Anti-Sikh pogrom: Without tangible reparations, Rahul Gandhi’s apology is symbolic

In response to a Sikh student’s question in the US early this month, Rahul Gandhi accepted responsibility for the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom on behalf of the Congress. His admission adds to the series of apologies made in 1998 by Sonia Gandhi and, later, Manmohan Singh. Their apologies have redeemed the Congress to some extent given how in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi had put his school physics lessons to use in order to justify the anti-Sikh attacks (“when a big tree falls, the earth shakes”).

Narendra Modi probably took lessons from Rajiv Gandhi when, in 2002, he offered a similar analogy for the anti-Muslim attacks in Gujarat in a speech (“every action has an equal and opposite reaction”). But unlike the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party has never issued an official apology or taken responsibility for the Gujarat killings.

Without doubt, official apologies in the wake of mass violence are important. They are a symbolic acknowledgement of human rights violations committed in the past that caused irreparable harm to victims. The Congress’s apology certainly has reparative value. But, at the end of the day, they are only words. Apologies mean nothing to victims of brutal violence unless matched with more tangible forms of reparation – convicting the perpetrators for one.

India has an abysmal record...

Read more