Riots...

On October 31st, 1984 - Indira Gandhi (the Prime Minister of India at the time) was assasinated by two of her own (Sikh) body guards.

I will opine on several of the events and facts - in a section below.

Quick Biography:
Indira Gandhi was the only child of Jawahar Lal Nehru (a fag as far as I'm concerned). She was responsible for several successes of India as a country. In 1971, her popularity rose as she battled and gained a victory against Pakistan. She was also in power when India's first nuclear weapon was successfully tested (detonated) and she launched India's first satellite into space.

Right on.

But in 1984, she ordered Indian troops to enter into the Golden Temple (in Amritsar) to fight "terrorists", or promoters of the Sikh secessionist movement. The Sikh secessionist movement was a fight for "Khalistan" a separate Nation for Sikhs. They wanted a nation in the middle of India. Thats right... so it would be surrounded on all sides by... India (sometimes... surdies... (sigh). Anyway, so she ordered the troops into the Golden Temple - one of the most sacred places for Sikhs. Consequently, some very pissed off extremist Sikhs assasinated her in the same year.

As a direct result of this - there was mass rioting in and around Delhi and close to 4,000 Sikhs were massacred (which I believe was Congress sponsored).

What I didn't know happened:

Jabalpur is a prominent city in Madhya Pradesh. It's prominent because it is an important trade route between Maharashtra and farther, southern states to the North. Majority of goods are transported aboard freight trains and trucks and good majority of these truckers are Sikhs. It comes as no surprise that Highway No. 7 (which runs from the South to the North via Jabalpur) is lined with several Sikh settlements (truckers etc.) The following words were spoken by an ex-Commissioner of Police from that district - "We were asked to stand down and stay in our stations as close to 20,000 Sikhs were massacred over a period of 5 days. There was not a single media medium that informed anyone that this was going on - during or after the event. We could do nothing but help clean up in the end."

I sat there dumbfounded.

It was a State organized massacre -similar to the charges in Gujarat except that THAT whole hooplah was over 2,000 Muslims. We're talking 20,000 human beings cut, raped, tortured and burnt. And not one word? Even now if you do a google search you'll find articles stating "4,000 Sikhs killed in Delhi..." etc. etc. and nothing about this.
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Opinion:

1. I am of the stout belief that State comes before religion of any kind. It is this that makes me believe that Muslims shouldn't be allowed to have multiple wives, and it is the same reason that I think that a temple is Indian soil before it is a temple or a church, or whatever. Indira Gandhi's decision to order troops into the Golden Temple is a touchy subject and I recognize that. Unfortunately, I don't know the "requirment" behind this decision. How important was it - etc. etc. If there was an obvious and deliberate threat to the nation, then yes - I am alright with the troops going in there - if there was no direct threat and they were unarmed etc. then maybe not.

2. The response from the Sikh extremists was fairly disappointing. It was rash and not necessary. There was no great "paap" in what happened. There was no "defilement". And there certainly was no need for her to be assasinated.

3. The fact that rioters were walking around with uniformly cut metal rods (sourced to distributors affiliated with the Congress) is greatly disheartening. Whats worse is they had access to and were openly walking around with Voter lists! They knew where which Sikhs lived and went for them. Someone pointed out that this is like organized crime - where groups are allowed to act above the law. Yes, it is like organized crime, except that it wasn't organized. It was killing and murdering Sikhs who - A) Had nothing to do with the Secessionist Movement and B) Had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with Indira Gandhi's assasination. Blood-boilingly frustrating to note (and I have no doubt that it wasn't this way) that the lack of good consciounce of a few men surpassed the consciounce of several other men - to an extent where thousands lost their lives.

4. Jabalpur. I'm unsure of this story. This person has no reason to lie. But I just find it hard to believe that a major incident like this goes down and it doesn't get reported anywhere. How is this possible? But wait a minute, this is a little similar to the Kashmir situation isn't it? Scores of Hindu pandits and their families have been either killed or ousted from Kashmir. Thousands of Hindus have lost their lives in that region - but I never hear about it in the news. I never read about it in some prominent, intellectual, supposedly fact-finding, little prick's editorial. No - I hear about it from Army officers, friends of my father's. Not one, or two - but several. Independent of each other. So if this can happen in TODAY's day and age, then why not over 20 years ago? State sanctioned massacre - just like Gujarat. Even now I find and have met with Hindus - expressing extreme grief over the death of these Muslims (not just in Gujarat but in Kashmir also). A good Hindu's good consciounce is troubled with the suffering of another. What happens to that consciounce when Hindus and the Sikhs are massacred?

I look at all this shit... hear all this shit... and while I'm frustrated and angry, I'm also relieved (but only a tiny amount). The reason for this miniscule relief? Because all the reasons I thought I was going to hell for are like a particle of dust in a hurricane of sin.