THE VIOLENT

HE CARNAGE that swept so I T radiated like a powerful wave much of the national capital from the perimeter of All India and parts of the country last Institute of Medical Sciences

fortnight was an unprecedented, (AIIMS) borne on the wind of uniform reaction to the slaying of rumour and swept by a growing Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by anger even as doctors fought their two of her own guards. For the losing battle to save the life of slain first time, it was the Delhi region, premier Mrs Indira Gandhi. The protected and pampered, that steadily thickening crowds set up bore the brunt ofthe anger and the an unending chant of slogans, orchestrated, myopic reprisals which wafted all the way up to the against the Sikhs. If, fortunately, it 8thfloor operation theatre and the

1 was less murderous in the states, corridors where mourners ga- the worst was in the Hindi- thered to take stock and discuss speaking northern and central the next moves. The slogans were states of Bihar, Uttar Pra- vicious, and the scuffles with the desh. Madhya Pradesh and police getting uglier. The final Haryana. The pattern, most vivid irony came when President Zail 1 and bloody in Delhi, was nausea- Singh's cavalcade, making its way tingly repeated elsewhere: sponta- from the airport to the hospital, neous arson and destruction at was stoned by frenzied crowds 1 first taken over by criminally led who were already besieging pass- hoodlums who killed Sikhs, looted ing Sikhs, burning their vehicles. or burnt their homes and proper- Map bv B K SHARMA The President's outrider was

1 ties while the police twiddled their was of mobs turning on the innocent, in obliged to remove his turban, and the Pr- thumbs. In desperation and fear, Sikhs southern India there was a unique ato- esident's press officer, Trilochan Singh, vanished from the streets and, in trau- nement. In Madurai, 200 men, women barely saved his life, fending off lathi matic acts of self-preservation, shed their and children shaved their heads. At least blows with a seat ripped out of his car. turbans, cut thelr hair and shaved their eight committed suicide in Madras. In Finally, the wave burst outwards beards. The toll around the country re- Trivandrum, the mobs merely burnt eni- with pent-up fury and swept the Union mains uncounted and tens of thousands gies, while in Karnataka there was spo- Territory in an uncontrollable deluge. have been crammed into hastily put to- radic destruction of property without Three days of violence and loot and mur- gether refugee camps and a benumbed loss of life. Mercifully, the one state derleftthenationalcapitaldazed, reeling country is only just beginning to grasp where reactions could be expected, tense from an unprecedented holocaust. As a the magnitude of the violence it has in- and troubled Punjab, seemed to be hold- senior home ministry official, contempl- acted upon itself. Reports have also ing under the watchful eye of the army ating themurder ofuntold hundreds, lat- poured in fromallover of Hindus going to and the para-military forces. And, as the er said: "What happened in those three the help of Sikhs, of saving neighbours country limped back to normal, it rapidly days will remain my life's most painful and friends, even strangers, from the became clear that certain low-level poli- enigma. We always thought that such

1 fury of the lumpen elements that made tical elements had been using the same carnage could only take place in far-off up the killers and looters. While in nor- reservoir of toughs for hire that have Assam, cut-off areas l i e Mandai or Nel- thern India, the overwhelming reaction rounded upmanpower to fill their rallies. lie. Here we had it all happening not 10

1 38 INDIA TODAY NOVEMBER JU. 1984

L , T H E V I O L E N T A F T E R M A T H

kilometresfrornRashtrapatiBhavan." other shrines in Punjab. But the resent- lised. News was indistinct, there was a While a lot of it was rumour, there ment simmered, and the inevitable profound sense of shock in the air. But

were isolated case-s of an irrational Sikh denouement came when two Sikh ass- the next day, November 1, a different celebrating the assassination. But an assins, traitors not only to the nation but story was being written. Violence spread emotionally surcharged population was betrayers of their own faith, riddled the swiftly, to other parts of New D e b , to more inclined to believe rumours. The frail body of the 67-year-old prime min- respectable neighbourhoods, areas gfex- bubble had to burst. It had been Glling ister with lethal bullets. pensive tenements, exclusive shopping through nine months of extremist viol- The first day, the violence was loca- areas. It swept Connaught Place, Vasant

Vihar, Maharani Bagh, New Friends

I: ,- it-

40 INDr.4 TODAY NOVEMBER 30.1984 1 p .

peace normally reigns. Pachkuian Road's furniture shops were made bon- fires of, and in Chandni Chowk, saris worth an estimated Rs 15 crore were dumped in the famous Paranthewali Gali and set ablaze. Delhi's fire department worked overtime in a futile bid to keep the fires under control. Said S.P. Agrawal, the municipality's deputy director in charge of water: "It was absolutely un- precedented. As against an average of 1 0

minor and major fire incidents a day, we were receiving well over 100."

Even so, in terms of what was yet to come, it was restrained. From the roof- tops of Connaught Place, columns of black smoke rose high into the sky, the smell of burning assaulted the nostrils. There was arson everywhere, shops and

Sikh refugees escorted into camp by armed soldiers: helpless victims

homes set on fire, taxis and lorries de- stroyed, property looted. There was an emotional undercurrent to it, but no one failed to notice the absence of the middle classes from the perpetrators of this viol- ence in the very middle class areas that it occurred. The signs already were omi- nous that this was the handiwork of ma- rauders from outside, not a spontaneous outpouring of grief.

In retrospect, it was as if the water

- RAGHURAI RAGHURAI I

I NOVEMBER 30. 1984 INDIA TODAY 4

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T H E V I O L E N T A F T E R M A T H

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1 1 RAGHU RAI

I' - 42 INDIA TODAY NOVEMBER 30.1984

wtis being tested. Looting and burning, the marauders were stopped by no one, certainly not the demoralised, ill- equipped, depleted and poorly-led ranks of Delhi police whose substantial Sikh cadre had immediately vanished from the scene. The lapses were to prove fatal. For the violence acquired a new, bloody pattern the very next day, on November 2, even as Mrs Gandhi's lifeless b2dy lay in state at Teen Murti House. On that day, the mobs began to kill, with delibe- ration, with cold-blooded calculation, picking on helpless men, women and children, bwning them alive, roasting themin their homes, cutting them down wherever they could be found. In some places, thesikhsresponded with counter violence, inviting harsher retribution, but the casualties spannedboth commu- nities. Several hospitals reported that casualties coming to them were a mix- ture of Sikhs and Hindus. But the Sikhs were outnumbered, and soon it became an unequal battle.

LOCK 32 in Trilokpuri in the trans- Yamuna region of the capital a, asn't typical, but it became a

deadly testament to the agony of that black week-end. For days after, the streets of Trilokpuri were heaped with smouldering corpses. Said a dazed Jasmer Singh, a jhuggi-dweller who sur- vived: "They would incapacitate a man, douse him with kerosene and touch him with a burning torch."

Other survivors are still increddous at the suddenness and devastation of the assaults."What happened, what went wrong?" wailed Kartar Singh sitting out- side his burnt-out house. "We had al- ways voted for her." On one wall. a half- burnt calendar picture of Mrs Gandhi survives. "They killed her a hundred times over," he moaned repeatedly.

The tell-tale signs of madness lay all over the burnt-out hulks of the ghettos. In on? hut, a bunch of shattered picture frames show martyr Bhagat Singh in the company of numerous Hiidu gods and goddesses and Sikh gurus. In the adjoin- ing one, the charred calendars are all of Hindu deities-it belonged to a family that tried to help its neighbours. People like that were the special target ofmobs.

Hans Raj, a building contractor had a horrendous experience. On the evening of November 1, he was a contented man,

A widow of a carnage victim in a relief camp (facing page) and (right)

scenes ofdestruction in Delhi: uncontrollable hysteria

KOVEMBER 3b. 1984 I N D I A TODAY 43

Y' THE V I O L E N T A F T E R M A T H

having completed the shopping for his and mirrors shop where a Sikh had died Sabha Gurudwara: "Thousands have daughter's wedding scheduled for next when large sheets of glass fell upon him, come since the morning shouting slo- month 1 had put my life's savings into slicing his body Barely two kilometres gans of Indira Gandhi Ziidabad and set i it, butIwas satisfied," henowsayswith a away, the Bangla Sahib gurudwara bore fire to our trucks and buses. At least 80 faraway look. Whenthemadness struck, a forlorn look, with its car park covered vehicles have been burnt." Close by, on he took in some Sikhs to protect them with brickbats.The gurudwaraitselfwas the Ring Road. the Bawa Holiday Inn. a I, from the marauders. "That was the safe thanks to stout defence offered by large double-storeyed bungalow con- .\ excuse they needed," he says raising his youngsters armed with iron rods, kir- verted into a guest-house, was on fire. heavily bandaged arms to his forehead. pans and the odd firearm. But by far the most pathetic sight was the "See how they beat me up, burnt my In Connaught Place, the first cars Guru HarkrishanPublic School in Vasant house, took away everything, all of my were burnt on Janpath Lane. Close by, in Vihar. The school was gutted, the furni- daughter's dowry." front of the Imperial Hotel, a group of ture, books and equipment all burnt and

Kuldip Kaur, who lost her husband Sikhs stood defiantly to prevent attacks even the ceiling fans dropped down aqd three children, describes how a on their taxi stands. With huge columns under the heat of the fre. The school, Hindu neighbour saved her by hiding of smoke billowing all around, Con- popular with children from all commu- her in a large steel trunk and nities, has now been closed putting aheavypadlockonit. indefinitely and it seems it "For two days I lay crouched will be some time before the in it" she says, "I even defe- senseless damage will be re- cated inside. But I am alive." paired. Everywhere the Others weren't as lucky. The police were mute spectators. death toll at Trilokpuri is esti- In retrospect, a strong mated to be nearly 500, a factor behind the violence major part of the unprece- was the proximity of each ex- dedted carnage that has ac- clusive colony to a resettle-

T i

counted for more than 1,000 ment area or village. Over the years, that has been the pat- people in the capital.

The exemplary camara- tern of development in Delhi. derie between Hindus and On this occasion, the reac- Sikhs was the only redeem- tion against the Sikhs was to ing feature in an otherwise provide justification for the sordid story. The signs Were letting out of all the pent-up everywhere, in outlying colonies like Goods recovered from the looters envy arid anger of the poorer neigh- Mongolpuri, Kodapur, Inderpuri, Tugh- bows. Similar motivations seemed to be .I

at work as small-time farmers formed the ! lakabad, Palam. Among the affluent colonies, the worst affected were those naught Place looked like a battlefield. bulk ofmobs that attacked the sprawling bordering on villages or resettlement Among the buildings that were burnt farm houses on the Delhi-GurgaonRoad. colonies. Others to bear'the brunt were were Uberoi Opticians. Marina Hotel Among those burnt was one belonging new colonies of mixed communities and some shops owned by Sikhs in the to author Patwant Singh. Outside town where bonds had yet to be established. Regal building. limits, the Olympus microscope factory

In the more central parts of Delhi owned by the Dhingra family, was burnt where violence first began on October T HE RESIDENTIAL colonies too along with the Dhingra house. Heavy 31, instincts were not quite as murde- soon fell victim to the mob fury. In damage was caused to Congress(1) MP

rous. Also, themobs there hadnochance New Friends Colony east of the Charanjit Singh's soft-drinks plant. of trapping large bodies of Sikhs in con- Mathura Road, houses of two former The irrationality of it all was evident finedareas. They concentrated on arson, chairmen of the Punjab and Sind Bank, in the way the violence engulfed people assault, and most important of all, loot- Mohinder Singh and Bhai Inderjit Singh of both communities. Said S.P. Malhotra, ing. On the first night itselfsome pf South were burnt. In nearby Maharani Bagh a Malaviya Nagar businessman and one Extension's better-known showrooms too, mobs came in with clear-cut lists of the leaderg of the citizens' vigilantes in -Perfection Silk and Sari House and bearing thenumbers of houses ownedby his locality: "There is no way a mob can wings Shoes had been burnt down. Im- the Sikhs. The trend was repeated in the hire only people from one community. mediately, the mob"s attention was south Delhi colonies of Safdarjung En- The flames can't tell a Hindu house tom turnedtotaxisdrivenby Sikhs. Soon, the clave, Vasant Vihar and Ham Khas. In one owned by Sikhs." At Kishengarh Ring Road and the roads leading to thesouthernmost colony ofSaket, mobs villagenearMehrauli,asevenacreindu- Palam and Safdarjang airports were lit came in a row of three-wheelers with stria1 estate was completely destroyed in with blazing cars. almost martial elan and burnt down the a fire as the mobs attacked factories

The mayhem moved to downtown beautiful new gurudwara, leaving the owned by a Sikh. What they didnot real- Delhi the following morning. Along the granthi for dead. He was later rescued. ise was that four of the six factories in the radialroads emanating from Connaught On Mathura Road past Nizamuddin, estate were owned by the Hindus. Yet. Circus, veritable infernos blazed in the at a sand and gravel depot as many as 50 within the estate, Hindus came to the furniture market on Pachkuian Road, lorries owned by Sikhs had been set on Sikhs' aid with no feeling other than thecongestedlanes ofpaharganj and the fire. The adjoining Bhogal area was even camaraderie. Says Harjeet Singh Bawa timber market near Shiela Chema. An worse hit. Said Sardar Ranjit Singh, pres- whose Bawa Potteries factory was com- I ~ I A TODAY correspondent saw a glass ident of the badly damagedBhoga1 Singh pletely destroyed: "It was not a com-

44 INDIA TODAY r NOVEMBER 30.1984

I'

- - munal riot but just an orgy of looting because of the breakdown of law and order. They even took away our flower

, pots. The Hindus have saved us or we would have never survived." Among the

3 many tragic ironies of the mindless phe- nomenon was the burning. in Najaf-

' garh, of a Hindu-owned furnfture factory just because its manager h a p pened to be Sikh.

The feeling of insecuritv was acute enough to drive the most prominent S i s into hiding. Journalist Khushwant Singh took the name-plate off his Sujan Singh Park flat and moved over to the

r safetv of the Swedish Em- bass;. Industrialist Raunaq Singh moved over to the safety of one of the more ex- clusive hotels. Many other prominent Sikhs replaced the name-plates outside their houses with those bearing common Hindu names. The Imperial Hotel on Janpath was the prosperous Sikhs' favourite hiding place. It was quickly converted into a stoc- kade guarded by employees and friends of its Sikh owners and residents.

If initiauy &e @muding g&gs had : e & ~ u l Bedi and Joseph Malliakan ac- a field day, it was because the police alf' : cused Police Additional Commissioners but evaporatM a%$recisely the mdment .' NikhitKumar and H.C. Jatav and Deputy that they were @lost needed. Of ,the ' Cafnniissioner Seva Dass of negligence. capital's 30,000+ bong police forte,- : KamlO defence was that he, being some 6,000 were On lea%. A good pro- ' under okders of transfer, was merely a portion of the remainder were on m ' gumt artist in the control room. duty, protecting tbe dignitaries, domes-/ Worse than negligence were the tic and foreign, beHnning to descend on clear cases of complicity. Eyewitness ac- the capita1,And those that were h the /counts abound of police giving rioters streets displayed at remarkable reluct- 1 the nod, turning a blind eye to murder ance to perform their duty even in the and loot under their noses. At the AUMS,

face of directprovociation: I licem men werenot just mutes~ectators. I -

At ~aharganj, as irdkiuobs pillaged, they were active pakicipants. k t Trilok- amiddlerankpolice officer stood by with puri, resident Rajpal Kaur is prepared to

I swear on oath that a nolice

In most of the attacks the motive was mainly looting. In fact, later in the fortnight as army and police pa- trols raided the villages and resettlement colonies and asked people to voluntarily leave the looted property on the street- corners or face searches and legal action. goods worth over a crore of rupees were recovered in a day proving that the mobs that rapsacked Delhi last fortnight cons- isted of mere and lumpen ele- ments and not communally charged zea- lots out to take revenge. Whenever the

1 police decided to act, mobs just melted away. In fact, they never even faced up to the vigilante squads hurriedly put to- gether by the citizens against them.

In fact, the vigilantes, who proved more effective than the police, were a veritable collection of middle class rabble armed with anything they could come across. There were old men wielding their walking sticks like lathis. youngsters carrying hockey sticks which were by far the most effective weapon, and iron rods. Often patrols looked like an excited bunch of roadside cricket players with men canying bats and wickets in the vanguard. Officers in both the a c e and the army ac-

, knowledge the fact that it would have been impossible to contain the riots

L ,

so quickly.

prime minister assuaging ~ikh'leaders

a posse of constables watching q&&. When an INDIA TODAY correspondent remonstrated with him, he feigned hel- plessness: "With our resources, what can we do? We are all waiting for reinfor- cements." Even as he said this, his men were watching in amusement as two Sikhs wielded traditional swords to keep a large mob at bay. Baning parts of Central DeIhi, the police turned their backs on the Sikhs. Said Gurminder Singh, a trucker fromBhogal: "It all hap- pened in the presence of the police."

T HE MOST telling cases of police apathy were reported in east Delhi. The suspension and arrest

of S.V. Singh, the station house officer (SHO) of Kalyanpuri police station which is responsible for Trilokpuri, was a tardy admission of this. But the entire system seemed to have collapsed. The 6rst officer to reach Trilokpuri got there 30 hours after the carnage started, even though the Indian Express reporters who had first reached there had rushed to tell the police of what they had seen a good 12 hours earlier. In a complaint to the police commissioner Indian Express repor-

-. ~ - - - - r - - - - -

lorry drove past her many times during the orgy of kill- ing. "Every t i e it went past. I looked out of my hiding pla- ce hoping it would do some- thing, but the police would do nothing," she later said.

The police could justifiably say it was in a state of shock after two of its ranks had shot the prime minister dead,But, as a senior Home Ministry of- ficial pointed out, it was at precisely this moment that high quality leadership was needed. Instead of providing

this, the top ranks did the opposite: they withdrew the entire Sikh constabulary, some 20 per cent or 6,000 men, further depleting the ranks of the police.

As always, there was a grain of truth about theexcuse given: that thesight of a Sihpoliceman would be as a red rag to a bull. But a skilful command would have been able to handle this differently, using the. S i s . in the police in ways that wouldn't bring them in direct conflict with the public. As it turned out, a Sikh 'versus non-Sikh controversy has sim- mewd for years in the ranks of the police, and this action could only have demora- lised the SFkh officers who suddenly found themselves some kind of out- castes. This was a crucial failure: in the city's policing system, the SHO is a key operative, and 13 ofthecapital's66 SHO'S

and four of its 21 additional comrnis- sioners are Sikhs.

In retrospect, there is general agree- ment that the army should have been called out the first day, if only as a pre- cautionary measure. The army was called out in the early afternoon of No- vember 1. but was nowhere in sight that day. Isolated lorries began to be seen that night ,and the next day the army pres- ence was more evident. But nothing short of a judicial inquiry can show why

- - --

NOVEMBER 3D. 1984 INDIA TODAY 45

vember 3. But it is known t

army on the fist e v e n i n g i t s e 1 f b ~ - -lain@ to @tb~htenant-govemor vised by Home Minister N a r m W . &gt the~."Sikh" amg,,dtlcer accom- to wait a while. , *.. , , , , a e d by a "Sikh" sno had no business

Gross though their failure was, tlte . <@,be in his area m d that they were culpability of the police in the tragedy acting in a wmmmal manner. Subse- would rank next only to that of the Con- quent inquiries shq w that @e officer was gress(1) politicians in Delhi. At over two only tryiing to do what w@ expected of dozen scenes of violence that INDIA him in the area allotted tpbls unit. TODAY correspondents visited in the % I . <

course of their investigations, the local T H E , m S S ( I ) t poriticians sud- people, including Hindus, pointed the de&csme into @vlimelight just k g e r at the local Congress(1) leaders. as the army and poke began reco- The Sikhs were too scared to name vering lo& prcperty ,apd arresting anyone. But there were other strong hoodlums. At prar'ically eachpolice sta- pointers, including: tion in the capi al, mi@-time Con-

The shameful scene created at thq:-I) politicians could@ seen plead- Karol Bagh police station by Congress(1) ; ~ ~ & w l & e ~ $ T k @ & t their, men MP Dharam Dass Shastri who protested&, @. " W d fhi$bc$en the same against the police raids on villages in W% . men werewning heir city ", a poke of- constituency to recover looted ficer asked' pgrily. Ironically, perhaps Shastri said he did not mind the po r the only;,&pec~ of peacekeeping on recovering stolen property but insist#$'*'. which tkp$nny and the police oacers that the people should not be arrester@$& as? td t#s surcharged situation is in they were "not criminals". ~h*~-*theu t$$&tt perception. And the finger nevertheless dismisses this as a c&$- hv&w& points to the Congress(1).

, paign by his rivals. in his party. "'~?'3+w$im ever wondered, asked a Brahm Yadav, the Delhi Y&&'.I'L* m y officer, "why is it that all

Congress(1) president, went a step the requests for the release of people are farther, trying to counter joint army and coming in from the Congress(1) leaders policeraidsinKodapur, apartofliiebloc. and not those of the other political par-

I.,.,.... '+L-

ties? Do you need better evidence?". Starker evidence was, however;javaila- ble to a party of newsmen-visiting the riot-tom east Delhi colonies. Onfailing to . dissuade them from touring the area, a police patrol quite openly set a bunch of rioting hoodlums upon them. The f scribes barely escaped injury but were deprived of their pens, notebooks and other belongings. But as they trooped into the police station to make a com- plaint they found highly apologetic local Congress(1) leaders requesting them not to make an issue of it and promising to return all their looted belongings. The politicians' confidence that the hood- lums would return the things at their bidding only betrayed some of the cri- minal comivance that took such a bloody toll last fortnight.

Similar reports were brought in by practically all the volunteers working

T with the relief agencies. It was on the basis of these that the Opposition wrote out an indignant memorandum to Rajiv Gandhi who, while denying Congress(1) interference, seemed genuinely concer- ned and promised to caution overzealous partymen. Besides complicity, the Con- gressmen were also guilty of their total absence from the peacekeeping effort. For days after the clashes no serious atte- mpt had been madeby a Congress(1) man to organise a peace march or committee. c

leader. Ah blue on

alled pro-Congress(I), a1 ad hoc executive. In

ove the committee headed Singh's statement condemning ;he -another statement on November 6, by thk soft-spoken Pakash Singh Maji- murder. The AIR and TV prominently when the priest reportedly said: "Hin- tha was disbanded and Surjan Singh broadcast it. But the following day dus have saved the Sikhs in Dew. Now Thekedar, a relative hothead, a p major dailies of the capital carried on wemust ensurethattheHindus arenot pointed theparty's convenor. This was page one his denial of having issued the harmed here." obviously a victory for the hawks. statement. But this last was only a caseofa s e c ~ Had the high priests kept their feel-

Sources in M t s a r confm that tion of the media getting it wrong. The ing to themselves, had some prominent the priest had issued the retraction priests were upset at the statement, ap- spokesmen publicly condemned the under pressure from hawks within the parenfly issued to the UNI in Delhi by assassination, muchof the trouble that Akali Dal. All along, the surviving mo- Bakshi Jagdev Singh, the pro-govern- foll d have bee n avoided.

46 INDIA TODAY NOVEMBER 30,1984

Now, with the initial frenzy over, PUNJAB & HARYANA beings arrive from other parts of the

law and order machinery did a bit of in- trospection. The current peace is a ti- bute not so much to the belated police or army action as to a sudden realisation of a new balance of terror between the two communities. Even those who did not exactly condemn violence against the Sikhs initially how fearfully talk in terms of retaliation in Punjab. In that hapless state, on the other hand, there is a new realisation of the vulnerability of Sikhs who have lived and prospered happily in all parts of the country. But this balance is at best a precipitous one and leaves no room for complacency. For it would not need a resumption of violence in Punjab or elsewhere to upset it. A mere rumour of it could bring disaster.

policemen say there is no chance of their handing out deterrent punishment to Unea~y' Calm the hoodlums unless political pressure eases completely. ~esides arrests whe- rever specific information is available, ~~~llllnlllllll#nlllll~~ FOR PUNJAB, the spec- the best, long-term remedy in such situa-

- _I tre of Operation Bluestar tions,is the imposition of collective fines.

-I1 is back again. Uncer-

Securitymen point out that if each thea- Ei& etainty, tension, fecir and tre of violence is studied carefully it is - anger stalk the harried easy to pinpoint the outlying villages or - iZZEE state which has so far -- suburban colonies from where the demonstrated an un- maraudin'g hordes came. This can be easy calm. But the first unsettling noises further c o h e d by comparison with came on the evening of November 5 as the trend of recovery of looted property. four Hindus were shot dead, two each The guilty villages and colonies would near Jalandhar and Patiala. An admini- thus be marked out and made to pay stration backed by over 80,000 uni- deterreot collective fines. formed men, including the army, BSP,

CRPF and the state police force now kept UT POLICE onicers wonder if that its fingers crossed, with survivors of B would be possible considering the clashes in Delhi and elsewhere trickling fact that the outlying colonies have into the state and descrtbidg their tra-

always been getting favourable treat- vails at the numerous gurudwaras. ment from the Government. Most of the If the state has so far reacted to the irregular constructions have been legali- happenings elsewhere with restraint, it sed, liberal loans given and the Congr- is a tribute to the traditionally harmo- ess(1) leaders have no hesitation in clai- nious relations between the two commu- rning that these areas mean something nities in the rural areas. Even at the special to them. "These are not just their height of the Bhindranwale wave there vote banks, they are also their rally had been no case of Hindus and Sikhs banks," says a frustrated police officer clashing in the villages and it is the same pointing to the fact that in recent years old bond that has prevented clashes so these colonies have provided the bulk of far. But officials fear that the renewed manpower for the various Congress(1) tension may be just too much even for rallies in the capital. these ties to withstand. In the cities, in

Officers point to the fact that unless any case, the two communities, particu- strong action is taken now, the ruffians larly in the business areas, have had a who brought this unprecedented dis- history of mixed relationships. And that grace to the capital will be tempted to . is where tensions are seen currently. repeat this orgy of looting and murder. "We are keeping our fingers crossed," And there is no scope for complacency, says Director-General of Police K.S. Dhil- for the next flashpoint may not necessa- Ion, adding, "we cannot rule out reac- rily be all that distant. It could be the tion among the Sikhs after their fellow slightest hint of retaliation in Punjab, or even a mere rumour of it. Public mourning the assassination in

But it is also time those running the Chandigarh: tension and fear

- country."

Initially, the news of the assassina- tion had caused some jubilation among the Sikhpopulation. In fact, the police ar- rested 17 students from professional col- leges in Ludhiana. 13 in Jalandhar and five in Patiala for distributing sweets. For many Sikhs, Mrs Gandhi had only been "executed" for her "sins" against their community, particularly the storming of the Golden Temple in June. The imme- diate reaction among the Hindus qas that the leader who protected them had gone away from the scene, leaving them insecure. But subsequent developments in Delhi and elsewhere had a chastening effect on everyone. As senior Sikh jurist Dara Singh says: "It was a senseless, in- human act. But what followed Mrs Gandhi's assassination is equally con- demnable. Killings solve no problems."

As the initial shock wears off, the situation remains explosive. Unfor- tunately, the Government has made very little effort to defuse it except for the governors' appeals broadcast on radio and television. It relies almost entirely on a strong, all-pervading military pres- ence. The Sikhs tend to blame the viol- ence on the Congress(1) and their anger hasn't spilled over to the Hindu com- munity. Some Congress(1) functionaries have also reacted with timely interven- tion. Hindu Suraksha Samiti leader Pawan Kumar S h a v visited Chandi- garh shortly after the assassination, stayed ,@th Union Law Minister Jagan Nath Kaushal and tied to organise processions. But Kaushal f i l y pre- vented him h m doing so. Initially, as

b trouble broke out in Delhi the ad- ministration had reacted in the same way as during the Bluestar exercise, blocking all traffic in and out of Punjab, stopvin~ rail services and frisking all

I

NOVEMBER 30. 1984 INDIA TODAY 47 -

Now, with the initial frenzy over, policemen say there is no chance of their handing out deterrent punishment to the hoodlums unless political pressure eases completely. Besides arrests whe- rever specific information is available, the best, long-term remedy in such situa- tionqis the imposition of collective fines. Securitymen point out that if each thea- tre of violence is studied carefully it is easy to pinpoint the outlying villages or suburban colonies from where the maraudin'g hordes came. This can be further confirmed by comparison with the trend of recovery of looted property. The guilty villages and colonies would thus be marked out and made to pay deterrent collective fines.

UT POLICE oflcers wonder if that B would be possible considering the fact that the outlying colonies have

always been getting favourable treat- ment h m the Government. Most of the irregular constructions have been legali- sed, liberal loans given and the Congr- ess(1) leaders have no hesitation hi clai- ming that these areas mean something special to them. "These are not just their vote banks, they are also their rally banks," says a hstrated police officer pointing to the fact that in recent years these colonies have provided the bulk of manpower for the various Congress(1) rallies in the capital.

Officers point to the fact that unless strong action is taken now, the ruffians who brought this unprecedented dis- grace to the capital will be tempted to repeat this orgy of looting and murder. And there is no scope for complacency, for the next flashpoint may not necessa- rily be all that distant. It could be the slightest hint of retaliation in Punjab, or even a mere rumour of it.

But it is also time those running the law and order machinery did a bit of in- trospection. The current peace is a tri- bute not so much to the belated police or army action as to a sudden realisation of a new balance of terror between the two communities. Even those who did not exactly condemn violence against the Sikhs initially how fearfully talk in terms of retaliation in Punjab. In that hapless state, on the other hand, there is a new realisation of the vulnerability of Sikhs who havelived and prospered happily in all parts of the country. But this balance is at best a precipitous one and leaves no room for complacency. For it would not need a resumption of violence in Punjab or elsewhere to upset it. A mere rumour ofit could bring disaster.

PUNlAB & HARYANA

Uneasy Calm ~n~~~~~~~~~~~~ FOR PUNJAB, the spec-

d tire of Operation Bluestar is back again. Uncer- !

Sd ainty, tension, fear and 3 ~zsz anger stalk the harried EZZ state which has so far -. demonstrated an un- easy calm. But the first unsettling noises came on the evening of November 5 as four Hindus were shot dead, two each near Jalandhar and Patiala. An admini- stration backed by over 80,000 uni- formed men, including the army, BSF, CRPF and the state police force now kept its fingers crossed, with survivors of clashes in Delhi and elsewhere trickling into the state and descrtbiAg their tra- vails at the numerous gurudwaras.

If the state has so far reacted to the happenings elsewhere with restraint, it is a hibute to the traditionally harmo- nious relations between the two commu- nities in the rural areas. Even at the heiget of the Bhindranwale wave there had been no case of Hindus and Sikhs clashing in the villages and it is the same old bond that has prevented clashes so far. But officials fear that the renewed tension may be just too much even for these ties to withstand. In the cities, in any case, the two communities, particu- larly in the business areas, have had a history of mixed relationships. And that is where tensions are seen currently. "We are keeping our fingers crossed," says Director-General of Police K.S. Dhil- lon, adding, "we cannot rule out reac- tion among the Sikhs after their fellow

Public mourning the assassination in Chandigarh: tension and fear

beings arrive from other parts of the country."

Initially, the news of the assassina- tion had caused some iubilation amone the si&hPopulation. Ink~ct, the police & rested 17 students from professional col- leges in Ludhiana. 13 in Jalandhar and five inPatiala for distributing sweets. For many Sikhs, Mrs Gandhi had only been "executed" for her "sins" against-their community, particularly the storming of the Golden Temple in June. The imme- diate reaction among the Hindus was that the leader who protected them had gone away from the scene, leaving them insecure. But subsequent developments in Delhi and elsewhere had a chastening effect on everyone. As senior Sikh jurist Dara Singh says: "It was a senseless, in- human act. But what followed Mrs Gandhi's assassination is equally con- demnable. Killings solve no problems."

As the initial shock wears off, the situation remains explosive. Unfor- tunately, the Government has made very little effort to defuse it except for the governors' appeals broadcast on radio and television. It relies almost entirely on a strong, all-pervading military pres- ence. The S i s tend to blame the viol- ence on the Congress(1) and their anger hasn't spilled over to the Hindu com- munity. Some Congress(1) functionaries have also reacted with timely interven- tion. Hindu Suraksha Samiti leader Pawan Kumar Sharma visited Chandi- garh shortly after the assassination, stayed ;with Union Law Minister Jagan Nath Kaushal and tried to organise processions. But Kaushal firmly p r e vented him from doing so. Initially, as

3 trouble broke out in Delhi the ad- ministration had reacted in the same way as during the Bluestar exercise, blocking all traffic in and out of Punjab, stopping rail services and frisking all

I NOVEMBER 3 0 . 1984 I N D I A TODAY 47 1

C AFTER THE M A T H

L U U i W j G U L e ~ g the cities. Columns ofhea- vily armed troops were sent on long pa- trols into the countryside and night curfew clamped in sensitive areas.

With the population still apprehen- sive and shocked, a foddable obstacle on the road to normalcy is the stringent press censorship enforced by the Govern- ment. With newspapers and magazines from outside the state banned, people have no choice but to listen to rumours and foreign radio broadcasts, particular- ly the British Broadcasting Corporation. As the editor-in-chief of The Tribune and president of the Editors' Guild Prem Bhatia says: "The havoc which the cen- sors have caused will have its repercus- sions in the course of time ...J unior of- ficials of the rank of head clerk and ofice superintendent have been entrusted with the job of censoring newspapers. Clothed in brief authority and with their limited vision they are handling their serious responsibility in a manner for which the Governmerit will have to pay a heavy price."

For the moment, however, the situa- tion in Haryana has been more worri- some. Despite ChiefMinister Bhajan Lal's boast that peace prevailed in the state Haryana notched up a toll of over 50 dead in four days of violence. The worst hit were the trains approaching Delhi, particularly from the direction of Uttar Pradesh. The small towns of Hailey Mandi and Palwal outside Delhi saw repeated, brutal attacks on the trains and accounted for the bulk of the death toll. Many of the injured were removed to hospitals in Delhi. At the casualty wing of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Seribeet Singh, a transporter who

MADAYAPRADE".,

Extensive Loss THE BACKLASH of anger that followed Mrs Gandhi's death took a toll of over 87 lives-22

-- -- -- -- -- -- -= the worst hit, 12 in Mo- p- -- --

rena, and spread across practically every district of the state. In fact, of the state's 45 districts, only two -Panna and Dhatia-were unaffected by either violence, curfew or prohibitory orders. Around 11 people were killed in m y or police h g , and350 injured, in- cluding nearly 80 policemen. A total of over 6,000 were arrested statewide.

The most shameful incident of mob violence tbo& place at Morena, 35 km from Gwalior. Angered by a nunour- which turned out to be unfounded- that a wealthy Sikh set upon by a mob had killed 18 of them, a crowd 10,000- strong collected near the outer signal of the railway station at noon. They first stopped the Utkal Ekpress going towards Delhi, but found no Sikh passengers in it. Almost immediately, the Chhatisgarh Express from Delhi steamed in and was brought to a halt by h e mob. They dragged out two dozen Sikhs and slaug- htered 12, including a ticket examiner.

In Gairatganj, 90 km east ofBhopal, a procession of a few hundred people shouting slogans against the UK-based Khalistanprotagonist Jagjit Singh Chau-

The Rajwada Palace in More devastated by a fire

han was fired upon by a Sikh hotelier . whose house lay on the procession route. Two people were injured, and one subse- quently died. The police laid siege and later entered the house to h d that the man had shot his family of four and killed himself as well. !

In Indore, where the police had anti- cipated trouble and prepared for it, they were able to prevent a mob attack on the Imli Sahib Gumdwara on October 31. But the following afternoon, in the words of district collector Ajit Jogi, "Everything exploded-it seemed the city's entire population was out on the streets." Almost simultaneously, 62 cases of arson were reported as phone calls swamped the town's fire stations.

The historic Rajwada Palace, built in 1754 by Malharrao Holkar was de- stroyed by fire that spread from nearby shops that had been set ablaze, and fire-

T men fought it for nearly two days. A loss of over-Rs 1 crore has been estimated. Citizens are suspicious because the viol- ence followed a pattern-the property of

i Sikhs known to be close to the Con- gress([) was mysteriously spared. And it wasn't the grief and anger at Mrs Gand- hi's death alone that incited the mobs. I

Crowds of people were seen breakinginto homes and hotels and helping themsel- ves to everything from liquor and wat- ches to refrigerators, cutlery and beds. , But in the midst of the madness, there

was a good deal of sanity as well. Pree tam Singh Chhabra, general secretary of the Guru Singh Sabha at Indore and his family found shelter at the home of their Hindu friends. Iqbal Singh. a Sikh tran- ,,& sporter, said: "If my friends had not hel- ped me,.I would not be here before you."

I I

boarded the western ail to Delhi at Baroda cantonment two days earlier. said he was pulled out by hysterical mobs at Tughlakabad station outside Delhi. "They came with lathis and iron rods and stones and repeatedly attacked all the Sikhs on the train. They stopped the train as many as 15 times before it pulled into Delhi."

Twelve towns, including Gur- gaon, Faridabad, Rewari and Sonepat were placed under curfew while heavy patrolling prevented further outbreaks of violence. Schools and colleges were closed all over the state for 11 days and bus services reduced drastically. With theinitial frenzy over, the shape of things to come in Haryana will depend on how things develop in Pun jab which, indeed, holds the key to the communal situation in the country in the months to come. -SHF,KHAR GUPTA with COOMI KAPOOR,

RAJU SANTHANAM and SUNIL SETHI

VDIA TODAY NOVEMBER 30.1984

Tragic Toll 1~i::'':pIJ IN TERMS of both

enormity and brutality, 11 violence in Bihar was

ti - neat on1 y inintensity to - - - - that in the capital. The - three-day frenzy claim- - -- --

ed no less than 200 lives though the Government placed the toll at a not-too-modest 108. The wave of killings abated only after as many as 15 towns were placed under curfew and the army called out in seven. What began as a spontaneous outburst of anger was al- lowed to turn into an organised cam- paign of crime against the Sikhs. Even before large-scale killings began in Delhi, riots broke out in the steel town of Bokaro claiming 60 lives.

In several cases the marauding mobs were led by leaders of the Congress(1) and its youth wing. The suspicion was more than confirmed when Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Singh personally or- dered the police to arrest a Congress(1) worker at Patna Sahib, Guru Gobiind Singh's birth place. A witness to the carnage, DMKP leader Roshan Lal Bhatia. alleges that the whole operation was led and masterminded by Congress(1) Seva Dal volunteers, the Youth Congress(1) and the police. "For two years." he says, "Seva Dal volunteers have been trained on the RSS pattern and they have put their expertise to use now."

A panic-stricken Sikh family in Patna entering their shop

Even worse than the Lngress(1) cul- pabiity was the apathy of the police. In the thickofit all,'a senior policeofficer let slip in an unguarded moment the obser- vation that what was happening was a "natural" reaction. Sikhs who sought refuge at Takht Harmandi rji gurudwara told the chief minister that the police refused to register complaints against a Congress(1) worker leading the mobs. Often, the police reacted quickly to the rumours-all false-of Sikh retaliation while taking the reports of anti-Sikh riot- ing in its stride.

In too many instances the army was seemingly called out only on paper. It staged flag marches and just disappeared without resorting to any action. This was particularly so in Patna where the troops were hardly allowed to get out of the trucks before being given the orders to return to their barracks. This mysteri- ous invisibility seems rather inexplicable though it is possible that a hard-pressed army needed to use the units elsewhere.

Not surprisingly, chaos reigned in the state, with the policenot bothering to enforce curfew for two crucial days. The fact that the chief minister had "air- dashed" to Delhi on hearing of Mrs Gan- dhi's assassination didnot help either. By the time he returned to his state on Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's instructions, as many as 60 people had died in Bokaro, 10 each in Dhanbad and Ranchi, 12 in Daltonghnj, six in Patna, three in Jamshedpur, four in Jhumritilaiya and one each in Hazaribagh. Muzaffarpur andBhagalpur. In the three days ofprac- tically unfettered violence, only seven people were killed in police firing-the rest had died at the hands of mobs.

Police Apathy WITH ITS history of Niankari -Si clashes. Kanpur has always been considered a town vulnerable to com- munal acrimony. And in the current round of

madness this industrial town alone ac- counted for nearly 40 per cent of the total death toll in Uttar Pradesh, which was put conservatively at around 140. As many as29 diedin Ghaziabadnear Delhi. Most grotesque, a local train that stopped in Maripat station 12 km from the indu- strial suburb east of Delhi was found to contain nine bodies, according to the Superintendent of Police B.P. Chakra- varty. In Lucknow city itself at least five Sikhs were killed in one single incident of organised violence that took place at Charbagh station.

Tragically, the police was to blame for its failure to avert the violence and mass murders that were clearly coming in the wake of Mrs Gandhi's assassina- tion. For instance in Lucknow, crowds which had been gathering in the Char- bagh station since the morning were in- cited by a rumour that bodies of Hindus slain by Sikhs in Punjab would be arriv- ing on the Punjab Mail. Though cases of Sikh passengers being attacked by the crowds had been reported to the police since the same morning, no action was taken. Thus, when the Mail arrived from Amritsar at 3.15 that afternoon, there was no one to stop the slaughter-five Sikhs were pulled out from the train and killed on the platform before the police arrived belatedly on the scene over half an hour later and fired some ineffectual shots in the air.

Far from protecting innocent victims from the wrath of the blood-thirsty mobs, the police were themselves alleged to be harassing the people. A Sikh who appealed for police protection was threa- tened with arrest instead. Citizens' groups supplied police with lists of goon- das who had been indulging in acts of loot and arson, only to be rebuked'by in- different officials. Jail staff found fishing in troubled waters most profitable-in the midst of all the trouble, they were al- leged to be taking bribes to permit visits by the relatives of those arrested. Nearly 4,000 people were arrested and curfew was in force in as many as 30 of the state's towns and cities.

I NOVEMBER 30. I984 INDIA TODAY 49

WEST BENGAL wrudwaras or with Hindu friends. -

The state Government was quick to b e 1 y Moves overcome the shock-both fiom the murder and outbreak ofviolence-and

~~~llll~\llg ALWAYS known to the residents of Calcut-

- 11 - ta as a shrine of spi-

- - - -- ritual dignity, Gurud- - wara Jagatsuear was -- -- -- -- a scene of violent com- -.--- motion last fortnight.

The quiet was shattered as scores of young thugs attacked it with burning torches and iron rods, broke up furni- ture on the ground floor and burnt parts of the shrine. But the Calcutta police did not repeat the record of their counterparts elsewhere in the country and arrived in time to prevent killings. The mob was quickly dispersed and as a deterrent to more mischief by armed thugs, a strong BSF picket was posted at the gurudwara. This was an effective deterrent for the mobs who later found . the shrine, in which over 800 refugees from other affected parts of the city took shelter, a tempting target.

Indeed, the situation had looked grim on the day of the assassination as Sikh taxi-drivers, who have lived har- moniously with others in the city had the rude experience ofbeing roughedup. In panic, many of them abandoned their vehicles and sought refuge in the police headquarters at La1 Bazar. Elsewhere too, frightened Sikhs sought shelter in

Hoodlums on a rampage in Calcutta's Bhowanipore area ,

moved fast. Men of the BSP, Eastern Frontier Rifles and even the army were deployed quickly. This ensured that the violence was confined to sporadic at- tacks on trucks, mostly owned by the Sikhs. No less than 30 were burnt, mainly in the crowded Burra Bazar area. But conforming to the trend else- where in the country the marauders' motives were more economic and poli- tical than communal. For years, the Gujaratis and Marwaris have been trying to muscle their way into the kuck trade. The popular fury against the Sikhs appeared as a veritable god- send to them.

Another nation-wide trend was confirmed in the attitude of the Con- gress(1). Even as parts of the city burnt they carried out processions displaying portraits of Mrs Gandhi and shouting "Death to the killers." Chief Minister Basu flew in from Tamil Nadu where he was attending a trade union confer- ence and began peace moves. The Left Front workers took charge of various parts ofthe city torestore order. Yet, thee Congress(1) men kept completely out of it. In fact, the middle-level leaders only added to the tensions with Subrata Mukherjee and Somen Mitra, the only leaders with some hold over the rank and file of the party choosing to stay on in Delhi during the entire period that Calcutta reeled under the shock of Mrs Gandhi's assassination.

~~lllil:l':~!ly WHILE Bombay, mer- cifully, remained qui-

II et, displaying a sense of sr - 1 digni6ed mourning.

__ -== trucks were the rioters' =- -- - target elsewhere in Maharashtra where

mob violence claimed at least 15 lives. The worst outbreak was in Kopergaon town in Ahmednagar. district where, fired by the rumours that a Sikh truck- operator had been shooting indiscrimi- nately, a mob surrounded his house, dragged out three persons and dumped them into burning trucks. The police arrived on the scene and fred heavily, killing two persons. But not before a score of shops, 22 trucks, a car and two scooters were burnt by the mobs.

In Shrirampur in the same district, the toll in terms ofhouses was higher- 33. Kishan Sharma. an AIR announcer was mobbed by hundreds ofpeople who asked him why he had continued play- ing f h songs on Vividh Bharati even after MKS Gandhi's death. Maharashtra also accounted for perhaps the only attack on someone connected with the Congress(1). In Aurangabad, the wife of Union minister of state for information and broadcasting Ghulam Nabi Azad

, was pulled out of her car on her way to . . ,the:airport. Though she wasn't har- med, the vehicle was then set on fire.

In Bombay, the two bandhs on Thursday and Saturday passed off pea- cefully and the Sikhs showed maturity in staying out of the way. Large police detachments guarded the Sikh and Punjabi dominated area of Sion- Koliwada. But there were scores of taxis parked there whose Sikh drivers preferred to stay indoors. "We feel no fear at all," said G u k Prasad Singh, the head priest of the Bhai Joga Singh Gurudwara at Koliwada, though a bit nervously. But he added: ''God bless her soul. It is a tragedy not only for the Hindus but for the entire country. We have no fear. We are Indians and we willstay here."

One consequence of this senseless, sectarian violence was the hike in prices ofvegetables, sincemost truckers who haul these up into Bombay fiom Pune and Nasik are Sikhs, and they, not surprisingly, refused to drive. But that was minor discomfort compared to what the sprawling metropolis was spared.

I NOVEMBER 30.1984 INDIA TODAY 51