in power for the past 5 years. Enough time one would think to set things right.
And not surprisingly, a cahoot media will not question Congress, instead will seek diversion from issue in question.
The Congress party and the man i.e Man-mohan Singh see red whenever the BJP accuses him of being the weakest prime minister to have ever led India. Let us see if the allegations are true.
01. CBI decides to drop charges against Tytler and Sajjan Kumar without even bothering to inform the Prime minister. Imagine the CBI even daring to do the same for any case however trivial if Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi would have been at helm. I believe that the CBI did ask Sonia Gandhi or they took the hint after the high command approved of the candidacy of the two tainted candidates.
02. The Congress party goes ahead and makes Tytler and Sajjan Kumar their candidates for the Parliamentary election without consulting the prime minister because the party feels they are sure shot winners. The high command however feels that no seat is secure enough for the Prime minister not even in Delhi while they go around tom tomming his many achievement.
03. He is unwilling to contest Lok Sabha polls not even from the two seats in Delhi from where Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were considered sure shot winners. They are winners as per Congress schemes of things. What is he?
04. He remembers the 2002 riots which took place in Gujarat which is a state unlike Delhi. The Congress party could not bring a city under control but expects a state to be brought under control in a jiffy.
05. The Prime minister’s writ runs neither in the cabinet nor the congress party nor with the administration and yet he is objects to opposition rightful comments on him being the weakest Prime minister.
06. He has been given leeway in certain matters not because he is considered good at it but because the high command recognises its limitation of being unable to make a head or tail out of it. So is there any good in him. Yes, I think so. Like Bahadurshah Jaffer could write poems, our prime minister certainly understands his marxist and socialist economics of which he has been a life long practicing member as an bureaucrat for most of his life and which unfortunately was the reason for our stagnating economy until 1991 when circumstances forced the change. The Hindu rate of growth should ideally be called The Marxist and Socialist rate of growth. Unless circumstances leave no option expect no reform from this pseudo reformer. His track record of the last five years speak eloquently of his reformist credentials. No reforms not even economic reforms have been implemented in the last five years. All that they did was ride the train that the NDA had set rolling.
In conclusion, I feel the prime minister is no Giani Zail Singh as far as his intellectual capability is concerned but the Giani had something far more superior and that is guts. Do not expect this ex bureaucrat to ever display any of it at least for the right cause.
After posting my comments, I happened to read an article http://ttrammohan.blogspot.com/2009/04/academics-in-government.html which has more on our able team of pseudo reformers led by our Honourable Prime minister.
@Prudent Indian: This country, especially the Sikhs and the Hindus who’ve considered the Sikhs as “blood brothers”, would be immensely grateful to you and your family. If at any point of time in the near or far future, India can truly become a secular country (not the perversion Nehru imported and we practice today but of the intellectual kind, practiced since before C.E.) it will be because of people like your family and millions of others who’ve silently preserved it.
Sandeep
My apologies for being off-topic, but just wanted to know if you’re aware of the new Wendy Doniger book “The Hindus.” Any plans to review?
[...] http://www.sandeepweb.com/2009/04/16/revisiting-the-horrors-of-1984/ [...]
[...] Read the entire article by Kanchan Gupta, republished by Sandeep, and please forward it using Twitter, FaceBook and other means. The 1984 anti-Sikh riots were orchestrated by the Congress, yes, the same secular Congress that may come to power again if you don’t chose to vote carefully. [...]
I was there with my husband and son on holiday during the Pogrom. I survived. They did not. I spent much time and effort – and pain – telling our stories in our blog, The Road To Khalistan (http://roadtokhalistan.blogspot.com/) The links to those stories are in the right hand column. These are very personal accounts of myself, my sister/cousin Suni and my dear mother-in-law, Vini.
I would like to encourage any and all survivors to write and publish their stories. Remember, “if we don’t write our history, our enemies will – to our detriment.”
“If at any point of time in the near or far future, India can truly become a secular country..”
- God forbid!
Let India regain it’s Hindu vibrancy. That will be more than enough.
“Read and weep”
Weep i do. It sickens me to see how the Congress (or any political party) would just choose to ignore inconvenient truths. They talk of Gujarat, even Kandahar, but almost gave tickets to Tytler and Sajjan.
They hypocrisy of it all is mind boggling.
I too watched the horrors of 1984. I was too young to know whats going on, but remember the burning houses and widespread looting.
@Palahalli: I’d take that you have said that as a sarcasm. In fact, I don’t really see a difference between what you said about regaining Hindu legacy and forming a “Ram Rajya” where all its citizens will be treated equally without spreading the contagious virus of “asymmetric sekoolarism”. Where the weak is protected but the society won’t tolerate criminals because of the fear of offending some particular group. And, so on and so forth … blah blah blah … you get it.
I find it difficult to understand the one sided love affair between Hindus and Sikhs. Hindus try their best to ingratiate themselves with the Sikhs, Sikhs rebuff Hindu advances with contempt.
Sikhtoons is one of the popular Sikh sites, check the archives and note how the “bad” Sikhs are portrayed as Hindus (typically sporting a tilak and wearing the sacred thread), and how Hindu symbols: the sacred thread and the swastik, represent evil in the cartoons.
The posts of The langar hall another Sikh blog reek of similar contempt verging on hatred for Hindus and Indians.
We do not talk about the Hindus who were dragged out of buses and shot, we do not talk about Hindus forced to migrate from Punjab at the point of the gun.
Note that these Sikh blogs are conspicuously silent about the jaziya their community is being forced to pay in Swat, while they have no compunctions in quoting approvingly Pakistani newspapers expressing mock sympathy for the “Sikh cause”.
Sandeep, can you explain to me why Hindus do not talk about the horrendous suffering of Hindus at the hands of the Sikhs in the lost decade in Punjab?
Bhavananda – No. I have not tried to be sarcastic about Secularism at all.
Manmohan’s speech at Oxford University on 8 July 2005, while accepting an honorary degree: “At the height of our campaign for freedom from colonial rule, we did not entirely reject the British claim to good governance. We merely asserted our natural right to self-governance. India’s experience with Britain had its beneficial consequences.”
On May 22, 2005, in an emergency cabinet meeting past midnight, the Manmohan Singh regime recommended the dissolution of the Bihar assembly to the president. This was a blot on Indian democracy. The country’s Supreme Court passed strictures on the governor, Buta Singh, and the central government.
In 2006, health minister Anbumani Ramadoss sacked the most renowned heart surgeon in India and AIIMS head P Venugopal from the post of director. The politics of a self-centred and selfish caste-based leader with 4 MPs in Parliament was on the verge of destroying a great institution. The people of the country looked up to the prime minister to sack Anbumani from his cabinet and restore people’s faith in governance. But prime minister could not do it. He didn’t even open his mouth on the issue so that we knew whether Venugopal was sacked with his approval.
After the assembly election in Jharkhand, although the BJP was the single largest party and it had the support of 5 independents, the Sonia-appointee Jharkhand governor, Syed Sibte Razi, hurriedly swore in Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren as chief minister. This in spite of the fact that Shibu had the support of just 33 MLAs, 8 short of the majority. But the PM just watched silently this murder of democracy. The Supreme Court had to intervene and tell the central government that the act of the governor was unconstitutional. Then the BJP was invited to form the government that it did. But we all know that Syed Sibte Razi was not removed. He is still the governor of Jharkhand.
Again, in 2008, as a reward for help save the UPA govt in Delhi, the PM asked Madhu Koda to resign so that Shibu Soren could be made chief minister. Soren forced Koda to resign, became the chief minister, but when Soren contested the election after that, he was rejected by the people, giving rise to a constitutional crisis.
The culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, were given tickets to contest the Lok Sabha elections. The prime minister kept looking but could not change the decision of the party. It was only after journalist Jarnail Singh hurled a shoe at the home minister and a widespread protest against the Congress decision was witnessed that the candidature of Tytler and Kumar was withdrawn.
Mr Arjun Singh, the Union HRD minister, in his infinite wisdom decided that the best way to preserve Aligarh Muslim University’s minority status was by reserving 50% of the seats for Muslims. The decision was taken unilaterally, without consulting the prime minister. There is a general belief that the move was decided by Arjun Singh in a bid to woo Muslim votes for the Congress.
In September 2006 during a meeting with Musharraf, the Indian prime minister said that “Pakistan was a victim of terrorism”. By saying this, he accepted Pakistan’s incredible argument. And now, after the Mumbai attack, he says Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism. Is it a sign of a PM who has a clear understanding of diplomacy? Certainly not.
In 2008 every six weeks, hundreds of people were killed in various towns of India, but the prime minister was not moved. He knew that home minister Shivraj Patil is not competent to handle the responsibilities of the ministry, but still he continued with him as it was Sonia Gandhi who had made Patil the home minister and only she could remove him. The country paid a heavy price for this act of the prime minister.
Recently, the Congress released a television ad. All prime ministers that the Congress party gave to the nation figured in it except Narasimha Rao. This happened although Rao was Manmohan Singh’s mentor in politics. It was Rao who got him into politics as his finance minister and Manmohan got some credibility. But since Sonia Gandhi doesn’t like Rao, she chose to not have him in the Congress ad. Manmohan Singh either didn’t ask her to include Rao in the ad or he is so weak that he knew that opening his mouth would be of no help. He is so ungrateful to his mentor! Such an ungrateful man does not deserve to head this great country.
All these examples show that the prime minister cannot take his own decisions. We have suffered him enough. We don’t want to suffer for another five years.
ANON has made some very interesting points. I wonder if someone would write a post on the history of Hindu-Sikh relations.
The sites he mentioned do contain some disturbing material.
Check this:
http://www.sikhtoons.com/HindutvaArchive.html
The material is indeed disturbing. With my limited knowledge I can only hope that this seems to be a handiwork of the old Khalistan junta with more than some help from the Pakis and the current generation of progressive-liberal (read ‘Brainwashed’) Punjabis who have no clue not just abt what happened in 1984, but also abt why Guru Tegh bahadur was beheaded.
I would not put it as ‘popular’, because internet itself isnt a popular medium in rural India as of now, and those of urban elite who do like this site are, well, anyway anti-hindutva.
“progressive-liberal”
– Well, they are neither progressive or liberal. Just plain ignorance of their own religion and history.
A large population of Sikhs had gone to UK/Canada during/after 1984. I believe they dream of separatism and Khalistan. They obviously are influencing these youngsters. (e.g. check out youtube videos on Bhindranwale and the comments on them)
From my limited knowledge of Sikhism, syncretism seems to be the major flavour in it. There are mentions of Hindu saints in the Guru Granth Sahib. Some Gurbaanis I’ve listened to are addressed to Ram. Guru Nanak has even spoken about the non-dual Brahman in many places (correct me if I’m wrong). I don’t understand how Sikhism as such can be anti-Hindu.
My take on the one sided love affair is :
a. We are very grateful to Sikhs for their resistance to Islamic invasions. Hindus are in awe of the martial spirit of Sikhs, an attitude which has disappeared from the Hindu psyche for the last 1000 years.
b. There’s a lot in common between us. Both religions have a deep spiritual connections with Bhakti playing a major role etc ( also things like “name of Guru” to be holy, concept of Mantra etc.), so naturally there’s a lot of affinity here.
Their anti-Hindutva stand is because our organizations have neither the tact nor the “soft-skills” required to “make friends”. Everytime they speak, they send out the wrong message.
It’s a tragedy that the only truly pluralistic tradition is accused of hegemony by assimilation.
Manmohan’s speech at Oxford University on 8 July 2005, while accepting an honorary degree: “At the height of our campaign for freedom from colonial rule, we did not entirely reject the British claim to good governance. We merely asserted our natural right to self-governance. India’s experience with Britain had its beneficial consequences.”
On May 22, 2005, in an emergency cabinet meeting past midnight, the Manmohan Singh regime recommended the dissolution of the Bihar assembly to the president. This was a blot on Indian democracy. The country’s Supreme Court passed strictures on the governor, Buta Singh, and the central government.
In 2006, health minister Anbumani Ramadoss sacked the most renowned heart surgeon in India and AIIMS head P Venugopal from the post of director. The politics of a self-centred and selfish caste-based leader with 4 MPs in Parliament was on the verge of destroying a great institution. The people of the country looked up to the prime minister to sack Anbumani from his cabinet and restore people’s faith in governance. But prime minister could not do it. He didn’t even open his mouth on the issue so that we knew whether Venugopal was sacked with his approval.
After the assembly election in Jharkhand, although the BJP was the single largest party and it had the support of 5 independents, the Sonia-appointee Jharkhand governor, Syed Sibte Razi, hurriedly swore in Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren as chief minister. This in spite of the fact that Shibu had the support of just 33 MLAs, 8 short of the majority. But the PM just watched silently this murder of democracy. The Supreme Court had to intervene and tell the central government that the act of the governor was unconstitutional. Then the BJP was invited to form the government that it did. But we all know that Syed Sibte Razi was not removed. He is still the governor of Jharkhand.
Again, in 2008, as a reward for help save the UPA govt in Delhi, the PM asked Madhu Koda to resign so that Shibu Soren could be made chief minister. Soren forced Koda to resign, became the chief minister, but when Soren contested the election after that, he was rejected by the people, giving rise to a constitutional crisis.
The culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, were given tickets to contest the Lok Sabha elections. The prime minister kept looking but could not change the decision of the party. It was only after journalist Jarnail Singh hurled a shoe at the home minister and a widespread protest against the Congress decision was witnessed that the candidature of Tytler and Kumar was withdrawn.
Mr Arjun Singh, the Union HRD minister, in his infinite wisdom decided that the best way to preserve Aligarh Muslim University’s minority status was by reserving 50% of the seats for Muslims. The decision was taken unilaterally, without consulting the prime minister. There is a general belief that the move was decided by Arjun Singh in a bid to woo Muslim votes for the Congress.
In September 2006 during a meeting with Musharraf, the Indian prime minister said that “Pakistan was a victim of terrorism”. By saying this, he accepted Pakistan’s incredible argument. And now, after the Mumbai attack, he says Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism. Is it a sign of a PM who has a clear understanding of diplomacy? Certainly not.
In 2008 every six weeks, hundreds of people were killed in various towns of India, but the prime minister was not moved. He knew that home minister Shivraj Patil is not competent to handle the responsibilities of the ministry, but still he continued with him as it was Sonia Gandhi who had made Patil the home minister and only she could remove him. The country paid a heavy price for this act of the prime minister.
Recently, the Congress released a television ad. All prime ministers that the Congress party gave to the nation figured in it except Narasimha Rao. This happened although Rao was Manmohan Singh’s mentor in politics. It was Rao who got him into politics as his finance minister and Manmohan got some credibility. But since Sonia Gandhi doesn’t like Rao, she chose to not have him in the Congress ad. Manmohan Singh either didn’t ask her to include Rao in the ad or he is so weak that he knew that opening his mouth would be of no help. He is so ungrateful to his mentor! Such an ungrateful man does not deserve to head this great country.
All these examples show that the prime minister cannot take his own decisions. We have suffered him enough. We don’t want to suffer for another five years.
@S B
I dont think the anti hindutva stance is because of any lack of “soft skills” or “tact” on the part of any organization. Take a look at pakistan. The exiled khalistan leaders and also sundry sikh organizations there, go out of their way to impress the government and the majority community. They talk about a mythical sikh-muslim unity that never was. This inspite of all the oppression they face there.
Why? It is because an average muslim is mighty proud of being muslim. It is a matter of pride being a follower of islam in pak and they are organized. Where is that pride here? When most mainstream hindus are ashamed of being hindu, when they themselves attack hindutva, why would anybody else or any other group want to be part of hindutva and why would they be proud of the hindu part of their heritage. Respect comes to those who first respect themselves.
@Tee :
You repeatedly say that the Prime Minister “did not open his mouth” or “looked on silently”. You make the common mistake as do many other well meaning commentators in assuming that the PM is essentially a good man, caught in a web of deceitful politicians.
Among all the corrupt and immoral politicians, Manmohan is the most rotten one. He is a congenital liar, and a treacherous serpent who has perfected the art of survival. The fact that he is a spineless wonder goes well with his other serpent like characteristics. His track record in office, most of which has been well captured by you, points well towards his treacherous tendencies. Needless to say, his standard defence has been a deafening silence or “I was not informed, not consulted” line.
There are of course issues like Ottavio Quattrochi and appointing an ex CEC (MS Gill) to office which you forgot to mention. Or even the Navin Chawla issue.
So, I totally disagree with you that lack of spine or indecisiveness is his only problem. His problem is bigger, its a lack of moral scruples and an extreme dishonesty.
The toons on Sikhtoons are really creative!! Seems like run by an ABCD with no first hand info. Sad to see the anti-Hindu slant though. Is it a pre-requirement to be anti-Hindu to be creative?
I have been following this story in the news media for the last so many days. It is a matter of profound shame for us as a nation that a civilised, educated person like Mr Jarnail Singh had to resort to such an act to draw attention to the heinous crimes that were committed so many years ago. Like most people in this country I was outraged at this act. But then, I sat back and reflected on this individual’s actions. I even saw the footage of the shoe throwing from another angle. Mr Jarnail Singh actually gently tossed the shoe in the direction of the Home Minister. The sole intention was to register a protest. Just compare the footage to that of the Iraqi gentleman hurling his shoe at President Bush. Had Mr Bush not been quick in ducking, those shoes would have given him a very nasty bruise on his head!
The Sikh community has been a model of patience for all these years in the solemn belief that ultimately, in this country, Justice will be done, that Truth shall prevail. After all, it’s inscribed on our national seal, isn’t it, ‘Satyamev Jayate”!! What does this community, or rather, every concerned, outraged citizen irrespective of colour, caste, creed or religion do after the premier investigative agency of the Government of India declares that a gentleman who has been accused of some of the most heinous massacres in the history of our nation, supported by numerous eye-witness accounts, is as innocent as a new born baby??! We are talking of India, the largest democracy in the world as we like to proudly proclaim, not some banana republic in Africa or South America.
So after twenty five long years after the deed has been done, there is still no justice and now the Government is making pathetic attempts at brushing the embarrassing truth under the carpet. What does a citizen, who was banking on the inherent sense of fairness enshrined in the Constitution of this Nation to grant him and thousands like him closure, do??! The flinging of the shoe is symbolic. It is a primal scream. It is the reaction of a man who has been reduced to a state of helplessness, because the State, on which he was banking to deliver Justice, is colluding with the perpetrators to deny him his rights. In the process, they have trivialized the deaths of those thousands of men and women, young and old, who died horrible deaths on the streets of New Delhi that fateful day in 1984.
I am not a Sikh. But my anger against the perpetrators of this crime and other genocides in this Nation knows no bounds. As a civilized person, there is absolutely no justification for any crime out of hate. And yet, we find people, responsible, educated people trying to justify this! What a shame! Rajiv Gandhi in my opinion is no better than Reinhard Heydrich for his infamous remarks in the aftermath of these riots :- “When a big tree falls, the earth beneath is bound to shake.” Heydrich disposed of Jews in an equally euphemistic and unrepentant phrase that he coined, “The Final Solution!”
So is the case of Gujarat. We in India are a shameless lot, inured to this ghastly game of hate between various communities, requiring just the smallest excuse and sometimes, no excuse at all to revert to being bloodthirsty savages. It is a history lesson that we refuse to learn in spite of all the terrible things that we have done to ourselves over the years. Because we were angry with Jinnah for splitting the nation, we killed all the Muslims that we could lay hands on, and they killed all the Hindus that they could lay their hands on in a gigantic orgy of bloodletting unparalleled in History. Even the SS Death Squads would have been put to shame by the zealous and methodical slaughter on both sides of the border. In 1948, a Brahmin killed Mahatma Gandhi, so all the Brahmins in Pune were fair game. In 1984, it was the turn of the Sikhs. In 1993, Mr Ibrahim got away with the Bombay blasts. We could not lay a finger on him or any of his henchmen, but we killed as many defenceless Muslims as we could lay our hands on. In Godhra, we punished the entire Muslim population of a state for the misdeeds of a few miscreants. Naroda Patiya became more infamous than Godhra. What an irony! We do not even hesitate to burn little children alive, as in the case of Graham Staines and his sons in Orissa. Our curse is, we forget! We forget very easily. Human life in this country is too cheap. And all of us, including us conscientious, outraged idiots who sit in the safety of our homes and pass judgment on lesser mortals, are to blame for the things that have come to pass.
I was told by a reliable source, that in the late seventies, a young college student named Paresh Baruah along with a few friends was touring the whole of India trying to raise awareness about the seriousness of illegal immigration of Bangladeshis across the border into Assam. In a planned, advertised meeting in Hyderabad, legend has it that only seven concerned citizens spared time to listen to the passionate young man. I’m sure that so would have been the case wherever he went in the rest of the country. What would he deduce from this? That nobody gave a damn as to what happened to him and his cause!! As a consequence, a potentially political movement became ULFA, a virulent separatist movement against which the Indian Armed Forces are still fighting.
All it takes for someone to take up arms against the establishment is that dreadful, helpless feeling where there is no light at the end of the tunnel. And after 25 years, you still cannot bring the perpetrators of the 1984 riots to book. Can you even gauge the emotions of the thirty year old who lost his parents that day and is waiting for justice even today?! Justice has to be done, and more importantly, it has to be in full public view. This not only gives a sense of closure to the victims, but also reinforces the rule of law. It tells potential offenders, don’t do it, the State is coming after you! For the sake of the unity of this nation, it is imperative that the Judiciary takes a proactive role in prosecuting these cases. We need closure to 1984, to the Gujarat riots and may no mercy be shown to the perpetrators, whichever political party they may be allied to. Not just Priyadarshini Mattu and Jessica Lall are crying out for justice from their graves. Judicial activism has to go beyond these individual cases. Thousands of nameless, faceless victims are calling us from the beyond, exhorting us not to fail them. It is our solemn duty as citizens not to forget them and to remember their sacrifice always and forever, so that a day like that never occurs again in the history of our nation. Is the Supreme Court listening?!!
@Madhav
Agreed.
I don’t know if you’ve seen this, but your use of language is drawing attention:
http://wokay.in/2009/04/19/our-very-own-friedman/
So, Shri. Anand Lulay..so much violence..why does this happen? Why do so many people become vengeful and murderous?
We have after all had governments and establishments devoted to bringing about peace and brotherhood amongst diverse people and cultures. 60 years and more have been devoted to this massive enterprise. Did all this bear no fruit at all?
@Palahalli: Is that a rhetorical question or do you really want a answer?
Shailendra Mathur – Yes, I want an answer. That question was not rhetorical.
Indians memory is so short lived & people are so dumb that they will vote a goverment who will indeed kill them,