The Punjab story took one of its most violent turns in October 1984. 

On October 31, five months after Operation Blue Star, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated. 

Indira was shot at point blank by her longtime bodyguard Beant Singh and newly-recruited Satwant Singh. She was not wearing the bulletproof vest that she had otherwise worn every day for five months. Within 25 seconds, the two Sikh men fired anywhere between 28 and 33 bullets.  

Hours after his mother was shot, Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as prime minister. And in the days to follow, the world’s leaders descended on Delhi to attend Gandhi’s funeral, and over 3,300 Sikhs were murdered in retribution. These were the government’s estimates, though independent sources spanned them between 8,000 and 17,000. 

This is part two of Let’s Talk About: Punjab.

In this episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri unravels the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the role of the state apparatus and the Congress, the aftermath and political fallout, Rajiv’s negotiations with the Sikh community, and what reaped the seeds of an armed rebellion in Punjab.

As thousands of angry Sikhs sought retribution, the Akali Dal rose to power, and violence festered in Punjab. Through conversations with journalists, writers, professors, key personnel, media accounts, and civil bodies’ documentation of the period, the episode pieces together the events that led to the Sikh massacre and its consequences – as 32 years on, victims and their kin continue to wait for justice.  

Tune in.