Contextual background of the riots
The 1984 Sikh massacre, also known as the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom, refers to a series of violent attacks against the Sikh community in India. Removal of Sikh militants from the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar through Operation Blue Star caused substantial tension between the Sikhs and the government earlier that year. This anger culminated in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards on 31st October 1984. As a result, mobs formed by other religious groups singled out Sikhs in Punjab, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh among several other states and unleashed violence against them. Later, the attacks turned into a mass pogrom against Sikhs, with many innocent people targeted and assaulted solely based on their religion.
The subsequent government under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi received vehement criticism for not handling the violence adequately. It took several days of violence for the government to declare an emergency and deploy the military to restore order. This attitude led to many accusations against the government for turning a blind eye to the attacks and convinced the Sikhs that the authorities were complicit in the attacks. By the time the Indian army restored order, the violence had already claimed thousands of lives though the exact number of victims is still disputed.
Indo-Canadian author Jaspreet Singh gives a graphical explanation of the social condition during the 1984 anti-Sikh riot in his novel Helium.
He wrote,
“Delhi turned into a killing field and thousands of Sikh men were abused, mutilated, and burnt alive; women were raped; homes and shops were looted and burnt every day as if the State had planned to exterminate an entire community. Humans were no more than communal categories for perpetrators of violence”.
The events of 1984 have had a lasting impact on Sikh identity and politics in India and are seen by many as a defining moment in the history of the Sikh community. The event remains a highly controversial and sensitive issue in the nation to such an extent that Sikhs continue to call for justice for the victims.
Throughout the battle, many people stepped forward to assist the victims, even if the majority of them are still unrecognized. For instance, H.S. Phoolka, a lawyer and activist, played a substantial role in providing legal aid to the victims of the 1984 riots. He worked tirelessly to bring the perpetrators of the violence to justice, and his efforts helped secure convictions for some of the accused. Renowned journalist and television personality Vinod Dua was also integral in documenting the violent activities during the riot. He put his safety at stake to report the atrocities and helped draw attention to the problem to a great extent. Apart from individuals, several Sikh organizations came forward to provide aid and support to the victims of the riots. They provided shelter, food, and medical care to those affected by the violence and worked to ensure that justice was served for the victims.
2. Women and the anti-Sikh riots
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots were tragic and traumatic, especially for women. These riots resulted in widespread sexual violence and abuse against women, with many being subjected to rape, molestation, and other forms of assault. Men in the mobs roamed in the streets, singling out Sikh women and girls, dragged from their homes and raped in front of their families. A large number of them were abducted and never seen again. In places, the mob forced women to watch the execution of their husbands and children. The assaulted women in the riots often faced social stigma and shame, and many did not receive the support and care they needed to recover from their traumatic experiences. In addition, many women who survived the riots were left widowed or orphaned and struggled to rebuild their lives after the violence. The notion of honour can facilitate violence against women, as evidenced by the mass rapes and torture of Sikh women. This created a hegemonic binary; between male and female victims and the entire Sikh community as females who were exploited as a form of collective punishment by the masculine State to assert its power.
Despite the horrendous experiences, many women showed remarkable resilience and strength during adversity. Jagdish Kaur, who lost her husband, son, and three brothers in the riots, refused to leave women’s fate to the rioters’ whims. She spoke out against the violence and persevered to bring attention to the plight of the victims. She also helped organize relief efforts and supported those affected by the riots. Other women also came forward to voice their experiences and demand justice for themselves and others affected by the violence. They worked tirelessly to provide aid and support to those impacted by the riots, helping to rebuild communities and provide hope for the future.
The legacy of the 1984 Sikh riots continues to affect women in India today, and many activists and organizations have still not succeeded in articulating their issues on any mainstream platform. Jaspreet Singh rightly points out, “history has used these women in the worst possible way. The state would like them to live without a past”. The violence profoundly affected the mental health and well-being of women who survived the riots. Many of them underwent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety and struggled to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the violence. The traumatic past of the Sikh women or the Kaurs has been deliberately wiped out and dumped under the pile of official history. While progress has been made in some areas, much work remains to be done to ensure that all women can live free from fear and violence.
One of the most common effects of trauma is the disruption of memory. Several survivors of the riots may experience flashbacks, nightmares, and other symptoms that make it difficult to recall the events of the riots. Some experience dissociation and feel disconnected from their own memories and emotions. Nevertheless, several people have tried to document the trauma experienced by the victims of the riots, including survivors and their families. For instance, Radhika Oberoi’s Stillborn Season(2018) sheds light on the plight of the 1984 riot victims in Delhi. Haryana Civil Service Officer Kamal Preet Gill’s Madam Mohini(2022) brings back memories of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot from the perspective of a young Punjabi girl. Author Sarbpreet Singh recounts the anti-Sikh Massacre in 1984 in his work Night of the Restless Spirits(2020).
3. The aftermath ….
For many Sikhs, the memory of the 1984 riots is intricately intertwined with their individuality and sense of belonging. The riots were a violent attack on the Sikh community as a whole, and many Sikhs continue to grapple with the trauma of that experience. Cathy Caruth explains, “to be traumatized is precisely to be possessed by an image or event”. Hence, the trauma of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot became a “crisis of truth” for the victims. The memories of the riots are passed down through generations, with younger members of the community learning about the events from their elders and analyzing the impact of it in their own lives.
Jaspreet Singh rebukes the politics of the historical agency which kept school children unaware of the dystopian act of violence perpetrated by the State by not putting the story of 1984 in their textbooks. He writes,
“The State has tried to wipe away this dark memory. When the parliament reconvened, the government never once mentioned the horrific carnage directly. When schools and colleges reopened the headmasters and principals completely forgot to mention those four days the city had just witnessed. Instead, the State spent millions on ad campaigns to vilify the minorities. The subliminal message of that PR campaign was the pogroms were ‘natural’, ‘spontaneous’, ‘legitimate’, ‘outbursts of anger’, ‘inevitable’, ‘logical’.
In the aftermath of the riots, the Indian government set up several commissions to investigate the events and recompense the victims. However, many Sikhs felt that the investigations were inadequate and justice was not served for those who had been affected by the violence.
The legacy of the 1984 Sikh riots continues to affect India today, with many Sikhs still grappling with the trauma and loss of that period. The events of 1984 have also had a significant impact on the relationship between the Sikh community and the Indian government, with many Sikhs feeling marginalized and discriminated against in the years since the riots. Considering these traumatized individuals as historical subjects, they are potential carriers of “ an impossible history within them or they become themselves the symptom of a history within them or they become themselves the symptom of a history that they cannot entirely possess”. Those Sikh widows and orphans become historical subjects as they may not know to read or write but are carrying “an entire archive inside”.
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots are yet another chapter among the number of significant events that occurred in India in the previous century and caused conflict, violence, and homicides but were cleverly left out of government papers, histories, archival materials, and popular history textbooks.
The insurmountable gap in the narrative refers to the problem of historical agency and discourse hegemony in an era of intense networking with media and other social networks blasted with instances of the smallest injustice every minute. This results in the problematic practice of supporting selected victims while abandoning others in the abyss of severe injustice and total oblivion.
About the author …
Malavika P Pillai is an independent researcher with a Master’s degree in English Language and Literature from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. Her research interests include Memory Studies, Environmental Humanities and Postcolonial Studies from the vantage point of South Asian socio-political conditions. With demonstrable experience as editor, writer, teacher and researcher, she aims to revive hitherto unexplored events and narratives of the overlooked sections of society through her writings.
Insightful
Excellent write-up……..
It’s very informative. Thanks for sharing this.