Riot Survivors to Write to Amit Shah Seeking Ban on Rahul's Rally

Victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots have said they will write to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and request that he deny permission for Rahul Gandhi's proposed rally at Ramlila Maidan on November 1. They also announced that they would hold a protest at the venue against the event.

A victim said that Rahul Gandhi must stop repeatedly hurting the feelings of Sikhs. He said Gandhi gets such opportunities from time to time and uses them to play with Sikh sentiments. The victim recalled a Congress rally in Dausa, in Alwar district, during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when Gandhi was the party's prime ministerial candidate. He said he had been there by coincidence and saw on television Gandhi saying, "When I look at Sardars, I remember my grandmother."

The victim said he wanted to put a question to Gandhi. He asked him to consider that when people look at him and his family, they remember their own families, thousands of whom were killed. They recall the gurdwaras that were burnt and the mothers and sisters who were brutalised by his supporters.

He said that on November 1, the protesters would go to Ramlila Maidan, and that thousands of widows would also arrive. He added that whatever happened would be seen then. He asked how much longer the community was expected to endure, given 42 years of suffering. He accused the party of giving tickets to alleged killers of Sikhs and making them ministers, naming Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, and said Kamal Nath had been promoted and even made chief minister. He asked whether the party, Gandhi's family and its leaders felt any shame.

He also pointed to the compensation given after the riots. He said lives lost were valued at just ten thousand rupees, while those who suffered huge losses received a few hundred or a few thousand rupees, which he called a bitter joke. He compared this with present-day demands for crores of rupees, including fifty lakh rupees for injuries and one crore for deaths in agitations, and asked why those concerns were not remembered earlier.

He further asked how Sikhs could be expected to vote for a party that treated them this way. He said Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi should also feel ashamed. He noted that violence had occurred in 17 states, including Kanpur, Bokaro, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat, with thousands killed and property worth lakhs looted.

A woman who survived the violence said that the community could not stay silent while its pain was being used for political gain. She said the families were hurt after Indira Gandhi's death and that Sikhs were being suppressed whenever they raised their voice. She said that if the victims chose, they would boycott the rally, and that the protest would go on. She urged Rahul Gandhi to act with understanding, which she said was in his own interest.

She added that the Congress might be pleased with the rally, but for those who had lost family members, it was not a matter of happiness. She said the events after Indira Gandhi's death had not been forgotten and that many widows still remember that pain. She made clear that if the Congress carried out the rally, there would be opposition, and that the victims would not step back.

The victims urged Rahul Gandhi to show patience and wisdom, saying this would be best for him. They reiterated that they would not sit quietly.