Sajjan Kumar indictment and the rise of hate politics

Sajjan Kumar indictment and the rise of hate politics

Sajjan Kumar indictment and the rise of hate politics ByShashi Shekhar Feb 16, 2025 08:18 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Another court indictment of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar not only brought back the memories of the 1984 riots but forced us once again to reflect on our present-day world

Humans tend to forget history’s harsh lessons quickly. Today those fanning communal tensions conveniently overlook the fact that such attempts in the past ended in devastation. Last Wednesday, another court indictment of former Congress Member of Parliament (MP) from Delhi, Sajjan Kumar, not only brought back the memories of the 1984 riots following the assassination of Indira Gandhi but forced us once again to reflect on our present-day world.

Peacekeepers find the going tough when people holding high office, wittingly or unwittingly, lean towards hate-mongering (PTI)

The court found Sajjan Kumar guilty last week in the murder of Jaswant Singh and his son. This was the result of a long, lonely and agonising struggle by Jaswant Singh’s widow. During her decades-long travails, a time came when the police even filed a closure report in the case. Even when the brazen tactics to brush the case aside failed, Sajjan Kumar wasn’t arrested for a long time. However, the law finally caught up with him.

Until now Sajjan Kumar has been found guilty of murdering five people. Those who perpetrated violence against the Sikhs should have been punished swiftly and decisively, yet even today many have been able to dodge the law. Swift legal action was necessary because the attackers and their handlers were also guilty of killing the spirit of the Constitution that enshrines and upholds human rights and the idea of fraternity as sacred. That makes the delay in delivering justice unpardonable.

Jaswant Singh and his son were burnt alive in the Saraswati Vihar area of Delhi on November 1, 1984. The mob that attacked them asked women and children to leave the locality and save themselves, but Jaswant Singh’s 14-year-old daughter refused to leave. Her heroic stand turned into a lifelong trauma after witnessing the mob burning her father and brother alive. The young girl didn’t know who the attackers were. All she knew was that the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, was shot in her official residence a day before and that the killers were from her community. She had nothing to do with the murder or the murderers. She had little to do with the politics that caused carnage in the country.

Sajjan Kumar would have escaped the law if not for a magazine, featuring him on the cover, that the young girl saw. She recognised him but her complaint took 41 long years to come to fruition and bring him to justice. Today, she’s 54 years old.

The Indian State has delivered justice but she’s a quintessential example of the axiom, justice delayed is justice denied. The violence that broke out in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s death resulted in more than 2,700 deaths and the loss of billions of rupees worth of property across the country. In those days it felt as if the Sikh community in India would nurse a grudge and stay aloof from the national mainstream. But the community deserves our respect and gratitude for picking up the pieces, rebuilding their lives, doggedly pursuing the perpetrators of violence, and bringing them to justice despite the long procedural delays.

I too was a witness to the countrywide violence unleashed against Sikhs. I then lived in Allahabad (present-day Prayagraj). One morning, I received a call from my office that Indira Gandhi had been shot at. I rushed to my office. We were working on bringing out the evening bulletin, but by afternoon violence broke out. Shops run by Sikhs were looted, gurudwaras attacked and mobs ransacked Sikh houses. By evening, three people had been killed and dozens injured. The irony was the then district magistrate of Allahabad was a Sikh officer, but the district administration and law enforcement agencies felt powerless before a bloodthirsty crowd. I can’t shake off those images from my mind even today. Unfortunately, the same story was repeated in many cities.

Indira Gandhi’s assassination was the fallout of resentment against Operation Bluestar ordered by her to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple. In the 1990s, we were again subjected to nationwide communal violence. This time the trigger was the Babri Masjid. Riots broke out throughout the country. More than 2,000 Indians died and once again property worth crores went up in smoke. Just like in 1984, people felt that the two largest communities in the country would never live in harmony the way they did earlier. However, the spirit of India won again. We started coexisting peacefully after the dust settled on the communal frenzy.

Circumstances have undergone a sea change since. During those times there was no social media. It made the task of controlling hate that much easier. Social media, meant to bring together diverse people worldwide, is now ending up dividing them.

The dangerous trend is only growing. A recent study by the University of California, Berkeley, found that hate speech on Twitter (now X) had risen by 50% after Elon Musk purchased it. Musk is now an advisor to the most powerful man in the world, the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

Peacekeepers find the going tough when people holding high office, wittingly or unwittingly, lean towards hate-mongering. Unfortunately, that is the global pattern these days.