Foreword

Gurcharan Singh Babbar

"Man's struggle against power, is the struggle of memory against forgetfulness"
(Milan Kundera, The book of Laughter and Forgetting)

The Congress government organised and executed the genocide of 5,000 Sikhs in Delhi and other parts of India in November, 1984 in the wake of Mrs. Indira Gandhi's assassination. Among those who played a direct role in the genocide are, the late prime minister: Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, the then home minister:, Mr. P V Narasimha Rao (who was also prime minister for five years from 1991-1996), Mr. Arun Nehru, Mr. Bhajan Lal (then the chief minister of Haryana), prominent former parliamentarians, HKL Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, the former Lt. Governor of Delhi, Mr. P G Gavai, the former home secretary Mr. M K Wali and the former police commissioner, Mr. Subhash Tondon.

Besides the killings, the anti-Sikh violence uprooted 50,000 families, who became refugees in their own country. Another 20,000 people were injured for life, hundreds of Gurudwaras were destroyed and thousands of copies of the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, were burnt. Hundreds of Sikh women were gang-raped, thousands were widowed and orphaned. At the end of this pre-planned and grotesque violence, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, who took over as prime minister after his mother's assassination, justified it all with his infamous words. "When a great tree falls the earth shakes".

Fourteen years later, the families of the victims are still waiting for justice and the organisers of the genocide are still roaming free. Some of them even enjoy the security of the country's best-trained commandoes. Not one of those accused of direct involvement in the killings has been convicted and punished. Police officials responsible for the violence, instead of being punished, have been promoted, even given the President's Award for Gallantly, in 1997. The judiciary and the media are silent on the issue. The entire national energy is being spent on debating white-collar crimes and their impact on national politics and character. There is a near amnesia about core issues like the November, 1984 anti-Sikh violence.

This book is an endeavour to remind the general public, the socio-political leadership and the intelligentsia about the bloodiest chapter in free India's history. Because, in our remembering lies the hope of the victims' families for justice.