'Justice still missing after 40 years': What Sonia Gandhi says about 1984 Sikh victims in her new book
PTC Web Desk: Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said that victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence have still not got justice, more than four decades later. She makes the admission in her new memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, which was released on Tuesday.
In the 544-page book, Sonia writes that criminal cases were filed against several Congress workers for provoking and leading the violence that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Even so, she says, justice stayed out of reach for the victims, despite four commissions, nine committees and two special investigation teams.
She writes that more than 2,000 Sikhs were killed in Delhi. Hundreds of FIRs were registered, but only in four or five cases were Congress workers arrested, she says. She adds that cases were also filed against RSS members involved in the killings. Many cases dragged on in court for years and the failure to punish the guilty remained a major flaw in the system, according to her.
Delay in deploying the Army
Sonia Gandhi writes that Army chief General AS Vaidya received orders on the night Indira Gandhi was killed. The family learned later, she says, that nearby Army units were not sent right away because they had Sikh soldiers in them. Troops were brought from Dehradun instead.
By her account, the Army started reaching Delhi on the night of November 1 and was in place in the affected areas by the afternoon of November 2. In the meantime, she says, the police could not control violent mobs. She also writes that some officials looked the other way, while others encouraged the violence.
Rajiv Gandhi’s role, as described by Sonia
Sonia writes that Rajiv Gandhi appealed for peace on television on the night of October 31 and later visited violence-hit areas. She says he also asked for the safety of his Sikh staff to be ensured. On November 1, he urged people not to take revenge and the next day he condemned the arson, looting and killings.
Alleged plot on Diwali night
The book also describes an alleged plot against the Gandhi family on October 24, 1984, during Diwali celebrations. Sonia writes that the family learned later that grenades had been hidden in a room next to the kitchen. Indira, Rajiv, Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka were among those present. She says it is not known why the plan was stopped at the last moment.
She also recalls that on October 30, a car hit the jeep bringing Rahul and Priyanka home from school. Indira believed it was deliberate. Former intelligence chief R N Kao had also warned Indira about threats to kidnap her grandchildren, which is why both children were called back to Delhi from their boarding schools.
'They will kill me too'
Sonia writes that when Rajiv was asked to become Prime Minister after his mother’s death, she begged him not to accept. She feared he could be targeted like Indira. Rajiv replied, “They will kill me too.” He still took the oath of office at 6:30 pm that day.
Describing the day of the assassination, she says she ran towards the garden after hearing gunshots. She saw Indira being taken to hospital in a white Ambassador car instead of an ambulance. Traffic delayed them further and Indira was declared dead at 2 pm.
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Bhagalpur visit in 1989
Sonia also writes about visiting Bhagalpur in Bihar in 1989, where she met victims of communal violence. She says that was when she first understood how deep the damage of such violence can be. Injured women and children were lying on the hospital floor and many women were asking about missing family members. She writes that the scene shook her.
Political reactions
The book has already drawn criticism. BJP national spokesperson C R Kesavan accused Sonia of sugarcoating the Congress’s past, while Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa rejected her account of Rajiv Gandhi’s reaction after the violence.
- PTC NEWS
