NEW DELHI: The 1984 anti-Sikh riots remain a "tragic and shameful" chapter in the country's history, says Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, asserting that while her husband Rajiv Gandhi's heart held no bigotry or rancour, he was thrust into a moment of history when effective governance had foundered and barbaric acts followed.
In her memoir "Belonging: A Journey of Love", Gandhi recalls that the news of Indira Gandhi's killing spread rapidly and many in Puniab and other parts of the country had earlier welcomed the end of (Jarnail Singh) Bhindranwale and his cohorts who had been set upon breaking up the country with weapons of terror and murder.
"But now many were enraged at their prime minister's assassination, and the mood was turning ugly. By the afternoon, rioting had broken out in different parts of the city and beyond. Brutal acts of violence were committed against innocent Sikhs. More than 2,000 lost their lives in the capital alone, in the most cruel and cold-blooded manner," she says in the book released on Tuesday.
Many of their shops and homes were looted or burnt down, she adds.
Gandhi points out that very night, Rajiv appeared on national television to appeal for peace, virtually his first public act after being sworn-in as prime minister.
"He visited areas of the city racked with tension and members of his staff out to look for their Sikh colleagues and make sure they were safe. He went out again on November 1 speaking to ordinary folk, urging them to refrain from seeking revenge," she recalls.
In her memoir, Gandhi says that on November 2, Rajiv Gandhi issued another nationwide televised appeal reminding people of Indira Gandhi's words -- "Do not shed blood, shed hatred".
"When I think back on those nights of agony in the aftermath of the assassination, I find little clarity. Scarcely anything registered with me then beyond the shock-and horror of my mother-in-law's killing, and fear for Rajiv's and our children's lives," she says.
"One thing I am certain of: Rajiv himself, just and compassionate to his core, could not in any way have authorised those heinous acts on innocent men, women, and children. His instinctive, immediate response at a moment of extreme personal affliction bears that out.
"But while his heart held no bigotry or rancour, there is no denying that he was thrust into a moment of the country's history when effective governance had foundered and barbaric acts followed," Gandhi says in the book.
In retrospect, it's evident that the system had undergone a time of cataclysmic upheaval in which the structure of government had come under strain--perhaps even broken down, she says.
"The riots of 1984 remain a tragic and shameful chapter in the history of our nation. Rajiv was to state later, in Parliament: 'The terrible bloodbath of November 1984 was a carnage which will rest forever on the conscience of all decent Indians. It happened in the cusp of a traumatic transition. This is not an extenuating circumstance. We cannot forgive ourselves. It should never have happened'," Gandhi recalls.
Noting that a number of commissions of enquiry were set up then and in years to come, under both Congress and anti-Congress dispensations, she says criminal proceedings were initiated against several individuals, many of them members of the Congress party, charged with instigating or directing some of the violence.
"Several cases were also registered against members of the RSS who took part in the killings," she says.
"Of the hundreds of FIRs recording a cognisable offence and setting in motion the process of criminal justice-that were registered with the police four or five led to the arrest of Congress workers, of whom one is still serving his sentence. Even after four commissions, nine committees, and two special investigation teams, cases continue to drag on in the courts. Justice has been hard to come by for the victims," she says.
Gandhi asserts that the Congress has always proudly acknowledged the Sikhs' tremendous contribution to the nation, and they in turn have expressed their confidence in the party in subsequent elections.
"The Sikhs of Punjab have returned the Congress to the State Assembly a number of times after the tragedy. They understood better than most commentators a crucial truth: that the heinous massacre of 1984 was not an integral part of a rooted animosity against the community -- not then, not ever," she says.
It has to be admitted that delivery of justice in our country has been a systemic failing, one that successive governments have not succeeded in redressing, she adds.
