Bhartiya Janata Party Chief Minister of! Delhi Madan Lal Khurana has said that his government will approach the International Human Rights Commission if the Indian, government does not take early action against the culprits responsible for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Speaking at a function in Delhi organized by a committee looking after the riot victims, the chief minister has said he will not sit quietly nor let the central government sleep over the issue of bringing the culprits to book. Khurana has described the anti-Sikh riots as a black spot on India’s history ” The BJP chief minister owes his party’s victory in the Last election to support received from the Sikh community which was alienated from the Congress(I) because of its role in organizing the killings of several thousand Sikhs in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Most Sikhs in Delhi and elsewhere supporting the Congress (1) previously. Obviously, if the BJP has sympathy for Sikhs it is due to its electoral calculations vis-à-vis the Congress (1) not only in Delhi but also in several other states. Irrespective of BJP’s motives, its stand regarding bringing the 1984 culprits to book is worth appreciating. This issue, in fact, figured high on the party’s election manifest or for Delhi but due to limited powers enjoyed by the state governments under Indira’s constitutional arrangement, the party could not move ahead in ensuring punishment to the guilty so far. Top bureaucracy and police officers posted in states by the central government. In Delhi, its lieutenant governor, a central nominee, enjoys considerable power to interfere with the state administration. Since the culprits happen to be certain top Congress (I) leaders of Delhi, they get protection from the central government. In fact, the present Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao was home minister when the massacre took place and he was personally privy to most of the happenings. Even otherwise, the Indian state as a whole is biased against Sikhs and other minority communities and no action against men like H.K.L, Bhagat and other ruling party politicians is possible. Numerous commissions and committees have gone into the complaints of the victimized ‘families during the past 10 years and no tangible result has followed. Under these circumstances, the proposal to move the THRC is sensible. Khurana as well as the Sikh victims know it too well those petitions to Indian politicians and the Indian national human rights commission are to no avail, but the question is: will the Indian state allow the BJP chief minister to approach the IHRC? The idea is politically sensitive for the Indian government. The Indian government has means to scuttle the proposal from within rather than from outside. The government has a strong lobby within the BJP and one of its top leaders, A.B, Vajpayee, had agreed to join and lead India’s delegation to the Geneva session of the U.N, human rights body. India’s top Brahman parties share much common ground on many issues and the BJP could be dissuaded from raising, the issue before the world organization. An appeal could be made in the name of “national interest” (read the interest of the upper caste dominated Indian state). Therefore, one cannot but take with a pinch of salt Madan Lal Khurana’s off the cough remark. Whether finally the matter is taken up with the IHRC or not, the calculated failure of the Indian government todo justice to several thousand Sikh victims remains an important political issue. The U.S. administration cannot remain silent for long on this vital matter. Even the HRC can take up the massacre issue suo moto without a formal reference to it.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 11, 1994
