Bengaluru: While the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots are yet to be brought  to book, former PM Manmohan Singh’s revelation that the then home minister PV Narasimha Rao did not pay heed to the then information and broadcasting minister IK Gujral in taking pre-emptive steps to quell riots has only refocussed the lens on what is a shame on humanity. 

Also Read: Manmohan Singh blames Narasimha Rao

Interestingly, while the Congress shifts the blame to Rao who passed away way back in 2004, it is more than clear that the Congress has always wantonly wanted to paint Rao with a bad brush. 

Here are a few other cases in which the Congress conveniently blames Rao, as per a twitter user: 

 

Narasimha Rao was a man of many hats. It was he who played a pivotal role in the 1991 economic reforms. He was self-made, a scholar, a polyglot and more than anything else, a focused man who had the ability to extricate the country out of mess. 

What makes matters worse is that Manmohan Singh, who owes Narasimha Rao a lot, is only resorting to smear campaign about him. It might be recalled that it was Narasimha Rao who made Manmohan Singh the finance minister while he was the Prime Minister. 

It was the year 1991 and the financial crisis had hit India badly. It was at this crucial juncture that Rao took this surprising decision of elevating Singh to the position of the finance minister. It was under Rao’s guidance and supervision that Singh carried out several reforms that help liberalise Indian economy. 

The anti-Sikh riots 

It all began with the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Her own Sikh bodyguards turned out to be her murderers.  However, the vengeance with which the violence ensued against the Sikhs was not the way to retaliate.

The anti-Sikh riots erupted the very next day after Gandhi’s death. In Delhi alone, there are estimates that 3000 Sikhs were butchered while another 8000 to 17000 Sikhs were killed in 40 cities spreading all over India.

If those were the numbers related to deaths, the numbers related to the displacement of Sikhs stand at a whopping 50000! Such was the disdainfulness of the perpetrators that they carried kerosene, knives, clubs and even iron rods to unleash violence.