People's Democracy

  I Vividly Remember The Day

Harkishan Singh Surjeet

I HAD had direct experience of the horror that took place in the aftermath of Smt Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and could well have been one of its numerous victims. It was November 1, 1984, the day after that heinous assassination, and I had gone to Teen Murti Bhavan to pay homage to the assassinated leader. Our then general secretary late Comrade E M S Namboodiripad as well as late Comrade M Basavapunnaiah and Comrade Samar Mukherjee, both Polit Bureau members at the time, were also in the CPI(M) team that went to pay their homage on the day.

But, soon after we reached near the place, there took place something that was enough to freeze anybody with horror. There must have been a crowd of no less than five thousand there, and they were all raising high-pitched anti-Sikh slogans. It was clear that this was no spontaneous mob, nor were their slogans a spontaneous product of anger. Rather, to anybody who took a bit of trouble to watch the scene, it was clear that all this was being organised and orchestrated by some group working from behind the scene. 

To be sure, this was not altogether unexpected. Ominous news had already been pouring since October 31 afternoon, soon after Smt Gandhi was gunned down. But we had never expected that the situation would take such an ugly turn. This I realised only after we reached the Teen Murti Bhavan.

While we were still inside the sprawling Teen Murti Bhavan, some from among the crowd spotted me and ran towards me. There was no way to escape them, I thought. I asked Comrade EMS and others to leave me alone, because it was amply clear that otherwise they too could be attacked. However, it was at this point of time that a CID officer hurriedly came to me and advised me to somehow reach his jeep that was parked at some distance. He assured me that he would try to save me if only I could reach the jeep. I had already compelled EMS and others to leave via another route. It was that CID officer’s advice and his courage that finally saved me from the mob fury.

There was no question of going home, though it was not very far from Teen Murti. Instead, I came to 14 Ashoka Road that then housed our party’s central office. I was compelled to spend the next three days here.

The first thing I did after reaching the party headquarters was to ring late Giani Zail Singh, the president of the country. It is a sad commentary on the state of affairs at the time that he too pleaded utter helplessness; he even told that he himself could not dare come out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan!

I tried to contact Comrade Jyoti Basu in Calcutta, but learnt that he was in south India though he had already left Madras for Delhi so as to meet Rajiv Gandhi. But the West Bengal acting chief minister, late Comrade Benoy Krishna Chowdhury, had already issued shoot-at-sight orders against the miscreants, for the whole state. There were firm instructions to all police and administration officials to sternly deal with whosoever was found to be trying to instigate trouble. This was necessary because some political bigwigs, including the so-called firebrand lady of Bengal, did not ask their followers to make efforts to maintain peace in the state. However, we of the CPI(M) are proud of the fact that the Left Front government of West Bengal protected the Sikh lives all over the state.

I also got in touch with all the CPI(M) state units and directed them to remain vigilant and ensure full protection to the minority Sikh population in their respective areas.

Was this fortuitous? By no means. It was, on the contrary, a part of our glorious tradition of militant secularism. I still remember how, during 1963-67, our Bengal comrades used to guard the Muslim localities in Kolkata and other cities every night, and used to mobilise non-party people as well for the purpose. This tradition too was a major factor behind the CPI(M)’s growth and consolidation in the state.