When a big tree falls, the earth shakes: How Rajiv Gandhi justified 1984 anti-Sikh riots

The Delhi High Court Monday sentenced Congress veteran Sajjan Kumar to life in the first conviction of a politician in the deadly anti-Sikh riots in 1984, holding it was perpetrated by those with "political patronage" and pushed for a new law for speedy prosecution of genocide and mass killings.

Calling for strengthening of the legal system to ensure perpetrators of mass crimes are made answerable, the court said neither 'crimes against humanity' nor 'genocide' is part of the domestic law of crime and this loophole needs to be addressed urgently. It also named 2002 post-Godhra Gujarat riots and Muzaffarnagar riots in Uttar Pradesh in 2013 among other mass killings since 1947 where minorities are targeted.

The reversal of 73-year-old Kumar's acquittal by a trial court cast a shadow on the swearing-in of Kamal Nath as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh with the BJP and ally Akali Dal taking on the Congress leadership over allegations of his culpability in the riots levelled by Sikh groups. Nath said there was no FIR or charge sheet filed against him and questioned the 'politics' behind raising of the issue now.

Crime against humanity

Describing the riots as "crimes against humanity", the high court awarded Kumar life term for "remainder of his natural life", convicting him of criminal conspiracy and abetment in commission of crimes of murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of communal harmony and defiling and destruction of a Gurdwara.

It further said India has been no stranger to such mass killings since the time of partition in 1947 and the common feature of each has been the "targeting of minorities" in attacks "spearheaded by the dominant political actors" being "facilitated by the law enforcement agencies".

"The mass killings in Punjab, Delhi and elsewhere during the country's partition remains a collective painful memory as is the killings of innocent Sikhs in November 1984. There has been a familiar pattern of mass killings in Mumbai in 1993, in Gujarat in 2002, in Kandhamal, Odisha in 2008, in Muzaffarnagar in U.P. in 2013 to name a few.

"Common to these mass crimes were the targeting of minorities and the attacks spearheaded by the dominant political actors being facilitated by the law enforcement agencies," it added.

A majority of the perpetrators of these horrific mass crimes, enjoyed political patronage and were aided by an indifferent law enforcement agency and managed to evade prosecution and punishment, the court said.

"Bringing such criminals to justice poses a serious challenge to our legal system. As these appeals themselves demonstrate, decades pass by before they can be made answerable. This calls for strengthening the legal system. Neither 'crimes against humanity' nor 'genocide' is part of our domestic law of crime. This loophole needs to be addressed urgently," it added.

When a big tree falls…

When the court says political patronage, it isn’t wrong particularly given the pogrom that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
What was more shocking was the fact that her son Rajiv went as far as to justify the pogrom. He said at a public gathering: “We must remember Indiraji. We must remember why her assassination happened. We must remember who could be the people behind this. When Indira's assassination happened, there were riots in the country. We know that the hearts of the Indian people were full of anger and that for a few days people felt India was shaking. When a big tree falls, the earth shakes."

In 2015, while releasing a video of the episode, HS Phoolka, senior lawyer and AAP leader had demanded Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna be taken back and had said: “A Prime Minister, who justified genocide and whose party was responsible for the massacre, can't be a Bharat Ratna. We demand Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna's be taken back. In 1984, on this day, nation's prime minister had justified the killing of 3, 000 Sikhs in his address at the boat club in national capital. He had said that when a big tree falls then the earth shakes. Instead of punishing the culprits of such mass murder, he was justifying it.”

Recently, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wrote a blog condemning Congress after a Delhi court awarded the death sentence to one individual in the anti-Sikh 1984 riots case.

In the blog, Jaitley said Congressmen lead ‘groups of mourners and protesters shouting khoon ka badla khoon’ which was showed on Doordarshan continuously.

He added in the aftermath, Congress tried to ‘misrepresent facts’.

 He wrote in a blog: “The direct fallout of the disastrous operation in June, 1984 at the Golden Temple was the assassination of the Prime Minister.  This was one of the most unfortunate and condemnable acts in Indian history. It also indicated a failure of governance. The fallout of this was not anticipated.  It proved to be catastrophic. The Congressmen led groups of mourners and protesters shouting “Khoon Ka Badla Khoon”.”

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He added: “This provocative slogan was shown in television on Doordarshan continuously in round-the-clock telecast.  Anti-Sikh violence started in several parts of the country. Delhi was the worst affected. Congressmen led violent mobs. The Police colluded with them. It did not fire, lathi charge or even teargas the mobs. The rioters were given a free hand to kill and loot.  Places of worship of the Sikh community were damaged. Sikh houses were burnt. Their trade establishments were looted. Thousands of innocents, men, women and children were burnt, were mutilated. The Police did not even register the First Information Reports.”

Meanwhile senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majitha said: “When in 1984, the media questioned Rajiv Gandhi that why the Army is not being deployed to bring law and order, he turned both police and the Army into silent-spectators. Following the trend, Congress has always tried to save Kamal Nath, Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Singh and HKL Bhagat. However, I welcome the conviction but I still feel that the death sentence could have done more justice to us. Today Rahul Gandhi has to answer why he made Kamal Nath a chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.”