Thursday, November 12, 2009

After 25 years of '84 Anti-Sikh Riot

On 3rd November, 2009 some religious Sikh groups called a state wide strike in Punjab. This Punjab bandh was a symbolic protest by the victims of '84 Anti-Sikh Riot who are still waiting for justice.
Twenty five years have passed after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards created turbulence in the Indian society which led to the infamous '84 Anti-Sikh Riot. Thousands of Sikhs were burnt alive and butchered. Hundreds of ladies were raped in front of their brother, father, son or husband. Any rational person can easily say that there is no point of considering a whole community as criminal for the murder of a famous person. There can be a lengthy discussion whether there was any political influence behind the riot or not. People have been waiting for justice for 25 years. Is it justice delayed? Or, it is justice denied. Many of the accused, who have close links with the Congress Party, were given clean chit by our legal system although a lot of witnesses were there to send those people behind bars.
Our motherland is a great example of “unity in diversity” in terms of its geographical, demographical and social features. But our society witnesses Hindu-Muslim riots, Anti-Sikh riot, attacks on Christians, etc. Our country with multilingual and multi-religious society is perhaps the most racist country in the world. Racism exists in India because of the discriminating attitude of people regarding castes, religions, states and languages. Recent attacks on North Indians in Maharastra led by Raj Thakray bears the evidence of my opinion.
Why don't the politicians teach people to love? Why don't we take lessons from one riot and try to stop another? Answer to these questions are very simple. It is DON'T WANT. Yes the narrow minded politicians, who can teach people to hate, do not want to spread the message of love and friendship among people. We do not to take any lessons from our faults in the past. We easily get influenced by people with bad intention. This is our fault and we just not only need to accept that but also work on to rectify ourselves. If we cannot do that in future we will experience several riots where we will have to witness exploitation and murder of our loved ones.

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