Kanpur, Oct 30 (Inditop.com) All hell broke loose in this cramped and crowded city, over 400 km away from the Indian capital, when news of then prime minister Indira Gandhi being assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on Oct 31, 1984, filtered down. What began as sporadic protests on the streets quickly turned into organised violence by evening.
As many as 127 Sikhs and eight non-Sikhs lost their lives in the violence that gripped this city, a major industrial hub in Uttar Pradesh. And unlike Delhi where the violence played out for three days, all the killings were carried out over a span of 24 hours – between the night of Oct 31 and Nov 1, 1984.
Armed groups prowling the streets began targeting Sikhs who had to literally run for cover. Their shops were attacked and set ablaze. As evening gave way to night, the mobs, better organised by then, turned wild, raiding predominantly Sikh localities and lynching every Sikh they could lay their hands on.
It began when hoodlums, moving around in groups numbering 40 to 50 people, started pressuring Sikh shop owners and office keepers to pull down their shutters.
Within hours, the marauding mobs fanned out. They began burning vehicles, assaulting Sikh employees returning from their offices and factories after their shifts. Even gurdwaras in certain localities were not spared. Soon they began targeting houses. The attacks became more violent and lethal.
With a population of about three million then, Kanpur was the state’s biggest city.
A large chunk of those who spearheaded the violence lived in slums mushrooming in various parts of the city that was until then known as the ‘Manchester of the East’ on account of its huge textile industry, which is now virtually dead.
Sikh-populated localities like Govind Nagar, Kidwai Nagar, Gumti No.5, Ranjit Nagar, Pandu Nagar, Rajinder Nagar and Daboli bore the brunt of violence. Incidentally, the mobs cutting across party lines knew their victims.
And like in Delhi, the authorities looked the other way as rioters had a field day. The alleged support extended to the mobs by then district magistrate Brijendra Yadav, whose role came in for sharp scrutiny by the Ranganath Misra Commission that was subsequently appointed to investigate the cause of the riots, emboldened the rioters.
Yadav was indicted by the one-man Commission but managed to get away with just a rap on the knuckles.
In his report, Misra, who eventually gave the Congress a clean chit for the riots, went to the extent of condemning Yadav’s role. The testimony of Captain Bareth, an officer of the 16 Maratha Light Infantry, who was deployed there after the state government handed over administration to the army, is proof.
Bareth’s statement depicts how Yadav refused to sign the handing over papers and how he reportedly abetted in the killing of innocent Sikhs of Kidwai Nagar locality where at least 14 Sikhs were burnt alive and hundreds injured by a mob Nov 1.
Misra said the non-enforcement of prohibitory orders banning the assembly more than five people delayed the imposition of curfew and calling in the army to stand by the civil administration.
While sporadic incidents of attacks on Sikhs were reported also from other parts of the state, including the capital Lucknow, it was incomparable to the systematic carnage carried out in Kanpur.
Sardar Kuldip Singh, a former president of the Akali Dal (Tara Singh group) who single-handedly fought for the victims, is still struggling to get them their compensation.
“Even 25 years after, I am still fighting to get thousands of victims a compensation package that was formally announced by the then government,” laments Singh, who later rose to become a Congress legislator.
Former state governor Moti Lal Vora had in 1995 agreed to compensate victims for the loss of property and life. But his transfer from Uttar Pradesh only complicated matters and those who suffered that fateful night are still running from pillar to post.
“Though the central government ordered a 10-time hike in compensation in 2005, those in Kanpur got nothing as they had not been paid in the earlier package,” observed Singh.
Worse, the hundreds of families who migrated from Kanpur to Punjab following the riots got nothing as a rehabilitation package.
