The 1984 anti-Sikh attacks in India also hurt human rights around the world, members of the Sikh Association at Boston University said during their sixth annual candlelight vigil Saturday night honoring the victims of the attacks.
Nearly 50 people attended the vigil, held on Marsh Plaza and in Marsh Chapel, and listened to speeches from BU students on the importance of increased Sikh awareness and various topics regarding the government-sponsored attacks on specific minorities, or pogroms, that killed more than 10,000 Sikhs.
‘I don’t believe that these horrors are simply a Sikh issue. Rather, they are a human issue,’ said Namarata Kaur, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman and Sikh Association member, in her speech about the events leading up to the 1984 attacks. ‘Regardless of political or religious differences, one group of people cannot be allowed to blatantly violate the rights of another without taking responsibility for it.’
Kaur said peace will never be possible unless India pays a price for ignoring anti-Sikh violence.
Harpreet Singh, a CAS senior, agreed in his presentation about the pogroms’ aftermath, which included a clip from ‘Hawayein,’ a movie banned in India for its depictions of the attacks.
‘Ask yourself why you keep coming back [to these vigils],’ Singh said. ‘If it’s just to remember 1984, I don’t think it’s the right reason. Between then and now 300,000 people have died. How is it over? I don’t think it is.’
In 1984, the Indian army attacked more than 40 Sikh Gurdwaras, or temples, on a Sikh holy day, claiming they were looking for hiding militants, speakers said. The army completely destroyed the most sacred of the Gurdwaras, the Golden Temple, and many sacred texts and artifacts were destroyed, defaced and stolen.
Before British occupation, Singh said religious groups in India had unity, and he said they are all still involved in a common struggle.
‘Whether Sikh, Muslim, Hindu or any religion, we’re all fighting the same fight,’ he said. ‘We’re fighting injustice.’
After a moment of silence, the vigil’s focus shifted slightly to the future of Sikhism and Sikh life in America.
‘The future of Sikhs and Sikhism is reinvention,’ said Sehraj Singh, a University Professors Program sophomore. ‘We must design a destiny for Sikhs. We must design a destiny for Sikhism. We must design a destiny for us.’
CAS junior Manleen Kaur said Sikhs face a difficult challenge integrating Sikh and American cultures.
‘Accepting American lifestyles does not mean renouncing Sikh lifestyles and vice versa,’ she said. ‘We have the opportunity of living amidst two cultures. We can and will take the best of both worlds.’
Manleen Kaur said Sikhs can combine the two cultures’ positive elements by donating the money they make from American prosperity to organizations dedicated to helping the victims of the pogroms. She also stressed the importance of participation in ‘seva,’ or community service.
‘It is our responsibility to ensure an accurate perception of Sikhism,’ Manleen Kaur said. ‘We must demonstrate in our actions who we are.’
Tamanna Singh, a CAS freshman and Sikh, also said she faces challenges with balancing the two cultures, and attended the vigil to become more familiar with Sikh history and the 1984 events.
‘I wanted to become more culturally involved, because I am a typical Sikh-American,’ she said.
Members of the Sikh Association said they considered the vigil a success.
‘There were a lot of non-Sikhs in the audience,’ Namarata Kaur said. ‘I expected a lot more Sikhs than non-Sikhs, but this was a good balance.’
Manleen Kaur also expressed satisfaction with the event.
‘We had a good turnout,’ she said. ‘We generally have more members of the outside Sikh community come. I’m glad that we got more BU students to come, because it’s important for us to know what happened.’
CAS senior and non-Sikh Courtney McClellan said she came to the vigil after Manleen Kaur invited her.
‘I wasn’t really familiar with this, so it was good to understand the background and impact on India now,’ McClellan said.
The Sikh Association at BU was founded in 1997 and holds a vigil commemorating the pogroms every year. The group also holds weekly religious meetings and a festival for Vaisakhi, the celebration of the Punjab harvest and Sikhism’s recognition as a formal religion.
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