Sikh protesters accuse writers of having double standards

Sikh agitators question the literati over their long silence on the 1984 riots; in a similar protest last week, a Sikh author burnt 500 copies of his book on the riots at Jantar Mantar

New Delhi: Expressing anguish against the author community’s silence over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, a group of Sikh agitators yesterday attempted to burn judicial commission reports and copies of a book to register their protest but were detained by the police.

We want justice! Protesters hold placards and shout slogans demanding punishment for perpetrators of the Sikh genocide in 1984, during a rally organised from Golden Temple to Hall Gate in Amritsar yesterday. Pic/PTI

The protesters led by Gurcharan Singh Babbar, author of a book on the riots titled ‘Indian Government Organised Carnage’, tried to set on fire copies of his book along with reports by various judicial commissions such as Nanavati Commission, RC Srivastan Committee, R N Mishra Commission, Justice Narula Committee and other CBI reports.

In a similar protest last week, 500 copies of Babbar’s book were burnt at Jantar Mantar. The group had questioned the authors, who had returned their awards in protest against ‘growing intolerance in the society’, as to why they had been silent for 31 years since the 1984 riots.

The police, however, did not allow any book burning yesterday. While few of the protesters were detained, the cops seized over 200 copies of the book and 15 reports.

“We have lost trust in the system. We were protesting peacefully and the authorities are not allowing it. If they are not allowing us to protest, how can we expect justice from them?” Babbar asked.

Accusing the authors, who have returned their awards, of having ‘double standards’, he said, “No awardee asked the government when would the Sikh community will get justice.”

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