Delhi 1984 to 2020: From Khoon Ka Badla Khoon to Goli Maro… Behaviour of the rulers and the police have similarities

Chandigarh: What is happening over the last over more than 36 hours in Delhi, the capital of world largest democracy, is virtual repeat of 1984.

The slogan that provoked the mobs against Sikhs in 1984 was ‘Khoon Ka Badla Khoon Se Lenge’ that was raised at AIIMS where the body of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been brought.

She was gunned down by two of her security men who were Sikhs. She was killed on October 31, 1984 to avenge army attack code-named Operation Bluestar on the Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib) in June 1984, the first such action in free India. The build-up against the Sikhs had been going on for months. The ruling party at that time was the ‘secular’ Congress.

The victims now are the Muslims. The ruling party at the centre now is the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Muslim community supported by the aware Indians irrespective of religion have been protesting against the CAA that along with NPR and NRC could target them and make many of them non-Indians. The non-Muslims who can’t prove their credentials would not be declared non-Indians and absorbed as citizens under the CAA. This is the basic problem.

Led by the Muslim women who have been perceived to be rooted in social backwardness, these protest dharnas have been peaceful all these days. However, despite being peaceful, these dharnas have bene coming under attack from the members of the Sangh Parivar.

Hate against the Muslims, however, was being built up by the bigots for long. This was the case with the Sikhs too in 1984 when the entire community came to be attacked as ‘terrorists’.

The Muslims are confronted now with the same perception.

The state institutions succumbed in 1984.

The situation is no different in 2020 when not only police in Delhi but several other institutions have already succumbed or showing signs of weakness.

The police collaborated with the attackers in 1984. Police personnel have played the same role in 2020 and now everything is on record. Nothing can be denied by the authorities.

Curfew had not been imposed in any part of Delhi till the time of filing of this report. The police exhorted the mobs in 1984 for three days.

US President Donal Trump commended India’s diversity after landing in Ahmedabad. Violence triggered within no time in Delhi.

The media initially ignored it till the situation worsened. Even journalists have been attacked. Within hours, the media redeemed itself.

It is the media that  had exposed the criminals of 1984 and the extent of violence against the Sikhs.

The main plank of the BJP in the Delhi Assembly elections was hate and the slogan “Desh Ke Gaddaron Ko, Goli Maro Saalon Ko”. The slogan was also raised by Anurag Thakur, minister of state in the Narendra Modi government. No action was taken against these people spreading hate.

That hate campaign has now culminated in mob violence. And the role of the police is that of being complicit.

This has not happened overnight.

The Congress used communalism as a tool but it is a policy in case of the Sangh Parivar.

There is one difference. The Muslims in India are about 20 crore. The Sikh population is about four crore. These are rough estimates. Of course, the Sikhs are more aggressive and dynamic.

It is not only the role of the Delhi police that has come under question against but also of the AAP government headed by Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal played a passive role initially. He should have visited the trouble spots even if home department is not with the Delhi government that he heads.

The Akalis of various shades have been exploiting 1984 massacre of the Sikhs in every election.

Ironically, the leaders of the Badal Akali Dal, the party that controls the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, have been silent.

Shameful.

Some forces, it seems, don’t want to see India prosper as world biggest vibrant democracy.