Tajinder Pal Singh
“There are two types of terrorism everywhere in the world: State terrorism and terrorism by the afflicted parties… Leave aside what happened in 1984 for a minute, although it can never leave my psyche or the psyche of any sensible Indian who understands the conspiracy of the government and political parties…but at least don’t let it happen again…don’t play with your own people for votes!”
In 1984, Tajinder Pal Singh was a young student in Delhi University, Khalsa College, North Campus. In this account, he recounts the attacks in June 1984 and then as the violence was unleashed in his home city in November 1984. He was at his college library when he first heard the rumblings of the Delhi attacks. When asked if his family was directly affected, Tajinder Pal Singh gives a poignant answer explaining that all Sikhs who were killed are his family.
His future father-in-law and 2 brothers-in-law were burnt alive, leaving his future mother-in-law and wife as the only survivors. Post 1984, Singh explains a shift in the perception and actions of Sikhs: “not because Sikhs feared anybody, but because the government not neutral, the government was the perpetrator and the killer.” He remarks on the cohesive nexus of police, judicial system, executive and administration and still cannot ever reconcile the government’s actions.
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