By Jahwan
The Beginning
The Akali Dal was a radical Punjabi group desiring increased autonomy for the state of Punjab. This group has now morphed into the Shiromani Akali Dal political party. Before this, the Akali Dal put forth the Anandpur Sahib Resolution which demanded many federal powers should be transferred into the state governments and gave the people more of a voice in their government. Because the people of India are so diverse, with so many different cultures, languages, and religions being practiced in one country, it only made sense that one group would eventually ask for more independence, though the Akali Dal was denied this request by Congress.
Soon after Congress denied their request, a radicalist namedJarnail Singh Bhindranwale, emerged as the face of the Akali Dal. At first, leaders of the Akali Dal didn’t want to allow Bhindranwale into the project as they viewed him as untrustworthy. Some even accused him of being an agent for INC (the Indian Congress). Eventually, however, they chose to allow him in, as he was gaining more power and traction.
This would prove to be a fatal mistake as Bhindranwale hijacked the movement, declaring that the Morcha* will continue as long as all of the demands in the Anandpur Sahib Resolution were left unfulfilled. This left Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, in a tough spot as she considered the Resolution to be evidence of an attempt to secede from the Union of India. Bhindranwale decided t0 seek refuge at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, and thus Operation Blue Star was started.
Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to launch Operation Blue Star as a way to remove Bhindranwale and other militants from the Golden Temple. This operation took 5 days, lasting from June 1st to June 6th, 1984. While the Golden Temple was unharmed, parts of the Akal Takht, another sacred Gurdwara, and other important areas of the temple complex were damaged. This left many Sikhs outraged and furthered support for the Khalistan movement*².
The Assassination
Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her death in 1984. At 9:29 on the morning of October 31st, 1984, four months after Operation Blue Star, Indira Gandhi was assassinated. She was the first, and so far last, female Prime Minister. Her presence in politics was revolutionary and she made history. Sadly, her death would lead to the genocide of her very own civilians.
At 11 A.M. All Indian Radio reported that Gandhi’s murderers, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, were Sikh, causing mass hysteria around the country. Satwant and Beant said that they were taking revenge for Operation Blue Star into their own hands. People took this as an opportunity to discriminate against Sikh, as it was now socially acceptable and applauded. Hindu nationalists, who believed that all Sikhs should pay for the crime of these two men, were the main perpetrators during this horrendous time. From October 31st to November 2nd, approximately 8,000 to 17,000 Sikhs were killed and about 50,000 were displaced.
Many Hindus believed that because two Sikh people caused the death of “The Mother of India”, all Sikhs supported this murderous behavior. They used this to spread the notion that Hinduism is above all other religions and that Sikhism deserves to be destroyed.
November 1st, 1984
Civilians were quick to organize riots against Sikhs. Although many rioters and Hindus claimed that these riots were in the name of justice for the murder of Indira Gandhi, these riots were very clearly an organized attack against Sikhs. Riots in the most influential areas in India, such as New Delhi, sparked people from all areas of India to go out and vandalize many Sikh-owned businesses. Many people started to raid Gurdwaras, the worship place for Sikhs. Although these Gurdwaras and their community opened their arms to people from all walks of life, rioters burned down these sacred buildings. Women were kidnapped from their place of worship, raped, and burned alive. Children were stolen from their families and they were also raped, lynched, or sold in human trafficking rings. The lives of Sikhs would never be the same after this day. These riots would become known as the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
The following days would consist of anti-Sikhs meeting to calculate their next moves. A few men would drive around on motorcycles, supplying rioters with iron rods, gasoline, kerosene oil, and money. Wealthy men would bid money to drive others to kill more Sikhs, as if their lives were material goods. Some anti-Sikhs would carry around large bricks to knock out Sikhs passing by. Anyone wearing a turban, punjabi suit, or other traditional Sikh attire*³ was mobbed. It would become clear that the Sikh community would have a hard time recovering.
What was the government's response?
Although it is the job of the government to support their people and ensure that everyone is safe, the government was absolutely useless when it came to the anti-Sikh riots. Some politicians were not only compliant with the rioters, but aided in destroying Sikh-owned businesses and beating local Sikhs. One in particular, Congress member Sajjan Kumar, was handing out iron rods to a group of about 120 anti-Sikh rioters. He went as far as to instruct them to “attack Sikhs, kill them, and loot and burn their properties.” He was notorious for holding anti-Sikh rallies in many Delhi neighborhoods. Kumar was also found handing out 100 rupee notes and liquor with another congressman, Lilith Malkin. In Sultanpuri, a former Sikh Congress member, Moti Singh, heard Kumar chant “Whoever kills the sons of snakes, I will reward them. Whoever kills Roshan Singh and Bagh Singh will get 5,000 rupees each and 1,000 rupees each for killing any other Sikh.” Many leaders of the Congress Party were found handing out lighting fuel to other rioters.
Police also aided these government officials with their anti-Sikh agenda by turning a blind eye. During these riots, police would do nothing to protect the Sikhs that were being slaughtered and treated like animals. Out of all the crimes happening during this time, about 241 cases were filed, but they were all closed, allowing the riots and violence to run rampant.. No justice was being served and no Sikh was safe.
The support of such powerful government entities gave these rioters an extra push, making them feel as though they had the moral high ground. As Sikhs feared for their lives, Hindu-nationalists and anti-Sikhs alike joined together and used the opportunity to ruin the lives of a whole community.
The government's horrible response led Sikhs to wonder who would save them, who would stop this madness, and who could they trust?
Committees
After the riots were over, ten committees were created to investigate the origins of the genocide. The first committee was the Marwah Commission. Their job was to investigate the correlation between the police response and the damage done to the Sikh community. The Marwah commission was dissolved in June of 1985.
Another committee formed was the Misra Commission, createdby Rangnath Misra, a judge on the Indian Supreme court. The job of this committee was to keep up with the reports, but they later proved extremely ineffectual and claimed it was not their responsibility to identify the specific names in the reports. This was counter-intuitive and led The Human Rights Watch to deem them as biased, as this committee was run by government officials,the same officials who were organizing the riots.
The next failed committee was the Kapur Mittal Committee. The Kapur Mittal Committee had reports of over 70 police officers ignoring the gross behaviors that went down during the riots. Although they had the evidence, the majority of the officers were let off the hook.
The rest of the committees continued to fail. Some of them tried to prosecute Sajjan Kumar, but he was able to get away every time. The only accomplishment of these committees was the gathering of statistics on the number of Sikhs harmed at the time, although there is debate on the numbers’ accuracy.
Aftermath
This genocide highlighted a number of issues with the Indian government. Corruption amongst politicians is widely acknowledged by many Indians today, although little is done to rectify it.
The way this genocide is taught as anti-Sikh riots, instead of the Sikh genocide, shows how the the Indian government is trying to downplay their mistakes. Teaching these as merely riots, when in reality this was a hate crime that met all the requirements of a genocide, allows young people to grow up thinking the discrimination is over.
As if attempting to justify the harm done, schools in India still teach more about the reasons behind the riots than the riots themselves. Even if you search the term “Sikh Genocide” into Google, every result that pops up is titled “anti-Sikh riots”. This false label is very harmful to the Sikh community because they are still suffering, and understating their discrimination does nothing but harm them. Sikhs still want justice, and the government doesn’t seem like they will acknowledge the true damages of this genocide anytime soon.
What do my parents feel about it?
As a Sikh myself, I experience many of the effects that this genocide left. I can see the divide between Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus, even as someone who doesn’t live in India. My parents were teens when the genocide occured, so they remember it pretty well. My mom was sixteen, and my dad was fourteen.
My mom remembers being scared for her fellow brothers and sisters around the country. She grew up in a small, primarily Sikh, village in Punjab, so she wasn’t really affected personally by the rioters. Although she did not have any first hand experience with the rioters, she still feared for her life when going to her local Gurdwara. As a sixteen-year-old, she was terrified of the potential consequences solely for existing as a member of her faith. No one should have to fear for their life, let alone at that age. Her biggest worries should have been to study for her next exam, or go see her friends, not if she could go pray without being beaten, raped, or killed.
During the riots, my dad was stuck in another Indian state named Haryana with his family. He was there because his cousin’s sister was getting married there. He said that it was hard to travel because of the riots, and because he did not have access to a television, his family could not keep up with the news. When he came back to Punjab, he was horrified to learn about what was happening to his own community. His family was shocked to see how quickly the lives of their fellows were turned upside down and ruined. “So many people died, I didn’t know how to react,” he explained.
My experience
Growing up, my parents taught me Sikh history so I could be proud to be a Sikh. They wanted me to understand why they choose to never abandon their faith, how our religion allowed us to forgive, but never forget. Sikhism is a beautiful, peaceful religion that should be treated with respect, as should all religions.
The Sikh Genocide brings to light how we need to learn our history and how it affects us today. It's disappointing that we don’t learn about this in our sch0ols, because this is a very good example of how as minorities we need to stick together. These tensions could have eradicated an entire peaceful religion, and although Hindus were not a minority in India, they are a minority in most other countries. The tensions that continue on to this day prevent Asian Americans from truly connecting and helping one another. We need to stick together and feel each other's pain. We need to aid one another whenever possible. The Sikhs never truly achieved the justice they deserved. Throughout history, many groups never achieved their justice, but now we need to learn from our past mistakes. We cannot let history repeat itself, so we have to actively band together to fight the injustices our fellows minorities face.
* Morcha~a revolution; hostile demonstration against the government
*² Kahalistan movement~ Sikh separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khalistan, in the Punjab region
*³ Traditional Sikh attire~ Many Sikhs choose to wrap their hair with turbans and never cut it, as it is scarred. It is our way to show our devotion to God. Many Sikhs are also from Punjab, so it is normal to see Sikh men and women dress up in Punjabi suits when going to the Gurdwara. The image to the right is an example.
Sources:
“History of the Akal Takhat.”SikhNet, www.sikhnet.com/pages/history-akal-takhat.
Mamnani, Bhavna. “The 1984 Sikh Genocide: What It Is and Why We Need to Know About It.”East Coast Asian American Student Union, East Coast Asian American Student Union, 29 Mar. 2019, www.ecaasu.org/editorial/2019/3/25/the-1984-sikh-genocide-what-it-is-and-why-we-need-to-know-about-it.
Person. “It's Time India Accept Responsiblity for Its 1984 Sikh Genocide.”Time, Time, 31 Oct. 2014, time.com/3545867/india-1984-sikh-genocide-anniversary/.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Khalistan.”Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 18 June 2009, www.britannica.com/topic/Khalistan.
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