A pogrom against Sikhs was carried out by workers of the then ruling party, Indian National Congress, after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikhs on October 31, 1984. The pogrom, lasting three days, took the lives of over 4000 Sikhs in Delhi and other parts of country. It is still considered to be the biggest mass-killing in the country since Independence. Journalists like Khushwant Singh compare it to the Jewish Holocaust. In 2001, the writer, a Sikh, famously said while deposing before the G. T. Nanavati Commission, “I felt like a refugee in my country. In fact, I felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany,”
Burining Sikh Houses
Media which is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy and also society’s watchdog, did not, by and large, play its role properly after the carnage. There were a few exceptions like The Indian Express, Illustrated weekly of India, EPW and The Times of India, which raised their voices against the pogrom; otherwise, the voice of the media was subdued by the government. In 2001, when a similar pogrom happened against Muslims in Gujarat, the electronic media started pushing government for speedy justice. This can be understood by the fact that until 1995, there had been only two convictions compared to 20 till 2009.
In August 2005, the G.T. Nanavati Commission’s report was tabled in Parliament. The commission claimed to have in its possession some credible information about local leaders like, Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and H K L Bhagat having instigated the mobs to violence. The very next day, The Asian Age ran a lead story with the headline, “1984 Sikhs Massacres: Mother of All Cover-ups.” Jagdish Tytler discredited the Commission’s claims by saying that previous commissions had failed to name him as an accused.
From Siddharth Varadrajan’s blog on the 25th anniversary of Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination: “I do not care how many innocent people might have died as a result of the actions Mr. Tytler is alleged to have committed. The answer to that question involves a burden of proof which is beyond the ken of an average person. The question I want an answer to is this: How many people did you save, Mr. Tytler? You were an important leader of the ruling party at the time and your clout is such that the Congress even today feels obligated to give you a ticket.”
A brave and new question, which no one else had ever dared to ask. This question is opening up new possibilities of discussions and discourse on responsibility sharing during carnage like this.
Being the 25th anniversary of the assassination and violent retaliation against Sikhs, almost all news portals carried special reports on Indira Gandhi, but the focus of the content varied from Indira Gandhi, her politics and legacy to contemporary India. Surprisingly, only a relatively small space was devoted to plight of the victims and their kin.
I Accuse- Book by Journalist Jarnail Singh
Journalist Jarnail Singh, who had hurled his shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram, in his interview to Outlook said that the media of that time (1984) did not live up to its responsibility. He added, “We know the numbers, we know what happened. But very little of the literature dwells on the conspiracy part, and on the human sufferings brought by the violence, and this is the reason behind my writing ‘I Accuse…’.”
The Hindu, in its article “Manmohan a balm, but anger still lingers in Sikhs” by Anita Joshua, tries to point out that this issue is still alive and despite the government’s ‘time would heal’ strategy, the issue is easy to rekindle. This is evident from protests that followed the arrest of Jarnail Singh after he hurled his shoe at P Chidambaram.
The only problem with the media is that it is driven by sensational stories. If the media had played its role more responsibly, the victims of not only the Sikh pogrom but also Bhopal gas tragedy and other victims would have got their fair share of justice without having to wait for so long.
Media Coverage of 25th anniversary of Sikh Pogrom
Some important links to read further
http://www.sacw.net/i_aii/WhoaretheGuilty.html
http://amitavghosh.com/essays/essayfull.php?essayNo=20
http://www.outlookindia.com/content.aspx?issue=5086
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