Hardeep Puri recounts 1984 riots when Sikhs were attacked by 'murderous mobs guided, led by Cong leaders'

New Delhi, Oct 31 (IANS) As the Congress party and its leaders pay homage to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated on this day in 1984 by two of her security guards, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recounted the horror that was unleashed on the Sikh community in the name of ‘revenge’.

The Minister took his social media account X to describe the trauma the Sikh community continues to live with. “Today we observe the anniversary of one of the darkest blots in the history of independent India. I shudder even now when I recall those days of 1984 when helpless and innocent Sikh men, women and children were mindlessly massacred, and their properties and places of worship were ransacked by murderous mobs guided and led by Congress leaders and their cronies. All in the name of extracting ‘revenge’ for the dastardly murder of Smt Indira Gandhi.”

He alleged that the police were forced to stand as a “mute spectator even as Sikhs were being pulled out of their houses, vehicles and Gurdwaras and were being burnt alive”.

Puri said the state machinery was turned on its head and the protectors had “turned to perpetrators”.

He said in his post that “voter lists were used to identify Sikh owned homes and properties; no attempts were made to stop the mobs for several days”.

“Instead with his statement “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes” PM Rajiv Gandhi gave his open support to the massacre of Sikhs. Congress leaders were seen leading mobs outside Gurdwaras, as even police stood watching. The very institutions meant to uphold law and order surrendered their conscience and allowed a free hand to these leaders,” he wrote.

The Minister alleged that at a Congress MLA’s house, leaders had met and decided that Sikhs “must be taught a lesson”.

“Inflammable powder and chemicals were procured from factories and handed to mobs,” he said.

Puri said that years later, all this was corroborated by the Nanavati Commission (2005), which very clearly said how “there is credible evidence against Congress(I) leaders who led mobs and provoked attacks.”

“Even their own report confirmed what survivors always knew. Congress did not fail to stop the massacre. It enabled it. Later, Congress shamelessly went to deny the Anti-Sikh violence for decades. They protected the perpetrators, and gave them plum postings (even party tickets to contest elections) as rewards,” he wrote on X.

The Union Minister said that, like all other members of his Sikh Sangat, this violence also came close to his house. “I was then a young first secretary posted in Geneva at that time and was extremely worried about the safety and wellbeing of my parents who lived in a DDA flat in SFS, Hauz Khas. They were rescued in time by my Hindu friend and taken to my grandparents’ first floor house in Khan Market even as unimaginable violence raged across Delhi and several other cities.”

He said that today is the time to remember that violence with anger and rage, even as we pay homage to the victims and empathise with the anguish and pain of the families they left behind.

The Minister further said that it is time to value the era of inclusive development and peace that we live in under the leadership of PM Modi.

“Today, India not only keeps its minorities safe but also ensures Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas without prejudice or discrimination,” he concluded in the post.

--IANS

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