News Politics National In Pics: When death ruled the streets of Delhi (31 years after Indira Gandhi's assassination)

In Pics: When death ruled the streets of Delhi (31 years after Indira Gandhi's assassination)

New Delhi: It was an accidental meeting with a Military Police officer that led us to the house of death in Delhi in 1984.We had witnessed on the evening of Oct 31 the first bout

For three full days from the evening of Oct 31, killer mobs ruled Delhi. There was no area they spared, barring perhaps the very heart where VVIPs reside. The state simply withered away. People were pulled out of trains, buses and cars and set upon viciously.

Many were beaten to death with any weapon that was available. Others were set on fire. Sikh shops, businesses and hotels were looted and torched. It was a festival of death that emptied Delhi's streets of Sikhs for days.

Published photographs of Sikhs celebrating Indira Gandhi's death in London only fuelled more violence.

By the time a bruised calm returned to the city, the damage had been done. Sikh pride had been irrevocably hurt. The Congress claims to secular values were in tatters. It was a national shame.