1984: The Anti-Sikh Riots and After by Sanjay Suri

Author:Sanjay Suri [Suri, Sanjay]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India
Published: 2015-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

SS: Did you have any meeting with Subhash Tandon (the police commissioner)?

AK: We had a couple of discussions.

SS: One on one, or in a group of officers?

AK: One on one also. Mr Tandon came from a background of intelligence operations. He was in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) throughout. He was not a man from public policing, he was not a man from law and order policing. Their approach is different. It is not to contain frontally. Their approach is not to tackle a situation, [but] to investigate and work out. He was of that profile, and he was a gentleman. Where I posed a problem, and wherever I said I am doing something, he said all right, carry on. Unlike the others who had opposed me. The general view was that I am becoming extra proactive. Tandon never stopped me from doing whatever I did.

SS: But isn’t there a culture of silent signals? Nobody is going to say actually, actively, don’t do this. But people give out non-verbal signals, by way of what they don’t say. And if you turn this around, was there any direction from Tandon that you should do something? Or were you acting on your own?

AK: In any situation of law and order, when the police find that it is not able to contain a situation, and the crowd appears to be of the majority, very few police officers will have the courage to counter the majority view. You can’t counter it on the ground, you are bound to fail. That was the situation that arose for Delhi Police. Delhi Police did not gather courage or muster resources to counter the situation, which, according to them, was created by the overwhelming majority. And that since they are from the majority, you can’t do anything. But I will not buy the theory that the Delhi Police deliberately and intentionally connived. Or that they actively led in the attacks.

SS: Not actively led, but realizing that this kind of thing may have majority support, that there is a certain environment created, so stand back? Or sit back?

AK: Yes, in some areas.

SS: Was this not an abdication of responsibilities?

AK: In some areas, and probably in outlying areas, this happened more, where the police were in small numbers and could not contain the crowds, they probably decided not to go out and confront. Because with a violent crowd, they have no option but to confront. When the crowd is aggressive, either you try to negotiate with the crowd, and if that does not work, you have to prevent, physically, with lathis, firepower. If you fail, you get injured, I got injured several times. At least 30–40 times I was inside the crowd. I could have been shot; in firing, a person six inches away from me died.

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