CHAPTER III
PATTERN: A METHOD IN THE MADNESS
A clear and distinct pattern of violence emerged on analyzing the various reports and interviewing a number of survivors. There was a method in the madness that overwhelmed Delhi after the assassination.
A) Meetings on 31st October Night:
There is evidence that in several areas local Congress-I leaders held meeting on the night of October 31st and these preceded attacks and killings of the Sikhs.
In Vinod Nagar (East Delhi) according to a survivor Ram Singh (name changed), a taxi driver, a prominent Congress-I local leader of Vinod Nagar called a meeting in the evening of 31st October which was attended by xxxx, xxx (Bhaiswala), xxx (a known smuggler) and a few others; the meeting went on till midnight. These men along with 200-250 residents attacked his house early in the morning of November 1, broke down the door with iron rods and seeing all three of them (Ram Singh and his 2 sons) still sleeping, xxx told his friends to pour kerosene on them and burn them to death. Ram Singh woke up, took out his kirpan and leapt out through the broken door-xxxx stood back and all the others fled. A Hindu neighbour from Himachal Pradesh helped him to escape.
Surjit Singh- a Sevadar of a local Gurudwara in Vinod Nagar area (Nihang Singh Gurudwara, Pandav Nagar) had left his house early in the morning and thus escaped death but his wife (Tej Kaur) and their 9 years old daughter Minoo, his friend Nahan Singh and Nahan’s wife were all burnt alive on the morning of November 1. This sudden unbearable loss had nearly unhinged Surjit Singh’s mind when we saw him in the Camp.
(b) In Khajori-Bhajanpura (C Block)-Gamri area in Trans Yamuna one xxxx, a prominent Congress-I leader of the locality who is a Gujar by caste called a meeting on the night of 31st October which was attended by his son xxxx, xxxx (kerosene depot operator), xxx (Principal of a local school in Bhajanpura) and made an exhaustive list of local Sikh families who were to be attacked on November 1 by them. According to the Nanaksar Report "what happened thereafter was sheer unspeakable horror. In a space of two and a half days among the families who took refuge in Nanaksar, 155 people had been slaughtered. These numbers, which are but from a single camp – make mockery of the Government’s estimate of the deaths in the Capital. 45% of those killed were from Nandnagari, most of whom were from Block A-1/3, the Punjabi Mohalla and Block E. Gamri and Bhajanpura-mostly C Block-accounted for another 30%. The dead left behind them were 107 widows, 72% from the ages 20-45 years."
(c) In Kallekhan Basti near Nizammuddin a meeting was held on 31st October night over cups of tea and lasted till late at night. It was presided over by a Congress-I elected leader and some gujars including a well known Vaid-all Congess-I sympathizers attending it, finalizing their plan for November 1.
B) Political Organisers:
Throughout the Trans-Yamuna area in the catchment area, there were three types of people who were behind-the-scene organizers, those who identified Sikh households, mobilized hoodlums for mayhem and supplied fuel for arson. According to the survivors, these came from among (a) local level Congress-I politicians and hoodlums at different hierarchical levels, (b) ration shop owners and (c) kerosene depot owners, who have invariably been members of the same party or closely linked to local Congress-I politicians (Nanaksar Report).
According to our Survey, not an insignificant proportion of victims (19 p.c.) and their neighbours (20 p.c.) said that the attack was motivated by Congress-I political leaders. And a higher proportion of the victims (42 p.c.) identified Congress-I sympathizers as assailants.
It was reported that prominent among the people who were inciting the mob to violence in Sultanpuri, one was xxxx a Congress-I functionary and a close associate of xxxx, xxxx allegedly went rouond the area later building up a climate of fear among the people by spreading the story that the Sikhs had poisoned the water supply. He was allegedly leading the attack. There was another one xxxx of the Jamadars, xxxx a narcotic seller and xxxx.
Well dressed young men coming in Matador vans or cars or buses later identified as important functionaries of Congress-I or elected leaders belonging to Congress-I have been responsible for mobilizing and directing the mob towards Sikh houses, shops, factories and Gurudwaras. Refugees from Patparganj, Khichripur, Kalyanpuri in Pandav Nagar Gurudwara separately interviewed mentioned that a cream coloured Matador (xxx) owned by one xxxx drove up to Ganesh Nagar (Pandav Nagar Complex) carrying 12 men, one of whom was xxxx, a Congress-I Councillor; they distributed to the crowd assembled there lathis, revolvers and rifles - which they had brought with them - and were heard telling them before leaving ‘Use these on Sardars’.
The list giving the names of these 12 men was given to Mr. H.K.L. Bhagat, Union Minister, to Mrs. Tajdar Babar the Congress-I Metropolitan Councillor and President of the Delhi Pradesh Committee of Congess-I and also to Mr. Bedi, an official in the Ministry of Defence. No action was taken against those named.
In Bhogal, it was xxxx, a Congress-I worker and xxxx, owner of a sweet-shop- a Congess-I sympathizer- who were seen directing the crowd to Sikh shops in Bhogal Market which were all looted.
In Mangolpuri, a white Ambassador was seen driving up near the flyover from Mangolpuri. Sitting inside was xxxx, a prominent Congress –I man who had masked his face as not to be recognized (but he was recognized all the same). He called the crowd to his car and gave them some advice and then left; soon after that the Gurudwara went up in flames in the morning of November, 1.
In Vinod Nagar East two buses full of khadi kurta-pyjama clad young men drove up from the direction of the UP Border and led the local miscreants already assembled there, first to loot and burn Sikh shops and houses and then to burn alive human beings; genocide was perpetrated on November 1 in that small East Delhi colony. On 2nd November, 35 lawyers had visited some riot-affected areas. Mr. Ram Jethmalani’s eye-witness account of the after-math of Vinod Nagar killings is given in Chapter IV on ‘Nature of Violence’.
In Jehangirpuri, xxxx’s name, a Congress-I leader, has been reported, it has come up again and again as the one who incited the mob; once his henchman, xxxx had identified the Sikh houses he prodded them on to loot and burn these down. That politics of criminilisation was being played by the Congress-I functionaries has been conclusively proved.
According to the affidavit of Gurdeep Kaur - "On November 1 in Trilokpuri about 500 peopole came to Block 32. In such a crowd it was not possible to recognize everyone. Since I have lived in Trilokpuri for 8 years now I did recognize a few of the mob who had killed my family.
They were Tello, Manu (alleged to be a smuggler), Jagga and his wife Draupadi, Kishori Jamadar (sells pork), Rampal Saroj (Congress-I goonda who participated fully in looting and murder and also supervised the killing of several people), Roop Lal and his 3 sons who are thieves. Rampal Saroj came to our lane and assured us that Sikhs will not be harmed. He said that there was no need to be afraid; being the local leader he told the Sikhs not to get out of their houses because that would be safer. I was shocked that this traitor had deceived us and was a part of the mob. Rampal Saroj was leading the killers and the assurance he had given us was just a trick of his so that no Sikh would leave the house. Within 5 hours he brought the goondas, showed them each Sikh household, saw to it that the Sikhs were pulled out, and in his presence many Sikhs were beaten and burnt alive."
C) Method of Identification :
Identification of Sikh shops and houses was done in a systematic way by (i) persons moving in scooters, in Matadors, or even on foot as if making a survey of the place; (ii) checking up names and addresses of Sikh students from school registers; (iii) with the help of ration cars and voters’ lists; and (iv) by marking Sikh houses – Nazi fashion, as in Hitler’s Germany. Nanaksar Report mentions: "xxx and xxx the owner of a shop which stands in the Bhajanpura Main Market, went from door to door of Sikh houses in Khajori Colony, Gamri and Bhajanpura marking them thus- X, S, (X), (S)- the houses were therby marked for arson, looting and murder."
D) Collection of Incendiary Material:
Kerosene was collected from