Foot Soldier

For 25 years, journalist Jarnail Singh awaited justice for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Then, something snapped and a shoe flew

I was 11 years old when the 1984 carnage happened. We lived in a house in the F Block of Lajpat Nagar then. The house was allotted to my grandfather, who came to Delhi from Lahore because of Partition.  I remember clearly, reports of attacks on Sikhs were coming from all over and we were tense. My elder brother, who was struck by polio as a child, wanted to go to Niwaspuri. The elders at home wouldn’t let him go. He insisted the mobs wouldn’t harm a physically challenged boy. He was wrong. They threw him off his tricycle on to the road and beat him up mercilessly. He returned home badly shaken. Soon after, the gurdwara in our area was set on fire by a mob. Over a thousand gurdwaras were burnt. The Delhi Development Authority said in its affidavit that it had repaired 131 gurdwaras in Delhi.

My maternal uncle, who owned a taxi at the Hyatt hotel taxi stand, was attacked and left on the road to die. My aunt, his sister, somehow managed to take him to her house in Safdarjung Enclave. Despite the serious injuries, we couldn’t take him to AIIMS. The doctors there were turning away injured Sikhs. He was treated discreetly by a South Indian nurse in the evenings at my aunt’s house.

What happened in 1984 were not riots. It was a planned massacre. Delhi Transport Corporation buses and a train were used to ferry the mobs for attacks on Delhi’s Sikhs. Voter lists were arranged and Sikhs’ homes marked out at night. A white inflammable powder, some kind of explosive, was procured and used to burn the victims and their belongings. Many survivors talk of this white powder being used by the mobs. The police helped spread rumours that Hindus were being slaughtered in Punjab. Someone said Sikhs had poisoned overhead water tanks in Delhi. There was no TV in those days except the State-owned Doordarshan, which barely reported the violence. Most newspapers, too, were biased.

These incidents left a deep impression on my mind. I closely followed the news related to the attacks. HKL Bhagat became a minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s Cabinet. Sajjan Kumar, who was a councillor, was made an MP after these attacks. Tytler, too, became a minister. These three had led the mobs against Sikhs. On the other hand, witnesses were harassed. The Government scrapped the Ved Marwah Commission when it was ready with its findings. In 1991, Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister. He had been home minister at the time of the carnage and things never really moved towards justice for the victims of 1984.

At some point, I decided to become a journalist to keep better track of events. I finished my MA in political science and started working in 1995. After that, I have closely followed the cases and written about them.
In 1993, when Madan Lal Khurana became Delhi Chief Minister, he appointed the Justice RS Narula Committee which recorded statements of the surviving victims, their families and other witnesses. But the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi did not approve the formation of the committee. The committee handed over the affidavits containing the depositions to the Centre, which sat over these for a few years. When Khurana as Chief Minister asked the CBI to investigate the matter, the CBI said they didn’t have time. The CBI has time to investigate singular murders but when the matter involves the brutal killing of over 5,000 citizens, it does not have time. 

Despite all this, I have always waited for justice. All the victims want justice. What can you expect when the first FIR against a political leader responsible for the 1984 carnage was registered 11 years later, in 1995? But, people have waited patiently for justice.

On 2 April 2009, the CBI gave a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler. Things seemed to be slipping away. It seemed Tytler was going to be let off. Someone asked Home Minister P Chidambaram for a reaction. He said, “I am happy my friend Jagdish Tytler has been exonerated by the CBI.” Is the CBI an investigating agency or a court? How can it give him a clean chit? Several such questions ran through my mind. When there were charges of mass murder against him and he was dropped from the ministry in 2005, why was he getting the ticket again? The CBI does not report to the home minister but he is in charge of the country’s internal security. Should he be expressing happiness over this? The Congress has always adopted double standards in this matter. No commission has yet held Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi guilty of the 2002 carnage, but the Congress has repeatedly called him maut ka saudagar. Who were the maut ke saudagar in 1984?

It seemed to me they were set to bury the case. The last hope of justice was fading away. I was disturbed. On 7 April, I was there at Chidambaram’s conference at the Congress headquarters. I asked him why he’d expressed happiness over the clean chit given to Tytler. He said the matter was sub-judice. When I persisted, he said I was using the press conference as a platform for my own agenda. I decided to protest. I slid off my shoe and flung it in his direction, but away from him. I did not want to hit him but I wanted to protest 25 years of injustice. But the only regret I have from that day is that I used my position as a journalist to lodge my protest. I am proud of standing up against injustice, but not for hurling the shoe.

I was taken away by the security, with one shoe on. Outside, the camera crews mobbed me. I clarified that my unprecedented protest was not against Chidambaram but against the unprecedented injustice against the victims and survivors of 1984.

I was soon let off by the police and I called home to ask my family not to speak to the media. They are simple people who were themselves left speechless by my act. I knew that politicians would try to swing this incident their way. I have been absolutely clear on this. I will not affiliate myself to anyone’s politics. The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee offered me a job of media advisor. An Akali leader offered me Rs 2 lakh as a reward, while another wanted to buy my shoe for Rs 5 lakh. I declined. I have declined overtures from several political outfits since. I have turned down invitations from prominent politicians for meetings. I have no political ambitions and I don’t want politicians hijacking the cause. The incident again brought the plight of the 1984 victims into focus. Of course, I lost my job. I have none today. Dainik Jagran issued me a show-cause notice and I was asked not to join work for some time. Then on 1 July, my services were terminated. I have not pursued the matter legally because it will take attention away from the real issue: justice for the 1984 victims. My book, I Accuse, also focuses on the denial of justice. I have survived somehow because we live in a joint family. The money from my books will take care of the family for a few months, I hope.

The time between April and now has been spent in writing. The Punjabi version of my book was released last month in Canada, where it has sold 1,000 copies. A cultural organisation there also conferred an award on me. I have attended over two dozen programmes promoting the cause of justice for 1984 victims. This is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second term. He should visit the widow colonies of 1984 victims which no PM or heavyweight politician has done till now. Instead of saying that Sikhs should forget 1984, he should ensure justice is done.

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