Amitav Ghosh penned a harrowing essay on the organized anti-Sikh riots of ’84 (via DesiLit Daily):
The first reliable report of Mrs. Gandhi’s death was broadcast from Karachi, by Pakistan, at around 1:30 PM. On All India Radio regular broadcast had been replaced by music… The motorcade of Giani Zail Singh, the President of the Republic, a Sikh, had already been attacked by a mob…A stout woman in sari sitting across aisle from me was the first to understand what was going on. Rising to her feet, she gestured urgently at the Sikh, who was sitting hunched in his seat. She hissed at him in Hindi, telling him to get down and keep out of sight. The man started in surprise and squeezed himself into the narrow footspace between the seats.
Minutes later, our bus was intercepted by a group of young men dressed in bright, sharp synthetics. Several had bicycle chains wrapped around their wrists. They ran along beside the bus as it slowed to a halt. We heard them call out to the driver through the open door, asking if there were any Sikhs in the bus. The driver shook his head. No, he said, there were no Sikhs in the bus. A few rows ahead of me, the crouching turbaned figure had gone completely still…
Sikh houses and businesses were burning. The fires were so carefully targeted that they created an effect quite different from that of a general conflagration: it was like looking upward into the vault of some vast pillared hall…When she heard what was happening, she picked up the phone and called Mr. and Mrs. Bawa, the elderly Sikh couple next door, to let them know that they were welcome to come over… Mrs. Bawa thought she was joking, and wasn’t sure whether to be amused or not… Hari again called Mr. Bawa, and now the flames visible from his windows, he was more receptive… Mr. Bawa had changed before leaving the house: he was neatly dressed, dapper, even a blazer and cravat…
I spotted a few thugs already at the end of the street. We could hear the occasional motorcycle, cruising slowly up and down. The Bawas could not risk stepping out in the street… The cook was very frightened. He was surrounded by thugs thrusting knives in his face and shouting questions. It was dark, and some were carrying kerosene torches. Wasn’t it true, they shouted, that his employers were Sikhs…
The thugs were clearly audible in the lamplit drawing room; only a thin curtain shielded the interior from their view… Mrs. Sen had a slight smile on her face as she poured a cup of tea for Mr. Bawa. Beside her, Mrs. Bawa, in a firm, unwavering voice, was comparing the domestic-help situations in New Delhi and Manila…
As its members advanced on us, brandishing knives and steel rods, we stopped… And then something happened that I have never completely understood. Nothing was said; there was no signal, nor was there any break in the rhythm of our chanting. But suddenly all women in our group – and the women made up more than half of the group’s numbers – stepped out and surrounded the men; their saris and kameezes became thin, fluttering barrier, a wall around us. They turned to face the approaching men, challenging them, daring them to attack.
The thugs took a few more steps toward us and then faltered, confused. A moment later, they were gone. [Link]
The ToI ran a retrospective of the horror last year.
Everyone should read the Ghosh’s essay. It is quite powerful.
Some more excerpts, in addition to Manish’s post.
….
And then something happened that I have never completely understood. Nothing was said; there was no signal, nor was there any break in the rhythm of our chanting. But suddenly all women in our group – and the women made up more than half of the group’s numbers – stepped out and surrounded the men; their saris and kameezes became thin, fluttering barrier, a wall around us. They turned to face the approaching men, challenging them, daring them to attack.
The thugs took a few more steps toward us and then faltered, confused. A moment later, they were gone.
Thank you SM, for providing us with the link. I am still thinking about the images shown in the essay. I don’t usually shed a tear over things I read online or anywhere, but this really broke my heart. A powerful piece.
The 1984 incident was the most disgusting episode in India’s history. I am generally a flag-waving supporter of all things Indian, sometimes even irrationally–but these riots and the lack of justice in the last 20 years makes me bow my head in shame. I wish Manmohan Singh had the guts to go after the culprits- he certainly has the power to.
Singh is a coward. This is an injustice that should be adressed, but I am not holding my breath.
The ingenuity of Congress lies in the fact that they not only orchestrated the riots against Sikhs, but two decades later made a Sikh apologise for the riots in the Parliament!!
M. Nam
Moornam: you are correct, except perhaps the word “perversity” could also be used here…
moving article… some personal memories … we were in india then… that day… when news reached us … the plant manager who worked for dad was sikh… was stranded on wrong side of town … dad and mum drove him over to his home and family … him huddled at the back with a shawl over the head … across the burning city… and stayed with them till evening … on another note… when i see some personalized outrage on this board … or see the jingoist calls to revenge from the young bloods out here in canada … like little pups huddling around a cause … without the sense that it takes more strength to keep together in difficult times than to rend apart … we’ve all been through this … my paternal uncle was murdered in ludhiana by separatists … he would not bow to demands to leave punjab … shot dead on his morning walk… my aunt’s still there 20+ years since…
If I’m not mistaken, Ghosh’s essay was first published in the New Yorker some years back. If you’re interested in communal violence, partition and the nation (all themes that relate obliquely to the 1984 riots) it’s also worth reading “The Shadow Lines,” the book Ghosh was working on in 1984 and mentions in his essay.
Re: #8: agreed; and also “Remembering Partition” by Gyanendra Pandey; “The Partitions of Memory” by Suvir Kaul.
The effect of the riots still resonates, even if it does so quietly.
Manmohan Singh is a nice guy (and extremely well-spoken and intelligent – more so than a number of his colleagues)- however, I couldn’t help but be suspicious when Sonia Gandhi advocated a Sikh man to be prime minister, representing her party, the same year as the 20th anniversary of Operation Blue Star, Operation Wood Rose, and the Delhi riots. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I can’t help but wonder…
“it takes more strength to keep together in difficult times than to rend apart”
How truthfully written!
Umair, you are right. Remember that monster Jagdish Tytler resigned but didnt give his resignation to Manmohan Singh .. but gave it to Sonia. WTF !!!
My brothers best freind told us once that after the 84 riots his parents made him and his brother realize for the first time that they were Sikh and that they were under seige. He said that for the first time in his life he felt ‘different’. “A national shame” is not enough to describe, this act of political genocide.
Exactly. M.S. may be P.M., but Sonia’s the puppetmaster. Funny how conveniently that works out for her. “Dance, puppets, dance!”
This is a thought that must form part of every person’s memory, specially in light of our History of partition, sikh riots, Godhra riots…
and all violent responses to aggression..
This was a moving image…..Women can bring a power of reconciliation through their very vulnerability.
Something to think about…The pains of partition still haunt many many things in India, and its almost like noone thinks that healing is even necessary. Very encouraging discussion!! Sumita
And how the congress can go trumpteing their “secular” agenda, is so beyond me, I dont know what to say.
Am also stunned at how so many Indians dont stop to think about this responsbility of a party in pwoer to protect its innocent citizens.
Shameful
Sumita
Sure why not? Not necessarily to appease Sikhs (who are but a 2% votebank) but probably to show up the Hindu Nationalists, who were threatening a nationwide bandh if a “farangi” came to power. So she picks a minority, and by all accounts, an upstanding guy.
Sure why not? Not necessarily to appease Sikhs (who are but a 2% votebank) but probably to show up the Hindu Nationalists, who were threatening a nationwide bandh if a “farangi” came to power. So she picks a minority, and by all accounts, an upstanding guy.”
Umm, same hindu nationalists rescued sikhs when henchmen of Madam’s departed husband were massacaring them.
What an apalling and rancid political society India is.
At school in Bombay(then) we were incessantly practicing singing patriotic songs to welcome Indira to Shivaji Park on 4, November 1984-she didn’t turn up. What did happen was a massive show of force in the streets by the Army already on October 31 afternoon. The carnage did not happen in Bombay because there were no high level politicians giving execution orders to street gangs. Whenever large scale riots occur be sure politicians are the instigators/intentionally silent bystanders.
Pablo let out a stinky
million mutinies and then some … smoke that.
i think on substantive issues MS has quite a lot of say
After reading this, I’ve been going all around the internet, trying to find other articles. I was born in 86 and only lived in Delhi from 1990-1996 (I was there during Ayodyha) I really want to learn more about what happend. Here is a good primary document created by those marchers mentioned in the essay. It is titled “Who Are The Guilty”- An amazing document made in the days after the riots. Take a look and read it when you folks get a chance. Here is the link.
The 1984 riots is a stain on the so-called secular fabric of the largest democracy in the world. It goes to prove that our democracy is more of a “mob”ocracy.
“Women can bring a power of reconciliation through their very vulnerability”
dats wat the tamils thought in 94 when they voted for Chandrika, with her Peace platform. what she fought to mention pre-election was dat it was “War for Peace”.
but generally, i believe it to be true. oh yah, also with the exception of dat evil witch condie.
True … the mob-yob aspect in India can be dominant at times. Which is why I give full credit to the individuals like the lady on the bus who had the foresight & guts to warn the Sikh man, the driver who didn’t contradict the lady, and the remaining passengers who then supported the driver. One unit’s actions extended to the group.