The genocide of November 1984 will never be forgotten!

Dear friends

November 1, 2011 marks the twenty seven years since the terrible genocide of people of the Sikh faith in Delhi, Kanpur and other places. This genocide was organised by the government of the day and by the main leadership of the Congress Party. Since then, we the people of India, have been fighting without let up to ensure that the guilty are punished.

To signal our opposition to all acts of state organised communal genocide and state terror against any community or people, and to signal our determination to continue the struggle to punish the guilty, the Lok Raj Sangathan and Sikh Forum, and other organisations are jointly organising a candle-light vigil on that day.

Time 5.30 PM
Venue: India Gate Martyrs column.

We request you and your organisation, as well as all those friends interested in ensuring justice for victims of state terror and state organised genocide, to join in this.

With sincere regards

Birju Nayak
9818575435


The genocide of November 1984 will never be forgotten!
The struggle to punish the guilty shall continue! 

 27 years have passed since the cold blooded massacre of thousands of Sikhs on the streets of Delhi, Kanpur and other places, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. For three days leading members of the ruling Congress party directed armed gangs to burn and kill people of the Sikh community, rape women and plunder their property. 

For the last 27 years, people have been demanding justice, demanding that those guilty of the heinous crimes of November 1984 be punished. Despite irrefutable evidence of the meticulous planning involved, including provision of voters' lists with residences of Sikhs marked, weapons and arson material distributed to the murderous gangs from Congress party offices, none of the leaders of the Congress party who masterminded and executed the genocide have been punished. The courts have repeatedly dealt with the killings as "crimes of passion" and not as part of an organized, pre-planned act. 

In conditions when the entire state machinery and official media were crying out for the blood of the Sikhs, during and after the massacre, we ordinary people across all communities came forward to defend the victims and the survivors in the relief camps. Through our acts of courage, we established the unity of the people against the communal Indian state and the Congress party which had organized and perpetrated the crime.

The events of November 1984 clearly show that it is the Indian state that is communal. Our people are not communal. The ruling party and the state was responsible for the crime, not ordinary people or their personal religious beliefs. Belying the claim of India being a "secular" Republic, they have showed how political parties can openly organize communal violence, with the full assistance of the police and other arms of the state machinery.  

The past 27 years have confirmed that there is no justice under the existing political system. Far from being convicted and punished, the organisers of the violence have continued to contest elections and enjoy seats of power. Political power remains concentrated in the hands of a minority privileged circle, which enjoys unlimited power to do what it pleases. In fact, state terrorism, including state organized communal violence, has become the preferred weapon of our rulers, to divert, divide and drown in blood the popular opposition to their rule.  

The experience of the genocide of 1984 and subsequent communal massacres has clearly established that we cannot expect the organizers of communal genocide to either ensure justice or prevent future genocides. 

Under public pressure, the Congress party has been forced to draft a bill addressing the question of prevention of communal violence. The experience of our people shows that any such law will be effective only if state organized communal violence and all forms of state terrorism are dealt with as organized crimes by the state and the party in power, and not as a bunch of individual criminal acts. Such a law must ensure that the organisers of the massacres of 1984, 1992-93, 2002 and other communal massacres are punished. But none of the versions of the bill presented so far has addressed these issues. 
The past 27 years have shown time and again, that we cannot expect the organizers and perpetrators of the crime to punish themselves for it.  Only when people are empowered can we ensure that those in positions of command will be held accountable for their responsibility of preventing communal violence, that mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that those guilty of such heinous crimes are punished, regardless of their political position.
27 years after the genocide of November1984, let us all unite and demand justice and punishment of the guilty! Let us affirm the rights of all members of society, and an end to sectarian persecution and discrimination of all kinds! Let us pledge to take forward the struggle for empowerment of the people, to put an end to state terrorism, including state organized communal violence, once and for all!
Let us unite and fight to ensure punishment to the guilty of 1984.

To demonstrate our opposition to all acts of state organised communal genocide and state terror against any community or people, to pledge to continue the struggle to punish the guilty, you are invited to join the candle-light vigil being jointly oranised by Lok Raj Sangathan, Sikh Forum, PUDR and PUCL. 

Date: November 1, 2011
Time: 5.30 PM
Venue: India Gate Martyrs' column.