1984
What The US Govt. Knew About The 1984 Anti-Sikh Pogroms
by I.P. SINGH
The U.S. was convinced of India's Congress government's hand in the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms and termed it as "opportunism" and "hatred" of the Indian government against Sikhs.
The U.S. also believed that the BJP leadership didn't have the
courage to ask chief minister Narendra Modi to step down (following the 2002 Gujarat riots) even after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologized to the Sikhs and the Indian nation for the anti-Sikh pogroms, after the filing of the Nanavati Commission report.
A WikiLeaks
expose - that revealed a cable sent from the US Embassy in August 2005
soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's apology to Sikhs following
the Nanavati Commission report - said, "The PM's singular act of
political courage stands in exquisite contrast to the opportunism and
hatred directed by senior GOI officials against Sikhs in 1984."
WikiLeaks released this cable on April 22, 2011 this year.
It said PM Manmohan Singh's apology to Sikhs was "for the government's
involvement in the 1984 [pogroms]", praised him for forcing the resignation
of a minister with long ties to the Gandhi family and indicated that
Sikhs died due to pogroms directed by Congress office-bearers.
The U.S. believed that the BJP leadership didn't have the power to ask
Modi to step down following the 2002 Gujarat anti-Muslim pogroms even after Manmohan Singh
apologized for the anti-Sikh pogroms and acted against Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler following the report.
The cable, signed by "Blake" (Robert O. Blake, Jr., Deputy Chief of Mission
at the U.S. Embassy between 2003 and 2006), raised doubts over Modi's
political career in the section marked "Should Modi Be Worried?" but
goes on to say, "BJP is in such disarray that the central decision makers
don't have the power to force Modi to step down, and therefore he will
remain at the helm of Gujarat".
"The swift action of the
Congress leadership in sacrificing Tytler and Sajjan Kumar has raised
questions about the fate of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi if a
similar commission investigating the 2002 Gujarat [pogroms] finds his
government at fault," the cable said.
While the cable praises
Manmohan Singh, calling his act a sign of "political courage", "momentous" and
"almost Gandhian", it exposes the weakness within BJP. "The speed with
which Congress forced two of the party's senior leaders to step down and
released an apology to the nation, pre-empted BJP and Left party
criticism, leaving the Opposition with little ammunition with which to
attack the UPA," the cable said.
"The Press quoted a senior BJP
MP as saying, the government has not only blunted the edge of our
campaign, it has put a lid on it," the cable said.
[Courtesy: Times of India]
May 6, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Manmeet singh (Jammu, India), May 06, 2011, 3:14 PM.
I want those people behind bars who killed innocent Sikhs.
2: Bhupinder (India), May 07, 2011, 10:02 AM.
It increasingly appears that Khalistan is the answer!
3: Angela Ahluwalia (Jamnagar, Gujarat, India), May 08, 2011, 3:46 AM.
The apology of the prime minister is not sufficient. Jassica got justice; Manu Sharma is behind jail-bars. The Muslims in Gujarat are in jail. Though mass-murderer Narendra Modi still walks free, Raja 2G Spectrum is in jail. The only criminals who remain completely free are the perpetrators of the anti-Sikh pogroms. Justice delayed is justice denied.
4: Angela (India), May 12, 2011, 6:47 AM.
I was six when Indira Gandhi was killed. My father believes that it was not Sikhs who killed her, that there were some other people involved. Some very unusual things happened that day. For example, people who had been scheduled to see her, and came to see her, were not allowed to see her and were sent away without meeting her. Then, she was killed. Sonia and Dhawan were alone. They wasted a lot of time to take her to the hospital. Dhawan did not speak anything about the incident for a long time. We believe the Sikh guards had done nothing.