Quote of the week – On Apologies & such
PM Manmohan Singh quoted in The Pioneer*:
The riots (of 1984) were painful, but cannot be kept alive for ever…
Some questions that come to mind:
How long does it take to forget pain? Can “memories” really be forgotten?
How does one seek forgiveness? Can one be forgiven or is punishment the only option?
How does one seek atonement for something like this?
What would be the correct “Dharma” of a leader in such a situation?
Thoughts and comments welcome as always.
Related: All the past Quotes of the Week here.
*Front Page story titled: “Nitish suitors turn baiters” by PNS dt Tuesday, May 12, ’09 (subtitle, “PM should stop behaving like vice-chancellor of university of secularism, says CM”)
P.S. As many of you would know, last month Israel marked its 64th Holocaust Remembrance Day.
UPDATE: Although unrelated to the 1984 riots, this piece by Sankrant Sanu is a *must read* on the “apology-redemption” track and how it does not fit the Indian narrative (read in context of NaMo and the riots in 2002). From “Modi, media and the theology of apology“:
…The discourse on apology is best understood from the lens of cultural difference.
In Christian theology, man is a sinner. He is saved into eternal life through the confession of his nature as sinner and his acceptance of Jesus Christ, the redeemer, as his savior. Salvation does not depends on “worksâ€, that is on a person’s karma or what he does, but on “grace.†Belief in Jesus and its profession is essential for man to be saved. The secular variant of Western culture follows the same—confession-redemption pathway. Celebrities and political actors alike are redeemed in the public eye through public confession and apology.
…In the Indian culture context we have no easy apology. We don’t even have an equivalent to a lightweight word like “sorry.†We have prayaschit and paschatap. When Dashrath accidentally kills Shravan Kumar, his profession of his sin to Shravan Kumar’s parents is not enough. He must bear the consequences of his action. He is cursed to die in the grief of separation from his son, in the same way that he caused grief to Shravan Kumar’s parents.
This holds in lesser transgressions as well. When Arjuna enters Draupadi’s chambers to retrieve his weapons when she is with Yuddhistra, he breaks a pact. Even though the circumstances were extenuating, it is not enough for him to say— “Sorry bro, won’t happen again.†Transgressions have consequences that cannot be waived away by uttering palliative words. Arjuna has to undergo exile as part of the prayaschit.
The culture difference is that in one case profession of belief atones for all sins and, in the other, actions have unavoidable accountability….In the Indian case, words or belief or apologies are not sufficient for redemption, bad karma must be accounted for.
The critics that want Modi to apologise for the Gujarat riots, have called him a “mass-mudererâ€, guilty of “genocide†and at best, “complicit†in the violence. As Modi said in his interview, if even a fraction of those charges is true, he should be hung in the public square. What good is an apology? And if those charges are not true then what is there to apologise for?
…We are having a culture gap in our own discourse. Perhaps journalists need to go back and read the Mahabharata.
But then , how will we learn not to repeat that mistake if we do not remember it ? And I sure one cannot seek forgiveness by a mere public apology .
Shantanu, I hope I havent violated any copy-rights. I kind of chanced upon the same Pioneer article and posted something similar couple of hours after you posted this one 🙂
http://vivblogs.blogspot.com/2009/05/secular-blah.html
I found this in the link
It says, —Answering a question at a media conference in Punjab’s Ludhiana today, India’s ‘Press Conference Prime Minister’ Manmohan Singh charged that “some people want to keep the 1984 anti-Sikh riot issue alive apnee dukaan chamkane ke liye (for their selfish interests)â€. He held that this was of “no profit to either the country or the Sikh communityâ€.
Manmohan Singh’s this statement exposes his tendency of using different yardsticks for 2002 Gujarat riots and 1984 Sikh riots. When he says that some people keep 1984 Sikh riot issue alive for their selfish interests, he should not forget that along with his party and whole pseudo-secular vote-bank governors, he himself also is keeping 2002 Gujarat riot issue alive for his selfish interests of rescuing his Prime Ministership and running his dukaan.
In a press conference at Mumbai last month when a question was asked about Gujarat’s development, this same Manmohan Singh to run his vote-bank ki dukan had said no one can claim that Gujarat could be called a developed state since around 1,200 were “butchered†there (After DeshGujarat and it’s readers protested this statement massively online, Manmohan Singh in his Ahmedabad speech sang a different song for damage control and said that the nation is proud of Gujarat’s development adding that it is because of central government’s funding).
I have posted this link specially for humorous “Dukan” quote which is missing in the above link.
Forget history on your own peril. But as far as Congress is concerned one is required to forget the history where the ugly black hand of Congress is involved. Similarly is it not a fact that over 1300 years of atrocities on hindus is twisted, sometimes manufactured from pure imagination and inconvenient facts are totally erased, making saints out of satans whitewashing all the evils perpetrated on an unsuspecting community. Now the very same congress is trying to stamp hindus as terrorists. History lessons teaches us how to protect ourselves from people with devious and evil intentions.
Can we then stop commemorating 30 January every year?
hi all,
there is a basic difference here.
jews have historically carried forward an hurt sentiment. israel was a mythical land that their god promoised in hope of which they lived for 2000 years and more, till they were able to form “israel” by 1948. they have the wailing wall which has been witness to centuries and centuries of prayers for “israel”.
the hindu (indian) is on the other hand is broad minded (not meant as an insult to the jews) but just that we tend to forget the past, especially the negatives and carry on.
I can only assume that the PM says that as a community the sikhs should not carry a grudge which to be fair to the sikhs they are not (holding hindus responsible).
but all siad and done, it was a blot on india much much worser than any hindu-muslim riot basically because there was hardly any provocation.
rgds/sridhar
Excerpts from A big tree fell, Sikhs died by Kanchan Gupta:
Twenty-five years ago yesterday, Mrs Indira Gandhi was assassinated. She was walking towards a wicket gate in the garden of 1, Safdarjung Road, which used to be the Prime Minister’s residence, for an interview with Peter Ustinov who was shooting a documentary. As she reached the gate, two guards posted there, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, shot her with their service weapons. Mrs Gandhi, riddled with bullets, was rushed to All-India Institute of Medical Sciences; by then, she was already dead. Later that evening, Rajiv Gandhi took oath of office as Prime Minister. Till then, Mrs Gandhi’s death was not officially confirmed to a shocked nation.
After committing their dark and dastardly deed, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, according to one version, surrendered to the other guards on duty. The details, however, remain fudgy. Beant Singh is believed to have tried to escape and was shot dead. Satwant was also shot, but he survived and faced trial. He was hanged for his crime along with Kehar Singh, a co-conspirator who pleaded innocence till the end.
Those are the basic details of what happened 25 years ago yesterday. The story, however, neither begins with Mrs Gandhi’s assassination nor ends with the crowning of Rajiv Gandhi as her successor — or, for that matter, the execution of Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh.
…Twenty-five years ago today, murderous mobs comprising Congress thugs and led by the party’s storm troopers, were out in Delhi, indulging in an appalling orgy of violence. Sikh men, women and children were dragged out of their homes and slaughtered remorselessly. The killers shouted “Khoon ka badla khoon se lengey†as they placed burning tyres around the necks of Sikhs begging for their lives.
For three days the Congress Government did nothing. Delhi Police watched the bloodletting without so much as admonishing the Congress goons. The party’s rage boys went around colonies, marking houses belonging to Sikhs which would then be attacked by those grieving for their dear departed leader. Even gurdwaras were not spared. One of the most hideous images of the time that has stuck to my mind is that of a stray dog feasting on a half-burnt corpse.
On November 3 evening, by when the mobs had begun to tire and there weren’t many more Sikhs to be killed to avenge Mrs Gandhi’s assassination, the Army was called in to help restore order! By then, 2,733 innocent people had paid with their lives for the crime committed by Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. Thousands were rendered homeless. Inspired by the pogrom in Delhi, Congress hoodlums had set upon Sikhs in other parts of the country too — there are no official figures for those killed, but conservative estimates put the toll at 2,000.
…
No, the story doesn’t end with the massacre or Rajiv Gandhi’s astounding justification of what his party goons had done — addressing a rally at Boat Club on November 19, he told his cheering fans: “Some riots took place in the country following the murder of Indiraji. We know the people were very angry and for a few days it seemed that India had been shaken. But, when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little.â€
…
Most of us pretend that the massacre of Sikhs occurred in the distant past. But that should not lull us into believing what the Congress believes: That it never happened.
From Time to forgive and move on: Chidambaram to Sikhs
NEW DELHI: Seeking to put behind memories of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, home minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the country has moved on since the tragic incident and that it was time to forgive and build a new India. “It is time that we forgive and move on to build a new India where every citizen irrespective of faith has equal place,” he said, addressing a function to felicitate him for his role in removing names of 142 Sikhs from a ‘Black list’ .
Till we have done something to ensure that events of 1984 are not repeated, 1984 should neither be forgiven, nor forgotten. Those who have suffered, and picked up their lives and moved on, do not need the Minister’s advice. Yes, undoing the harassment and victimization of sikhs is a good step, but not enough.
N.P. Singh
From a related news-report Delhi Police act premeditated in ‘84 riots: CBI, 31st March, Staff Reporter, The Pioneer:
The CBI on Saturday accused the Delhi Police of keeping its “eyes closed†to violence and acting in a pre-planned manner during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Advancing final arguments before a city court in a riots case, in which veteran Congress leader Sajjan Kumar has been accused of instigating a mob in Delhi Cantonment area, CBI counsel RS Cheema said the city police “deliberately†did not act the way it was supposed to.
“This was a case where the police acted in a pre-planned manner and every policeman kept his eyes closed,†Cheema told Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) JR Aryan. He said about 150 complaints were made regarding the riot incidents but only five FIRs were registered by the police.
“Whatever action was taken by the police was taken against the people who helped the Sikhs. Police did not take action against the main culprits. No policeman was recording complaint. They were not interfering to help victims,†said the lawyer.
Cheema said even police officials, who were defence witnesses, had said in their statements that they had not seen anything during the riots.
…
The CBI prosecutor told the court they did not have media reports but did have other direct evidence, which would be shown to the court on April 2, the next date of hearing. “We have direct evidence of conspiracy against them (accused),†said Cheema, adding that in Saturday’s hearing, he was only arguing on circumstantial evidence.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/article3820732.ece
“The most gruesome communal violence…indeed since Independence anywhere in India”
“One remarkable feature of this massacre is that not a single person responsible for the violence has been prosecuted or punished.”
“The cauldron of ethnic and religious hatred continues to boil, spurred by a bitterly divided people, and State policies which assure official immunity to perpetrators of mass violence, and incentives for ethnic cleansing.”
——————
No, this is not Gujarat 2002 which is being kept burning by our country’s foreign-funded professional Nehruvian-secularists. Why have these foreign-funded professionals not been as agitated about redress for the 1984 anti-Sikh violence? Why have these foreign-funded professionals not been as agitated about redress for what their representative character himself labels “the most gruesome communal violence…indeed since Independence anywhere in India”? Which “secular” party’s governments presided over this and the anti-Sikh communal violence? And which “secular” party’s “State policies assure official immunity to perpetrators of mass violence”? And why are these foreign-funded professional Nehruvian-secularists colluding with that party in its government instead of holding it to account?
This explains some reasons why – http://www.vigilonline.com/index.php?Itemid=109&id=843&option=com_content&task=view .