Forgive sounds good, Forget I am not sure I could

Forgive sounds good, Forget I am not sure I could

This year, year 2009 is the 25th anniversary of the genocide of Sikhs committed by Indian Govt. and the above line that I have chosen from the Grammy award winning song “Not ready to make nice”, of Dixie chicks aptly describes my feeling towards that Govt. sponsored ethnic cleansing of Sikhs.

I still clearly remember those days; I was almost 8 years old in 1984 and living in Ranchi, Bihar. My Mom and Dad narrowly escaped death at the hands of mob on 1st November and then for 3 days I saw shops and houses belonging to Sikhs being burned from my window. We were able to survive as we were living in a Telephone Exchange, a Government building. After 2 days curfew was imposed and when curfew was relaxed, I used to go out with my mom to get milk and ration with my hairs knotted at the back like girls to hide my Sikh identity. I can clearly talk about myself that after that genocide that was committed in 1984 Sikhs have always lived with fear as to what can happen next.

When Indra’s son Rajiv was assassinated, I was 15 years old and living in Delhi. A family friend called at 3 in the morning and informed us about it. At that time it was not known as to who were the assassins, and so we informed all the Sikhs that we could and got ourselves ready to face what could have been the next unleashing of fury upon one of the minorities living in world’s largest democracy.

I believe that horrible incidents that have taken place in the past must be made available to the present and future generations so that they can learn a lesson from those incidents and happenings. Rather even the very generation that lived during those times is sometimes unaware of such incidents and must be made aware of it.

Exactly 25 years have passed and none of the people responsible for that carnage have been brought to justice. Sajjan Kumar, Kamal Nath, DharamDas Shastri, Jagdish Tytler and HKL Bhagat(now dead) are all enjoying the fruits of their labor even though their Master Rajiv is long gone.

The most important thing that becomes clear from all this is the wrong notion that some people had in their mind; only one person/family or one political party was responsible for this genocide. This is absolutely rubbish. Had it been the case then what about the time when BJP(Bhartiya Janta Party) was in power. Or for that matter for a small amount of time when VP Singh came to power? This is to the credit of VP Singh though, that he did try to implicate the culprits. CBI went to arrest Sajjan Kumar but have to come back empty handed with their cars and vehicles smashed. Or what about the culprits of Godhra massacre where thousands of Muslims were butchered the same way as was done with Sikhs in 1984. So it is not one party or one person but one particular thinking and ideology that work behind all this. What is that? I will leave it unsaid, as sometimes Silence is itself deafening.

Of course there are good people too, like the Justice Dhingra and then Police commissioner Maxwell Pereira who averted attack on Sis Ganj Gurdwara.

To put salt over the wounds, when Manmohan Singh a Sikh becomes Prime minister of India, he asks for forgiveness for the massacre of Sikhs. What a drama? Sikhs are killed and Sikh is saying forgive me!!!!! , this is what is known in Punjabi as “ Tagda Marta bhi hai aur Rone bhi nahi deta”, Strong and powerful will beat you up and wont even let you complain.

In order for people who have no idea of what happened to Sikhs I am just quoting an incident recorded by renowned feminist Madhu Kishwar in her reputed magazine called “Manushi” reproduced by HS Phoolka in his book : “When a tree shook Delhi”.

Two decades later this account was placed on official records when Madhu Kishwar filed an affidavit before the Nanavati commission:

“Gurdip Kaur, a 45 year old woman from Block 32, Trilokpuri, told a typical story. Her husband and three sons were brutally murdered in front of her. Her husband used to run a small shop in the locality. Her eldest son, Bhajan Singh, worked at the railway station; the second, in a radio repair shop; and the third as a scooter driver.

She says, ‘On the morning of 1 November, when Indira Mata’s body was brought to Teen Murti, everyone was watching television. Since 8.00 am, they were showing homage being paid to her dead body.At about noon, my children said, “Mother, please make some food.We are hungry.” I had not cooked that day, and I said, “Son, everyone is mourning. She was our mother too. She helped us to settle here. So I don’t feel like lighting the fire today.”

‘Soon after this, the attack started. Three of the men ran out, and were set on fire. My youngest son stayed in the house with me. He shaved off his beard and cut his hair. But they came into the house. Those young boys, 14 and 16 years old, began to drag my son out even though he was hiding behind me.

‘They tore my clothes and stripped me naked in front of my son. My son cried, “Elder brothers, don’t do this. She is your mother just as she is my mother.” But they raped me right there, in front of my son, in my own house. They were young boys, maybe eight of them. When one of them raped me, I said, “My child, never mind. Do what you like. But remember, I have given birth to children. This child came into the world by this same path.”

‘After they had taken my honour, they left. I took my son out with me, and made him sit among the women, but they came and dragged him away. They took him to the street corner, hit him with lathis, sprinkled kerosene over him, and burnt him alive.

‘I tried to save him but they struck me with knives and broke my arm. At that time, I was completely naked. If I had even one piece of clothing on my body, I would have gone and thrown myself over my son and tried to save him. I would have done anything to save at least one young man of my family. Not one of the four is left.”(When a Tree Shook Delhi, page 70)

At last I would only like to tell the very words of the above mentioned song to some self declared Sikh custodians, scholars and intellectuals who give me the advice that let bygones be bygones:
Forgive, sounds good; forget, I am not sure I could
They say time heals everything but I am still waiting
I am not ready to make nice, I am not ready to back down
I am still mad as hell, I don’t have time to go round and round and round

ਏਤੀ ਮਾਰ ਪਈ ਕਰਲਾਣੇ ਤੈਂ ਕੀ ਦਰਦੁ ਨ ਆਇਆ ॥੧॥ ਕਰਤਾ ਤੂੰ ਸਭਨਾ ਕਾ ਸੋਈ ॥ ਜੇ ਸਕਤਾ ਸਕਤੇ ਕਉ ਮਾਰੇ ਤਾ ਮਨਿ ਰੋਸੁ ਨ ਹੋਈ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ ਸਕਤਾ ਸੀਹੁ ਮਾਰੇ ਪੈ ਵਗੈ ਖਸਮੈ ਸਾ ਪੁਰਸਾਈ ॥ .ਰਤਨ ਵਿਗਾੜਿ ਵਿਗੋਏ ਕੁਤੀ ਰਤਨ ਮੁਇਆ ਸਾਰ ਨ ਕਾਈ ॥ ਆਪੇ ਜੋੜਿ ਵਿਛੋੜੇ ਆਪੇ ਵੇਖੁ ਤੇਰੀ ਵਡਿਆਈ ॥੨॥ਜੇ ਕੋ ਨਾਉ ਧਰਾਏ ਵਡਾ ਸਾਦ ਕਰੇ ਮਨਿ ਭਾਣੇ ॥ ਖਸਮੈ ਨਦਰੀ ਕੀੜਾ ਆਵੈ ਜੇਤੇ ਚੁਗੈ ਦਾਣੇ ॥ ਮਰਿ ਮਰਿ ਜੀਵੈ ਤਾ ਕਿਛੁ ਪਾਏ ਨਾਨਕ ਨਾਮੁ ਵਖਾਣੇ ॥੩॥੫॥੩੯॥ {ਪੰਨਾ 360}

Gurpreet Singh Sumra
Brampton,Canada