Genocide is describe by the United Nations as killing members of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and/or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group, with intent to destroy the group. In India, during the 1980s, such actions were taken against members of the Sikh faith. They were persecuted for their religion. Many Sikhs shaved their heads to conceal their identities from those that wished to harm them (Research Directorate, 1992). They were not able to live peacefully, instead they hid so that they were able to live. This way of life must have had long-lasting effects on members of the Sikh community as well as the country they resided in.
The rise of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was seen as a cause for concern by the Indian Congress led by Indira Gandhi in the 80s. Bhindranwale had joined forces with a prominent Punjabi political party, known as the Akali Dal, who wanted more autonomy for the state of Punjab. Gandhi, however, believed that this ‘coalition’ demands were veiling an attempt for Punjab to secede from India. This misconception that the Indian leader led to the beginning of the public’s mistrust in Sikhs.
On the 25th May 1984, 100,000 India army troops were mobilised and deployed throughout Punjab (Brar, 2012). They surrounded all of the important Gurdwaras (places of worship for Sikhs) in the state, including the Golden Temple where Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was residing. This act increased the already prevailing animosity between the Indian government and Sikhs. 11 people were murdered in the Golden Temple, many of which were pilgrims. A week later (3rd June), all communications to and from Punjab were cut, road blocks were put in place to prevent people from moving to and from the state, all journalists were expelled, and a curfew was imposed. Operation Blue Star began on the 5th June. This entailed the 16th Cavalry Regiment of the Indian army invading the Golden Temple, through the use of tanks, with the orders to shoot anyone they found. Buildings inside and around the temple were set afire. By the end of the siege, the bodies of Bhindranwale and his closest followers were found in the basement of the Akal Takht (a building within the Golden Temple complex). The temple was heavily disrespected by the Indian soldiers who wore their shoes within the temple, drank alcohol and smoked – all things that were forbidden in the Sikh religion. The total number of people that died during this operation was estimated to be between 1000 and 8000. The Indian government grossly underestimated the number at being 493 in their White Paper (Wikipedia Foundation Inc., 2009). This assault on the temple was seen by Sikhs worldwide as an attack on their religion. As a result of these heinous deeds, Sikhs deserted their units in the Indian army, resigned from civil jobs they held and returned awards they had received from the government. It had furthered the divisions between the Sikhs that resided in India and the government. It was these divisions, caused by an attack on their faith, that led to Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, five months after Operation Blue Star. This act of vengeance instigated a public outcry which ended with more than 3000 Sikhs being murdered in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Witnesses saw mobs in New Delhi gang-raping Sikh women, murdering Sikh men and burning down their homes, businesses and Gurdwaras. Government official and law enforcement participated in the massacre by engaging in the violence, inciting civilians to seek vengeance and providing the mobs with weapons. To be a Sikh residing in India during these tumultuous times was terrifying. The damage caused to the Sikh community had long-lasting effects on politics, the society and India’s economy.
The events of 1984 led to a generation of Sikhs developing a strong hatred for India and its government. They did not trust the ruling party not to repeat the mistakes of the past, due to growing up hearing hate and fear-filled speeches from their relatives and friends that lived through these tumultuous times. Respect was also lost for the police service that aided the rioters in rounding up Sikhs like cattle and then beating them. This led to the degradation of the Punjabi public with law enforcement officials. If a community doesn’t trust their local police, crime will be left unchecked which evidently is what happened in Punjab (Mohsin & Jabar, 2014). The rise in crime levels in the state is being linked to by economists to Punjab’s sluggish economy as many of the criminals caught are unemployed youths who are not contributing to their state. In fact, the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives recently published an article stating that they found “a 10 per cent rise in youth unemployment increases the crime rate by 15 per cent in big city districts in Punjab,” correlating two of the gravest implication of the Sikh genocide.
Alongside the rise in crime, all across Punjab, the abuse of drugs has become widespread, particularly in youth. Between January and June 2018, 60 deaths in the state of Punjab were linked to drug abuse. Several young people in the state have chosen to turn to taking drugs to cope with the harsh poverty that they reside in. There are few jobs that remain for them in a country that prides Hindus above all and where the caste system runs rampant. It is not possible for them to escape their lives by rising through the ranks of society, instead they see drug use as their only means of escape. Many of these young people are the children of the men and women that were murdered during the genocide. Their only choice is to resort to this dangerous life of drugs and crime.
The state’s economy was halted after the genocide as Punjab was (and still is) the home to the majority of Indian Sikhs. 15.9% of the population of Punjab are currently living below the poverty line. The agriculture sector in Punjab is filled with limitations. For a state where the economy relies on the financial propriety of the farming industry, this has become detrimental to the livelihood of its people. Suicide rates among farmers in Punjab have skyrocketed in the past 15 years with 16,606 (Thind, 2018) farmers committing suicide. 87% of these suicides were on account of severe debt.
Hundreds of women were left widows; they lost their children, brothers and fathers. The women of Tilak Vihar (a neighbourhood in New Delhi) are among these widows. During the anti-Sikh riots, they lost their livelihood. No longer having a stable source of income, these women live in poverty. Their walls are covered in peeling paint and crumbling plaster. Many of the rooms are unlit due to poor electricity connections and the drains are clogged and uncovered. After suffering the loss of their happiness 35 years ago, they now suffer in their own homes. This colony was meant to be compensation ‘awarded’ by the government to the widows who survived, but how could they replace a life? These women were further impacted by the riots by the psychological imprints left on their children. Countless young men, that were mothered by women of Tilak Vihar, never finished school. Instead they turned to alcohol and drugs. Atma Singh, head of the C-block in the colony, said that an entire generation of children in Tilak Vihar hadn’t completed school and that many of the boys “took to drugs and got involved in thefts and violence to finance their addiction”. The Sikh youth of India were traumatised by the riots, with stories of drug addiction being the most common.
As a direct result of the anti-Sikh riots in India thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of Sikhs fled their homeland, with many seeking refuge in western countries. This mass emigration from India transformed society for the reason that many of those that left were the amongst the richer Sikhs as they could afford the luxury of leaving. This meant that the growth of Punjab was stunted both financially and academically, with those that had access to education leaving their violent home-country. Without educated individual occupying jobs in the state of Punjab, healthcare also began to decline with sanitation being a key issue in many smaller villages. This meant that although higher-tier jobs were available in the state, there were not sufficiently educated people to fill the positions. This prevented Punjab from emerging as one of India’s most developed states. However, years after the mass emigration, Punjab is now home to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (Santosh, 2018) which is amongst the best hospitals in India. This shows that the impact of Sikhs leaving the country was limited as the healthcare sector still grew, increasing the GDP of the state.
In India’s most densely Hindu populated state, Himachal Pradesh (95.17%), the debt to GDP is at 38%, comparatively Punjab’s debt was estimated at 62%. In a 2012 investigation, it was discovered that Punjab has one of the greatest debts to GDP ratios (Gupta, 2012) with it being reported by some media outlets as being on the brink of bankruptcy. At first glance, this appears to have no correlation to the mass genocide of Sikhs, however it is a key theme in India’s government to implicitly harm minority religions using back-alley techniques to hide their evident bias. Harinder Baweja’s investigative account of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom showed that the government attempted to cover up their involvement for over 20 years (Merchant, 2012). This has led to suspicion that their wrongdoings during the genocide are greater than they appear at first glance. It also raises the question that is the duplicity ongoing. It may be the reason for the decline of Punjab as it is evident that the government is not acting to help the state avoid the pitfall of bankruptcy.
Education has become a tool for propaganda. Sikh children living in the state of Punjab do not learn about the majority of their religious and state-based history. It was reported by the Indian Express that in Class 12, in Punjabi schools, all 22 chapters of the history textbook used previously contained information about Punjab and Sikh history, however now it has been replaced by nine chapters on Indian history and only two chapters on Sikh history. The change was described by the board of Education and the Congress government as being “re-aligned’ to match the National Council of Education Research and Training syllabus. Many believe that the new curriculum was implemented to prevent Sikh youth from growing to oppose the government. They learn a biased history, where the voices that they need to hear are being silenced, due to the leaders of India fearing the loss of Sikh votes in elections. Although, this decision by the government may be counter-intuitive as it has led to many young Sikhs feeling disconnected from their country. This lack of patriotism could lead to an increase in Sikh politicians who run on campaigns that promote their faith community and changes to the education system.
Younger generations in any state in India are not taught about the anti-Sikh pogrom in 1984. It appears to be a topic only discussed by those of the Sikh religion or from the state of Punjab. Therefore, a lot of Indian youths weren’t visibly impacted by the genocide. Their lives were not drastically changed by the murders of their relatives and peers. Their mothers did not become widows and they were not forced into resorting to criminal activity and drugs. This led to divides between youth communities with the split being those that know about the pogrom and those that do not. These divisions that were created are becoming detrimental to India’s social landscape as it is splitting the religious groups into different financial brackets. The young people that are suffering through the repercussions of 1984 are less likely to succeed than their counterparts. This means that they will be stuck in the cycle of poverty that they were forced into, with no clear means of escape. Such a large proportion of Indian Sikh youth fit into this cohort. Without their financial success, it will be much harder for Punjab to survive as its economy is not being boosted with the prospect of success.
During 1980 to 1984, the lower house of the Parliament of India, known as the Lok Sabha or the House of the People, was formed by 10.6% of Sikhs (58 out of 545). The four years that followed contained (1984-1990) a higher number of Sikhs at 13.6% (74/545), showing a significant rise. The riots acted as a catalyst for many Sikh politicians who could no longer see their community suffer at the hands of a biased government. However, the percentage has since stagnated with the current (16th) Lok Sabha where the percentage is at 13.2%. This lack of representation is replicated in Prime Minister Modi’s own cabinet where there are only two Sikhs. This fact is even more shocking when compared to prominently white countries like Canada where there are four Sikhs. Indian politics has had a diversity problem that dates to long before the riots, nevertheless it has become much worse in recent years. This is evidenced by the absence of growth in the Lok Sabha. By excluding the Sikh community from the government, the statement that India is sending is that they do not care about them: a message that they have been repeating since before Operation Blue Star.
The current political landscape of India is consumed with hard-line Hinduism. Many Hindu nationalists were created after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, which had caused the Sikh community to become synonymous with terrorist. The Indian Congress Party was able to market the death of their leader with a call for unity and to maintain the integrity of the country. This created a frenzy, furthered by the use of media to allow every citizen to see Gandhi’s corpse, which allowed Congress to gain more than a three fourth majority (311 seats out of 542) in the Lok Sabha. Several members of this party took part in the riots, an act for which they were rewarded by Indira Gandhi’s son and successor, Rajiv Gandhi, with positions in his cabinet. By promoting nationalists during the riots, Gandhi set a dangerous precedent that said acts of violence against those who have wronged their religion will always be rewarded. This is seen by the legions of Hindu extremists that reside in India currently.
During the riots, the Indian government was formed by the left-wing Indian National Congress. Currently, the ruling party is the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party which is known for its religious discrimination. Although this cannot be named a direct result of the genocide, the change from a more accepting party to one with extremist ideology within its manifesto shows that Indian society has become less accepting of ‘outsiders’. Since the electoral victory of the BJP in 2014, the Sikh community in India has become increasingly vilified due to the Hindutva ideology (Hindu nationalism) that has permeated throughout the country. They have been positioned as antithetical to the ‘utopian view of a Hindu India’ (Singh Takhar, 2017).
India calls itself a secular state (a state that is neutral to all religious groups). This is far from the truth. During the riots of the 1980s, India’s divergence from this statement was the largest known to its countrymen. The way that thousands of Sikhs were persecuted sent a message to the non-Hindu minority of the country that they were not accepted in their hometowns, in public places and definitely not in Indian society. Divisions were formed during these times that rage on today. Currently, many describe India’s climate as an unstable one. An article in the New York Times wrote that “intolerance is on the rise in India, where the number of attacks on minorities … is part of a disturbing trend” (Kauffmann, 2015). This is evidenced by the rise in attacks on Muslims in recent years; crimes that go unpunished under the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party is known by millions of Indians for its intolerance towards those devolving from the Hindu faith. The BJP’s ‘ideological parent’, an organisation known as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, tended to also wrongfully defined secularism with Hindu rule. This unjust belief has plagued Indian society for hundreds of years, with the anti-Sikh riots being a recent peak in its horrifying repercussions.
However, in recent years, people are beginning to hold those responsible for the mass genocide accountable. 34 years after the ethnic cleansing, Sajjan Kumar was found guilty by the Delhi High Court of instigating mobs during the mass killings. The determination of the Sikh population inside and outside of India to receive justice was rewarded as Kumar was a government official that aided the rioters – a member of Indian National Congress. This highly publicised trial now acts as a deterrent to other politicians, as well as members of the public, showing that violent deeds will be punished. A further emphasis was put on this when, in November 2018, two men were sentenced for committing murder during the riots. The Sikh community of India saw this act of justice as their country exhibiting support towards them and those that were wronged. They needed this victory to begin the country’s journey towards rebuilding itself.
Furthermore, in 1985 the Rajiv-Longowal Accord (Wikipedia, 2007) (also known as the Punjab Accord) was signed by Rajiv Gandhi and Harchand Singh Longowal which provided compensation to the families of any innocent person killed in “the agitation or any action after 1 August 1982”, an enquiry into the 1984 killings, the structured governance of Sikh shrines in India, the protection of the interests of the minorities by various states, and the promotion of the Punjabi language by the Central Government. These conditions were accepted by many, although some people objected to the redistribution of Chandigarh to Haryana, so the opposition conceded this provision, instead choosing to transfer other Punjabi territories in lieu. The accord aimed to resolve the ongoing animosity between the state of Punjab and the government. Political prisoners (members of Longowal’s Akali Dal) were released which appeased many Sikh activists. This step was important in bringing normalcy to the state, however peace was not restored easily, with the cycle of violence continuing for nearly a decade after the fact. It is important to remember though that the provisions of this accord did better the lives of Sikhs in Punjab, as without the agreement the divisions present between the government and the Sikh community would have increased and resulted in violence for a much longer period of time. This would have derailed interfaith relations which would have developed in irreparable damage.
In 1986, two years after Operation Blue Star, an organisation was founded that wanted the creation of a Sikh independent state, popularly known as Khalistan, through armed struggle. The name of the group was the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF). The extremist group was responsible for the assassinations of high ranking members of the Indian government and armed forces. As an act of revenge for the attacks on their faith, they murdered General Arun Vaidya, the man who led the Indian forces in their attack on the Golden Temple. The Congress Party leader, Arjun Dass, was another one of their victims for his engagement in the massacres. The KCF promoted conservative Sikhism, attacking those that sold alcohol, cigarettes and other contraband. Throughout the 1990s, they began acts of terrorism, including attacking trains and buses where they singled out Hindus to kill, and bombing parliamentary buildings. This rise of this group was in direct retaliation against the injustices suffered by the Sikh community. Factions of the KCF are still active to this day in India and other countries around the world, despite several of their leaders having been sentenced to death. They preach about the need for a separate Sikh state and spread words of hatred toward those of the Hindu faith. Their continued existence has fuelled Hindu extremists in retaliating against Sikhs and has even acted a catalyst to convert those swaying towards extremism. If such behaviours are continued, it could lead to the return of devastating religious tensions which, with the country’s violent past, may be a fatal blow to equality in India.
In March of 2018, Jagtar Singh Johal, a Scottish Sikh visiting India at the time, was arrested for alleged involvement in the murders of a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (right-wing political party), a retired army official, and a pastor. Alongside this, he was accused of funding the Khalistan Liberation Force (Sikh extremist group). He is still being held in prison in India without being formally charged. Similarly, four Sikh youths were arrested in Punjab for engaging with Sikh ‘terrorism’ on social media sites. There are many more arrests under similar circumstances that have occurred that suggest a rising trend in Sikhs being violently targeted. Some correlate it to the resurgence of the ‘Sikh terrorist’ in Indian media. This also suggests that media has not learnt from its wrongdoings during the genocide, or perhaps it is once again being used by a higher power to control the Sikh population of India by using such figures as deterrents.
The media in India is known for being the government’s vessel for propaganda. In the 1980s, it had a similar reputation due to strict government controls and censorship. Foreign correspondents were not given journalist visa, denying them the opportunity of reporting first-hand of the horrific nature of the anti-Sikh riots in both Delhi and Punjab. This media blackout meant that all news reports at the time were heavily biased and contained several discrepancies. In the book ‘When a Tree Shook Delhi’, author and senior Indian journalist, Manoj Mitta wrote that the media “focussed on the happenings at Teen Murti Bhawan, where Indira Gandhi’s body lay…photographers were flocking to that place and the killing that were simultaneously going on in the capital did not get recorded at all”. This blatantly biased media coverage forced public opinion against Sikhs, highlighting the actions of a few and completely disregarding the violence of the many. The assassination of Indira Gandhi, a leader deeply beloved by the masses was used by the media to ostracize all Sikhs residing in the country. It was depicted that the murder plot was an attempt at a coup by the ‘anti-Indian terrorists’ that demanded the separate state of Khalistan. This fearmongering coverage led to serious distrust towards Sikhs in the minds of the general public, which evidently led to violent acts against the faith. This apprehension still exists in Indian society and its media with regular coverage of thinly-veiled anti-Sikh views.
The mass genocide of Sikhs transformed Indian society by deepening the already prevalent segregation of each religion. State lines became akin to ghettoization borders, with different faiths dominating separate regions; Hinduism was and still remains the most abundant religion in the country. The media was used as an instrument of propaganda by the government which changed the public opinion on Sikhs from one of indifference to believing that all Sikhs were terrorists.
Indian politics was deeply affected by the anti-Sikh riots and the violence that ensued. The country became more right-wing as a result which enabled thousands of people to preach and act upon their discriminatory views. The resurgence of xenophobia in India can be accounted to lenient government officials that are slow to condemn the violent beliefs that have pried their way into supposedly pleasant society. This is evident by the Indian government’s refusal to acknowledge the genocide of its countrymen. Unlike countries such as Argentina, South Africa and Chile that have acknowledged the atrocious acts of ethnic cleansing that occurred in their pasts (Singh, 2017), India is stubborn. The country’s is reluctant to take ownership of its role in the violence that Indian Sikhs were subjected to. Socially, this is unwillingness is devastating as it has promoted anti-Sikh rhetoric which could eventually lead to the resurfacing of religious tensions.
It could be argued that the Sikh community in India were not the only group to be affected by the riots. Approximately, 46 (Multiple, 2014) Hindus were murdered in Delhi during the events. These revenge motivated attacks formed further divisions between the two communities which is to some extent responsible for the partitions visible in the country to this day. Indian states are not all completely integrated, and perhaps never will be due to the irreparable damage that has happened over the years. Punjab remains a Sikh majority state, whereas Hinduism is prevalent in all states bar from five. By remaining separate, they cannot even begin the process of healing as one whole country.
Furthermore, India is filled with a wide array of other minority faiths that were affected by the mass genocide of Sikhs. The fear of being the next target of the rioters was prominent in the minds of Muslims and Christians, amongst others, especially with the temperamental tendencies of the nation. The country is prone to turning the tide on its one to protect their Hindu legacy, with the media being largely responsible for such changes. It is impossible to predict the country’s future due to its tumultuous past which is why the precedent set in the anti-Sikh pogrom generates such fear in other minority religions in the country.
Many Indian historians say that 1984 was the symptom of a larger disease (Livemint, 2018). Despite its impact on most, if not all, aspects of the country, they believe that the actual issue is within India’s governance. The inability to act appropriately to uprisings is evident in the ruling parties, past and present, alongside the refusal to acknowledge past mistakes. The mishandling of anti-Sikh pogrom investigation was not a learning curve for Indian politician. They repeated their useless actions during the investigation into the Bhagalpur violence in Bihar in 1989. This suggests that the government learnt nothing from their wrongdoings in 1984, heavily implying that it did not impact them.
In conclusion, India was greatly influenced by the mass genocide of Sikhs in 1984 and the subsequent events that followed. The metamorphosis of Indian society was already beginning before the 80s, however, the anti-Sikh riots catalysed this change which led to the divisive state that the country is currently in. To be a Sikh in India is a risk that millions take every day despite the obvious distaste for their religion in both the media and the government. I believe that this shift in societal views was the greatest impact of the genocide as its repercussions influence most, if not all, aspects of life. The widows of Tilak Vihar and their children became social pariahs after the murders of their Sikh husbands. Hundreds of thousands of Sikhs emigrated which almost devasted Punjab’s economy. Extremist groups were formed, with the most known being the Khalistan Commando Force, that are still active today. However, it could also be argued that Indian society has not changed at all, in fact some may say that it has been stagnant for decades, refusing to veer away from its self-destructive nature. The genocide may be seen by some as just another blip in India’s violent history as it primarily only affected the relatively small Sikh community. It does not appear to have affected majority of Indian citizens, implying that the ethnic cleansing of their compatriots was not incredibly influential over them.
The political impact of the riots closely followed the social in its vastness. The number of Sikh politicians within the federal parliamentary democratic republic is few and has not increased since the 80s. This stagnation in representation means that the voices of the Sikh community are not being heard which leads to their concerns being ignored. Without being a part of the legislative powers, it has become very hard for the community to improve and protect themselves from future attacks on their faith. Despite the efforts of the Rajiv-Longowal Accord, Indian Sikhs have not seen much of an improvement in tolerance of their faith despite being the religious group most affected by the riots in 1984. The anti-Sikh ‘facts’ that were pedalled by the media during the riots led to the rise of far-right extremism in the country and also the prominence of far-right parties like the ruling BJP.
Finally, the economic effects of the genocide were the least distinguishable as it is difficult to directly correlate them to the events. However, it is evident that Punjab suffered more than the other states of India as a result of the riots. The Sikh-majority state’s economy did not grow for years after the genocide of its people. This led to a large financial debt that haunts Punjab to this day, threatening to force the state into bankruptcy. Furthermore, a significant majority of its people are living in poverty with many of them being directly affected by the genocide which saw their family members ostracised. The state outwardly appears to be prospering at the moment, boasting one of the best hospitals in India which is providing jobs and education to thousands of its own citizens, although it is only a matter of time before its debts become a prominent issue.
The mass genocide of Sikhs changed the course of India, setting dangerous xenophobic precedents that have impacted every aspect of the country from its governance to everyday life. The pogrom haunts the country with just its mention leaving a chill in the air. It remains a dark stain in India’s unscrupulous history.
2019-2-11-1549912729