NEW DELHI, Feb 2: Outgoing National Commission for Minorities chairperson Wajahat Habibullah, who served in the PMO when the anti-Sikh riots took place, says the government had collapsed in 1984 and the violence was a “massive failure” on its part.
He, however, dismissed allegations that the then Congress government colluded in the violence and sought to put Narendra Modi in dock over riots in Gujarat in 2002 saying the chief minister was “firmly in control” in the state.
“In 1984, the government of India had collapsed. The PM (Indira Gandhi) had been assassinated. She was a very strong PM. The PMO became dysfunctional. The government was not functional… It (riots) was a massive failure of government. But there was a reason for it. It was not that somebody was conspiring that we should kill Sikhs,” he told PTI.
The Union government was in such a disarray following her death that he, despite being a mere director-rank officer, was the seniormost officer present in the PMO for two days while others were busy with her funeral arrangements, Habibullah said, adding that few in the government understood the enormity of riots raging in the capital.
When asked if he thought the government had abetted the riots, as being alleged by BJP and Sikh groups, he replied, “not at all”.
On whether there was collusion of some Congress leaders, he said, “It’s quite possible that people may have taken law in their own hands but there was no effort on behalf of the government to take revenge themselves on the Sikh community. Not at all.”
The first concern on the mind of Rajiv Gandhi, who later took over as the prime minister, was “what happened to my mother” and when government realised the enormity of violence in a few days, it had begun ebbing. (PTI)
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