Jaibans Singh
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacting with members of the Sikh community
Shri Nayab Singh Saini, Chief Minister of Haryana has, on the floor of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, declared that one member each from 121 Sikh families from Haryana whose kin were brutally killed by mobs during the Sikh Genocide of 1984 will be given a job on priority by the Government of Haryana.
“During these riots, as many as 121 persons lost their lives and 58 were injured. Previous governments, to the extent possible, provided financial assistance to compensate for these losses. However, even today, during my visits across the state, members of the victim families often share their pain with me. They tell me that forty years ago, a mountain of sorrow fell upon them. They have not forgotten it, and they continue to struggle with the consequences of that tragedy,” said Saini on the floor of the house.
He further appealed to the victim families to mutually decide on the name of the family member who should be given the government job and forward it to the deputy commissioner of their area for further submission to the chief secretary of the state.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini declaring jobs of genocide victims
Earlier, in May 2025, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta handed over appointment letters to the dependents of families affected by the 1984 Sikh Genocide in Delhi. Ms. Gupta said that the Delhi government has not just provided jobs, but also recognised the dignity and identity of thousands of families who had waited for justice for decades.
“The 1984 riots remain a dark chapter in the history of India. For those who lost loved ones, no compensation can ever be enough for their pain. The process of delivering justice to the riot victims and punishing the perpetrators truly began after Prime Minister Narendra Modiji assumed power at the Centre,” the Chief minister added.
Delhi CM Rekha Gupta handing over job letters to kin of genocide victims
This humanitarian move by the Delhi Government and the Haryana Government, both of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has elicited tremendous appreciation from the Sikh community worldwide and from the people of Punjab who bear deep scars of the genocide and events leading to the same. This sensitive action will go a long way in furthering the process of reconciliation.
The Punjab unit of the BJP has consistently been raising with the Union government the need to ameliorate the suffering of the victims of the Sikh-genocide of 1984. Shri Ashwani Sharma, the working President of the Punjab State unit of the BJP has welcomed the steps taken by the governments of Delhi and Haryana. While thanking the chief ministers of the two states on behalf of the BJP, Punjab and in his personal capacity, he said that the people of Punjab had been waiting for such an initiative for a long time and were now confident that, with time and through such humanitarian gestures, the scars of the unfortunate events of 1984 will be erased from the minds of all Sikhs and Punjabis
Affirmative Actions by the NDA Government
Notably, a series of initiatives have been taken by the BJP led Union Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apply the much needed balm to the wounds of the Sikhs.
The National Minority Commission when headed by S. Iqbal Singh Lalpura provided laudable service in this direction. It collected data from eleven states and Union Territories where violence against Sikhs was recorded and asked the state government to provide compensation to the affected families and a government job to one member of the affected families as per law.
Letter by National Minority Commission to Chief Secretaries of all states: Requesting for update on kin and survivors of the Sikh Genocide
The commission then repeatedly wrote personal letters to Chief Ministers of the affected states recommending jobs to next of kin of the victims along with other other facilities.
Letter by The National Minority Commission to CMs recommended jobs for Sikh Genocide victims. Similar letters went to CMs of all states
The initiative by the Commission has served as a motivation for the government of Delhi and Haryana to take the aforementioned decision.
On receiving this happy news S. Iqbal Singh Lalpura, former Chairman of the National Minority Commission has thanked the chief ministers of Haryana and Delhi for their kind gesture towards Sikhs who have suffered injustice for too long. He has particularly thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his support to the cause of justice for the Sikh community
The Sikh Genocide of 1984
On 31 October 1984, the then Prime Minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi was killed by her bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh who belonged to the Sikh community. The killing was in reaction to Operation Blue Star that was ordered by the prime minister and led to an attack by the Indian army on Sri Harmandir Sahib, the most sacred shrine of the Sikhs. The badly damaged shrine caused terrible hurt to Sikh sentiments, which served as a trigger for the assassination of the prime minister by the Sikh bodyguards.
Post the unfortunate tragedy, a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions started building up. The very next day, 01 November, witnessed widespread attacks on members of the Sikh community across the country, including Haryana. The numbers killed have never been made public, but various estimates put them much above 10,000.
An attempt was made by the Congress government that was in power in the centre at that time, to pass off the genocide as a spontaneous reaction of the people distraught at the killing of their prime minister. A closer scrutiny however points towards a very well-conceived and coordinated plan to “teach the Sikhs a lesson.”
No First Information Report (FIR) was filed in the immediate aftermath or cases registered in court. When international pressure became too much, the government constituted a committee under Ved Marwah, Additional Commissioner of Police in November 1984. The proceedings of the Marwah Committee were handed over to the Misra Commission whose findings were made public in February 1987.
This sham enacted over three years was followed by a series of committees – Kapur-Mittal Committee, 1987, Jain-Bannerjee Committee, 1987; Ahuja Committee, 1987; Poti-Rosha Committee, 1990; Jain-Aggarwal Committee, 1990 and Narula Committee, 1993.
Many Punjab governments of different political parties have come and gone. They made a weak advocacy for Punjabi rights, but tangible support for victims struggling without shelter and jobs remains lacking.
The tryst for justice gained momentum in the year, 2000, when the NDA Government, under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was in power. A new commission under retired Supreme Court Judge G.T. Nanavati was instituted. The report submitted by the Nanavati Commission in May, 2005, was damning in its observations. as per the report, of the 587 original FIRs registered , only 25 cases hadresulted in conviction, of which only 12 were murder cases.
Sadly, the two successive Congress government the followed the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee led Government put the report of the Nanavati Commission into cold storage. The process gained momentum only when the NDA government came to power in 2014.
The cases against perpetrators of the genocide of 1984 were reopened by the Modi government with institution of new Special Investigation Teams. Many have been found guilty and punished under law. One of the main alleged perpetrators, Sajjan Kumar, was jailed. The CBI has submitted a charge sheet against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, whose name figures in the genocide in Delhi.
The Government gave a commitment in 2019 to release from prison all such Sikhs who had been interned for a period nearing two decades because of their involvement in militancy. Nine such Sikhs have since been released. The Union Government is putting in all effort to secure the release of the remainder also.
312 Sikhs living in foreign countries who had been blacklisted and barred from travelling to India for alleged association with the Khalistan movement between 1980’s and 1990’s have been removed from the blacklist and given permission to visit their country of origin.
Though very late, this is an honest attempt by the government to set right the gross injustice heaped upon the Sikh community.
Research by The Punjab Pulse
The Punjab Pulse has taken a keen interest is highlighting the gross violation of human rights as manifest by the genocide and the deliberate apathy by successive governments due to vested personal and political interests, to the eternal shame of the great Indian nation. The major articles in this regard carried in the website are given below for ready reference.
https://thepunjabpulse.com/614-2/ Victims of Sikh Genocide in 1984 Await Justice
https://thepunjabpulse.com/1984-sikh-genocide-by-congress-led-mobs-in-india/
https://thepunjabpulse.com/anti-sikh-riots-1984-justice-has-been-delayed-and-subverted/
https://thepunjabpulse.com/1984-riots-delhi-court-frames-murder-charge-against-jagdish-tytler/
https://thepunjabpulse.com/1832-2/ Operation Blue Star: An ill-conceived operation with devastating ramifications
The Way Forward
Other state governments that have received similar missives from the National Minority Commission also need to take affirmative action. An honest attempt towards reconciliation and provision of justice would uphold the noble values and principles of our ancient civilisation.
The Sikh civil society needs to come out in support of all actions being taken by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards providing justice to the victims and ameliorating the suffering of the affected families.