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1984 SIKH GENOCIDE: RELlGIOUS BIGOTRY OR ECONOMIC FALLOUT?

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It is painful to recollect the events that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. The Sikh genocide of 1984, as it is called, however, is a subject of controversy, especially due to  the different dimensions in the conflict. The media and the contemporary literature widely referred to it as a shocking upsurge of religious bigotry because we are habituated to look at the events through a narrow and faulty vision which has been gifted to us by those intellectuals with long-dead colonial mindset.

In this regard the book "What after Modi Sarkar?" comes up with new bold revealations. The author points out at the economic imbalance in the aflected areas, especially in upmarket areas of various cities, where the Sikh community maintained a willfully sustained economic imperialism. The corresponding deprivation felt by the rest of the communities powered the event in 1984.

In fact, it was an event waiting to happen and the assassination of Indira Gandhi became a circumstantial reason. It was an economic upheaval unguided by ideologies or principles. Brute force of man did a naked dance when either the government or the system itself failed to curtail the effects of a willfully sustained economic imperialism by the Sikh community. -

The book also notes that the Gujarat riot of 2002 was an instance of an economic fallout rather than an event of religious bigotry. Excerpts from the book follow.

"Moreover, the Gujarat riot was an economic phenomenon rather than a religious phenomenon. It was almost like the Sikh genocide  of  1984  which  should  also  be  categorized  as an  economic phenomenon rather than a religious phenomenon. We should not colour the Sikh massacre of 1984 with religion even though the media widely referred to it as communal holocaust. The Sikh genocide derived its urge from a widely percieved economic imperialism willfully sustained by the Sikh community all over India. There was a time when the Sikh community owned a huge share  of  transport  and  consumer  business  in  every  nook  and corner  of  India.  Further,  the  share  of  repatriated  income  of  the community was higher than that ot many other communities. As a result,  the community  enjoyed disproportionate  affluence  causing deprivation to the rest of the social sections. This serious economic imbalance willfully sustained by the Sikh community powered the events in 1984. Similar was the case with Gujarat in 2002. The Muslims in Gujarat enjoyed a higher rate of prosperity when compared to their counterparts in other states. The corresponding deprivation suffered by the majority community broke lose the norms of tolerance at an unfortunate time and caused the conflict. In this manner, the Gujarat riot of 2002 also owed its origin and development to a willfully sustained economic imbalance."

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