A fact-finding team jointly organised by the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PURR) and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PULL) in the course of investigations from November 1 to November 10, has come to the conclusion that the attacks on members of the Sikh Community in Delhi and its suburbs during the period, far from being a spontaneous expression of “madness” and of popular “grief and anger” at Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination as made out to be by the authorities, were the outcome of a well-organised plan marked by acts of both deliberate commissions and omissions by important politicians of the Congress (I) at the top and by authorities in the administration. Although there was indeed popular shock, grief and anger, the violence that followed was the handiwork of a determined group which was inspired by different sentiments altogether.
Experiences of individual members of the team as well as their extensive interviews with the (i) victims of the riots; (ii) police officers who were expected to supress the riots; (iii) neighbours of the victims who tried to protect them; (iv) army personnel; and (v) political leaders, suggest that the attacks on the Sikhs followed a common pattern, whether they took place in Munirka in the south, or Mangolpuri in the West, or Trilokpuri in the east. The uniformity in the sequence of events at every spot in such far-flung places proves beyond doubt that the attacks were master-minded by some powerful organised groups. As a senior army officer deployed in Delhi during the recent riots said: “This arson is the work of an expert.” Newspaper reports suggest that this pattern is similar in all Congress (I) rules states.
There was also a definite pattern discernible in the choice of the victims made by the assailants. According to the 1971 census figures Sikh males in the age group 20-50 number approximately 100,000. The Sikhs who were killed in the recent riots largely belonged to this age group. The official estimate of only 325 killed (including 46 Hindus) till November 7 (HINDUSTAN TIMES, November 11) sounds ridiculously low compared to the magnitude of arson, lynching and burning alive of people in the resettlement colonies alone. On the basis of information gathered from various sources, including eyewitnesses, survivors and relatives of the dead, the team estimates that the number of those killed is more than a thousand.
From our talks with the victims and their neighbours in almost every riot hit spot, we could reconstruct the sequence of events, which followed a stereotype pattern everywhere. The first phase was marked by the floating of a set of rumours on the evening of October 31, following the announcement of Mrs. Gandhi’s death. The rumours were three. First Sikhs were distributing sweets and lighting lamps to celebrate Mrs. Gandhi’s death. (Later during our investigations when we asked the residents of the affected localities whether anyone from among them had actually seen such things, almost everyone admitted that they had not personally witnessed it, but had heard from someone else. We did however come across a few people who while expressing revulsion at the incidents of assaults on the Sikhs, added that they had seen in some places some Sikhs expressing their glee at Mrs. Gandhi’s death by demonstrative gestures. We have reports that some isolated groups of non-Sikhs also exhibited similar behaviour. From the information that we have gathered from various sources. our impression is that such cases were few and isolated). The second rumour was that train-loads of hundreds of Hindu dead bodies had arrived at Old Delhi Station from Punjab. Third, water was poisoned by Sikhs. As for the two latter rumours, we came across evidence of policemen in vans touring certain localities and announcing through loudspeakers the arrival of the train and the poisoning of water. In certain areas, we heard that police officials had rung up residents advising them not to drink water. These rumours (the last two were officially repudiated later) contributed to the shaping of a public mind that acquiesced in the attacks and murders that took place soon after.
The second phase began with the arrival of groups of armed young people in tempo vans, scooters, motorcyles or trucks from the night of October 31 and morning of November 1 at various places like Muknirka, Saket, South Extension, Lajpat Nagar, Bhogal, Jangpura and Ashram in the south and southest; the Connaught Circus shopping area in the centre and later the trans-Jamuna colonies and resettlement colonies in other areas in the north. With cans of petrol they went round the localities and systematically set fire to Sikh houses, shops and Gurudwaras. We were told by the local eye-witnesses in all the areas we visited, that well known Congress (I) leaders and workers (their names are to be found in Annexure -1) led and directed the arsonists and that local cadres of the Congress (I) identified the Sikh houses and shops. A senior police official who for understandable reasons does not want to be named, pointed out: “The shop signs are either in Hindi or English. How do you expect the illiterate arsonists to know whether these shops belonged to Hindus or Sikhs, unless they were identified to them by someone, who is either educated or a local person?” In some areas,like Trilokpuri, Mangolpuri and the trans-Jamuna colonies, the aronists consisted of Gujjar or Jat farmers from neighbouring villages, and were accompanied by local residents, some of whom again were Congress (I) activists. In these area, we were told, Congress (I) followers of the Bhangi caste (belonging to the scheduled caste community) took part in the looting. In South Delhi, buses of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) were used by the miscreants to move from place to place in their murderous journey. How could the DTC allow its bu s to be used by criminals?
The attar, s in the resettlement colonies (e.g. Trilokpuri in the trans-Jamuna area and Mangolpuri iin the west, were the maximum number of murders took place, again displayed the same pattern. The targets were primarily among Sikhs. They were dragged out, beaten up and then burnt alive. While old men, women and children were generally allowed to escape, their houses were set on fire after looting of valuables. Documents pertaining to their legal possession of the houses were also burnt. In some areas of Mangolpuri we heard from the survivors that even children were not spared. We also came across reports of gang-rape of women. The orgy of destruction embraced in a variety of property ranging from shops, factories, houses to Gurudwaras and schools belonging to the Sikhs, In all the affected spots, a calculated attempt to terrorize the people was evident in the common tendency among the assailants to burn alive the Sikhs on public roads. Even five days after the incidents, on November 6, in the course of one of our regular visits to Mangolpuri we found that although the ashes had been cleared, the pavement in front of the Congress (I) office was still bletched with burnt patches, which the local people had earlier pointed out to us as spots where four Sikhs were burnt alive.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPOSTION OF THE ASSAILANTS
The team members on the basis of extensive interviews in different parts of the city were able to piece together the characteristics of the mobs that were responsible for the looting, arson and killings.
In some cases the mobs were brought from outside the locality (where they were set loose by local political leaders) and Jats and Gujjars from neighbouring villages. They were transported in vehicles. A large number of Scheduled Castes people were also a part of the mob.
More important; in the areas which were most affected, such as Trilokpuri, Mangolpuri and Su ltanpuri, the mobs were led by local Congress (I) politicians and hoodlums of that locality. These areas, it will be recalled, were set up in the urban resettlement drive initiated by the Congress (I), and have since been active support bases of the Congress (I). These areas have also in the recent past provided the Congress (I) rallies in the city substantial numerical support. In other words, there exists in such areas an established organisational network through which masses are mobilised for demonstration of Congress (I)’s ostensible popular support. A veteran politician based in Delhi put it very crisply when he said that these resettlement colonies “are the kept (rakhel) of the Congress (I).”
The participation of the Jats and Gujjars from the so-called “urban villages” of Delhi played a very strong role in adding to the numbers of rioters and in aiding the riots, murders and looting. They were particularly dominant in West and South Delhi. Most of these villagers who once owned land in Ber Sarai, Munirka, and Mohammadpur, for instance made a tidy sum of money after their land was taken away for the urban expansion of New Delhi. The land owned by these villagers was generally of a very poor quality with no irrigational facilities. For this reason the villagers in these areas had to augment their resources through non-agricultural means, not least of them being brigandage. After their lands were acquired by the government they suddenly became prosperous and began to exert themselves politically as well. It is known fact that if one is to make any headway in an election the Guj jars and Jats of these areas have to be on one’s side. Unfortunately, much of the police force which is stationed in this area and around is drawn from these communities. For this reason, on various occasions there had been a noticeable complicity in these areas between the criminals and the police. This truth was brought home starkly during the recent riots.
As for the Scheduled Caste communities who were displaced due to the acquisition of land for urban expansion those from the Valmiki community utilised the benefits of the reservation policy and came into the city where they found jobs in the policies, UPSC, etc. The Bhangis went into the Corporation, while the third-major group, the Dhanaks, considered the lowest caste, are engaged in a variety of odd jobs. Among the Scheduled Caste communities living in the resettlement colonies, the Valmikis are pre-dominantly supporters of Jagjivan Ram, while the Bhangis are solid supporters of Congress (I). Information gathered by us from the trouble spots in these areas suggests that the Bhangis-many of them working as sweepers in the corporation – comprised the bulk of the local miscreants who attacked the Sikhs.
A few words on the compostion of Delhi’s population may be relevant at this point. Hindus comprise 83 percent of Delhi’s population. The present Sikh population is around 7.5 percent (an estimated 500,000 people). A majority of them settled in Delhi after the partition, before which their population was only 1.2 percent of the total population of the city.
