Congress and Aurangzeb- The Party Massacred the Sikh Sangat, the Emperor Murdered the Guru

There are striking parallels between 1675 and 1984. While in the seventeenth century, brutal Islamic fanatic Aurangzeb got ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur ji publicly executed, in 1984, Congress leaders led the mass execution of Sikhs in North India.

On October 31, while many mourn the assassination of Indira Gandhi, very few people question her dealing with the Punjab crisis, Operation Blue Star, and then mass execution of Sikhs after her death.

In 1675, Aurangzeb publicly executed the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. Sikh history states that Guru Tegh Bahadur sacrificed himself to save the Hindu Pandits of Kashmir who, had been threatened with death if they refused to accept conversion to Islam.

Official Mughal records, describing the reasons for the assassination of Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675, state that he moved around with several thousand followers. With the rise in the political and material influence of the institution of guruhood, the Sikh gurus were increasingly seen as political rivals by petty kingdoms of the Mughal empire. Their influence and strength was also visible to the Mughal emperor. The days of political obscurity under Guru Nanak were long gone.

There are several accounts explaining the motive behind the assassination of Guru Tegh Bahadur on Aurangzeb’s orders. Sikh tradition states that the guru stood up for the rights of Kashmiri Pandits who approached him (see image above) to intercede on their behalf with the emperor and ask him to revoke a recently imposed jizya (tax). Convinced by his son, Gobind Rai, who later became Guru Gobind Singh, to stand up for the protection of the Kashmiri Pandits, Guru Tegh Bahadur traveled to Delhi. Here, at the Mughal court, he was mocked and asked to prove his guruhood by performing a miracle. He wrote a magic spell on a piece of paper and tied it around his neck with a thread. He told the Mughal authorities that as long as the spell remained tied to him, his head would not be separated from his body even if the blade of the executioner fell on his neck.

But when the blade struck the guru’s neck, it severed his head. Later, when the Mughal authorities opened the magic spell that the guru had written, it read, “He gave his head, not his secret.”

After Indira Gandhi’s assassination, there was a series of organised pogroms against Sikhs in India by anti-Sikh mobs in response to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Official Indian government reports numbered about 2,800 killed across India, including 2,100 in Delhi. Independent sources estimate the number of deaths at about 8,000, including at least 3,000 in Delhi. However, estimates may go much higher, because the riots were not limited to Delhi alone.

Congress leaders like Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, Youth Congress and NSUI organised a brutal backlash on the innocent Sikhs wherever they could.

Localities in Delhi such as, Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri, Trilokpuri, and other Trans-Yamuna areas were the worst affected. Congress-led perpetrators carried iron rods, knives, clubs, and combustible material (including kerosene and petrol). They entered Sikh neighbourhoods, killing Sikhs indiscriminately and destroying shops and houses. Armed mobs stopped buses and trains in and near Delhi, pulling off Sikh passengers for lynching; some were burnt alive. Others were dragged from their homes and hacked to death, and Sikh women were reportedly gang-raped and Sikhs also had acid thrown on them.

During the night of October 31, 1984, and the morning of November 1, Congress Party leaders met with local supporters to distribute money and weapons. Congress MP Sajjan Kumar and trade-union leader Lalit Maken handed out ₹100 notes and bottles of liquor to the assailants.[48] On the morning of 1 November, Sajjan Kumar was observed holding rallies in the Delhi neighbourhoods of Palam Colony (from 06:30 to 07:00), Kiran Gardens (08:00 to 08:30), and Sultanpuri (about 08:30 to 09:00). In Kiran Gardens at 8:00 am, Kumar was observed distributing iron rods from a parked truck to a group of 120 people and ordering them to “attack Sikhs, kill them, and loot and burn their properties”. During the morning he led a mob along the Palam railway road to Mangolpuri, where the crowd chanted: “Kill the Sardars” and “Indira Gandhi is our mother and these people have killed her”.

This is how this story plays out! While Islamic fanatic Aurangzeb killed the Guru, pseudo-secularist Congress massacred the Sikh Sangat. Sikhs are still tormented, and they still demand justice!