The year 1984 was a terrible year for India. Indian Army had to storm the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar, which was months later followed by the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the hands of her own Sikh bodyguards. Soon after, the anti-Sikh riots broke out in a number of cities across the country with Delhi, the national capital, being the worst hit. As if all this was not enough, Bhopal Gas Tragedy took place in the month of December leaving a few thousand people dead in their sleep after the leak of poisonous gas from Union Carbide factory.
Storming of Darbar Sahib by the Indian Army in June 1984 and the anti-Sikh riots in November 1984 have caused deep scars among the Sikh community. These have been haunting the Congress since then. While people of Punjab in general and the Sikhs in particular, appear to have moved on, and elected Congress to power twice, in 2002 and 2017, the scars do remain.
Particularly when people like Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and Kamalnath not only went scot-free, but were even rewarded. Kamalnath was given a clean chit, on the basis of “benefit of doubt” by the Nanavati Commission that probed the 1984 riots. Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler enjoyed Congress party’s patronage till late, rather till recently.
While there has to be zero tolerance towards the macabre crimes against humanity during 1984 anti-Sikh riots, to blame the wrong person is also not fair. Holding Rahul Gandhi responsible for the sins of omission and commission committed by his party leaders in the past, when he was just 14 years old, is completely unfair. Rahul assumed the Congress presidency quite late. Yes, his mother Sonia Gandhi can be blamed for some omissions like letting Sajjan Kumar and Tytler to continue with the party and hold important positions. For that, it is more of her advisers who need to be blamed than her.
The Congress party has not really apologised to the Sikh community till now. It was the Sikh Prime Minister of the party, Dr Manmohan Singh, who expressed “regret” over what happened in 1984. It was not even a categorical apology. Moreover, it came from someone who was not even remotely concerned with the Congress party when the riots took place. Back then, he was a senior official in the Government of India, not holding a political position. He was rather himself at the risk of mob violence, when macabre madness was unleashed in the streets of New Delhi and no Sikh felt safe then.
Gandhi has been gracious enough to own the responsibility for the wrongs Congress party did in the past. It is not just the anti-Sikh riots, orchestrated by some senior Congress leaders like HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar, Dharam Dass Shastri, Arjan Dass Lalit Maken and others, that he has owned responsibility for, he has also owned responsibility for various other omissions and commissions of the Congress.
Now that Rahul Gandhi has owned up the responsibility, he should take it forward and tender an unconditional apology to the Sikh community for what happened in 1984 in the aftermath of the brutal assassination of his grandmother at the hands of her own Sikh bodyguards.
It is ironic that Indira Gandhi ended up as a villain for the Sikh community, for having ordered Operation Bluestar to flush out militants from Darbar Sahib led by Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale. Neutral observers apart, even her critics admit that she had nothing personal against the Sikh community. Rather she, like her father Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was fond of the community. It was she who granted the Punjabi Suba, as was demanded by the Akalis. It was a tragedy that circumstances placed her in direct confrontation with the community.
So much so, when her Sikh bodyguards were withdrawn from her security detail in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar following intelligence inputs that there was a lot of anger and resentment among the community members and continuing with the Sikh bodyguards might be risky, she passed strict instructions that her Sikh bodyguards must be brought back as they were like her own children as they were deployed with her for a long time.
But as destiny would have it, the fears and apprehensions of the intelligence agencies came true. The same bodyguards whom she got back to protect her with a belief that they were like her own children, shot her dead in cold blood. A fatal error of judgement literally, not only cost the country a prime minister’s life, but also led to the killing of several thousand innocent people in misplaced revenge.
Rahul Gandhi has tried time and again to reconcile with the community. Besides, it was his mother who appointed Dr Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, as the Prime Minister of the country. Before Narendra Modi, he was the second longest continuously serving Prime Minister of the country after Pandit Nehru.
Rahul has been regularly visiting the Golden Temple. He endeared himself to the Sikh community after spending three days in Darbar Sahib as an ordinary devotee, where he offered prayers and performed ‘seva’ also.
Rahul himself will not be averse to tendering an apology for what his party leaders did. If he does it, it will help in embalming the deep wounds of the community and will further endear him to it. His apology will for sure serve as a healing touch.
And no wonder, it will be his political opponents, who will feel the pinch of the apology in Punjab. His political opponents like the Akalis, the BJP and the AAP leaders have already betrayed their nervousness in Rahul owning up responsibility for the party’s wrongs. They fear that an apology from him to the community can have far-reaching political consequences for each and every party, including the Congress in its own way.
Follow us
