Indi@logs Vol 4 2017, pp. 63 - 78 , ISSN: 2339 - 8523 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5565/rev/indialogs.7 6 ----------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- -------- R ELIGIOUS I NTOLERANCE AND C INEMATIC R EPRESENTATIONS : A S TUDY OF S ELECTED S HORT F ILMS ON THE 1984 ANTI - S IKH M ASSACRES IN I NDIA I SHMEET K AUR C HAUDHRY Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, India [email protected] Received: 17 - 10 - 2016 Accepted: 11 - 01 - 2017 A BSTRACT This paper explores the theme of fragmentation and focuses specifically on the Sikh massacres of 1984 which followed the assassination of the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gan dhi when she was gunned down by her Sikh body guards. Thirty - two years down the line no perpetrators of the mob attacks and mass killings of the Sikhs have been brought to justice. The Indian sub - continent enfolds, within what appears to be the borders of a single nation, a bewildering complex of racial religious, social and cultural identities and any attempt to over - simplify the forces of division and conflict runs the risk of gross misrepresentation. More recently, the deliberated muting of the issues o f justice against the Sikhs are apparent in the banning of the two latest films on the subject. In the present paper three short films have been analysed: “Injustice 1984,” directed by Jarnail Singh; “Jagjeet” (2010), directed by Kavanjit Singh and “Kush” (2013), directed by Subhashish Bhutiani. These films depict real - life stories of persons from the Sikh community and explore the impact of religious intolerance and the violence of the Sikh massacres from the perspective of the victims. It seeks to highlig ht concerns regarding religious intolerance, questions of identity, legal silences and deliberated muting of the subject over the past years and the need for a complex critical evaluation of the responsibility of the state and its socio - institutional bodie s towards its citizens. K EYWORDS : Religious Intolerance, Silences, Identity, 1984 anti - Sikh Pogrom, Minor Cinema, Injustice R ESUMEN Intolerancia religiosa y adaptaciones al cine: Una investigación de cortometrajes sobre la masacre anti - Si j de 1984 en la India E ste ensayo explora el tema de la fragmentación y se centra específicamente en la masacre s ij de 1984, que siguió al asesinato de la primer minstro de la India Indira Gandhi, quien fue tiroteada por sus guardaespaldas sijs. Treinta y dos años despu és, los culpables de la masacre en masa no han sido llevados ante el juez. El subcontinente indio se muestra, dentro de lo que parecen ser los bordes de una sola nación, como un complejo confuso de distintas razas, religiones e identidades. Cualquier inten to de sobresimplificar la fuerte division que existe, conlleva el riesgo de distorsionar la realidad. Recientemente, el deliberado silencio ante los asuntos de justicia en contra de los sijs son obvios: se han prohibido las dos últimas películas sobre el t ema. En este ensayo, se analizan tres cortometrajes. “Injusticia 1984”, dirigida por Jarnail Singh; “Jagjeet” (2010), por Kavanjit Singh y “Kush” (2013), por R ELIGIOUS I NTOLERANCE AND C INEMATIC R EPRESENTATIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Subhashish Bhutiani. Estas películas muestran la vida real de gente de la comunidad sij, y explora n el impacto de la intolerancia religiosa y la violencia de las masacres desde la perspectiva de la victima. Se subraya la importancia de las cuestiones de identidad, la intolerancia religiosa, los silencios legales y el mudismo sobre el tema que ha habido en los últimos años, y la necesidad de una evaluación critica y compleja de la responsabilidad del estado y sus insituticiones hacia sus ciudadanos. P ALABRAS CLAVE : Intolerancia religiosa, silencios, identidad, 1984, masacre anti - sij, cine minoritario, in justicia I Chaurasi : Revisiting the Past 1 The idea of people coming together as communities is very complex, particularly in the present world of globalisation , where mobility across the world has grown immensely. This has led to the formulation of new ide ntiti es . These identities get divided into new categories (on the basis of community, caste, colour and other discriminating aspects) and a feeling of distinctiveness, accompanies the sense of belonging. The paper aims to study how identiti e s are a consequ ence of a highly complicated matrix of experiencing the self as distinct. This may result from certain events and experiences of individuals who comply with particular communities, their ethnic affinities or religious allegiances. The anti - Sikh carnage in 1984 in India is one such event , when Sikh people were targeted due to the identity markers 2 they displayed. The assassination of the Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi was followed by the mass - killing of Sikhs on the pretext that she was gunned by h er Sikh b odyguards. The turban, worn by Sikhs , became a significant identity marker, which led to Sikhs being distinguished from Indian Hindu populations and other communities. Since then , ’84 , called ch a urasi in Punjabi/ Hindi , has become a standardized term , denoting the pogrom as a fixed site of memory. Often during the formal and informal gatherings of Sikh communi ties’ people would commemorate ch a urasi , assess the loss in terms of life and materials, and sympathise with each other. Thus, the term ch a u rasi led to revisiting the past as it semantically suggested a sense of historicity. This revisiting of the past by the community g enerated a sense of belonging in a shared trauma that needed to be revoked so that history do esn’t repeat itself i n any commu nity . 1 8 4 in Punjabi is called c haurasi . In the present paper it denotes the 1984 pogrom 2 The Sikhs grow hair and beard s and wear tu rbans. Beard s and turban s are identity markers. 64 Indi@logs, Vol 4 2017, pp. 63 - 78 , ISSN 2339 - 8523 I SHMEET K AUR C HAUDHRY ------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- -------- Chaurasi became more significant for the Sikh than for other communities. This event marked an inerasable memory of an unforgettable past for the Sikh , who considered it full of disparaging insult for the community. Viewed as traitors and betrayer s, the state considered the Sikhs as promoters of anti - national activities . (Chakravarti, 1994: 2726) They began questioning their sense of belonging as citizens in their country of birth . They felt disempowered and dissociated with the justification recei ved from the centre for what is described as a state - led pogrom (Chakravarti, 2005: 3795) . As the centre suggested that, major populations of the so - called minority group (the Sikhs) were involved in the anti - national movements. I n addition, a number of r umours spread: about how the Sikh s celebrated Mrs Gandhi’s assassination by distributing sweets, about how Sikhs had poisoned the water or how trains full of Sikhs were coming from Punjab to take their revenge for the death of thousands killed. These rumou rs sought to provide a justification for the very act of mass - violence across India. The majority groups, such as Hindus , particularly loyalists of the Congress party, 3 turned to streets ”. They were mourning the death of the Prime Minister, toward whom the y felt filial emotions. They wreaked revenge by slaying the members of the community to which the assassins belonged. Thus, men wearing turbans and beard s were marked and thus, killed in every corner of the city. In this connection, George Herbert Mead ’s suggestion that the social condition lead s to the “self” becoming an object is apt. He lays emphasis on how structures construct the “self”. He explains that though individuals are different, they are categori sed in a common structure as members of a co mmunity. R ights are d etermined on common attitudes in the community: The individual possesses a self only in relation to the oth er members of his social group; and the structure of his self expresses or reflects the behaviour pattern of this social group t o which he belongs, just as does the structure of the self of every other individual belonging to this social group. (Mead , 2003: 40) Thus, during c haurasi , the manner in which people were marked as different constructed the “self” as an object. Mead exp lains this concept in relation to children , where there is a double within the self. During c haurasi , the turban (or any of the five k’s 4 ) became a very important 3 As Mrs Gandhi was a Hindu and belonged to the Congress Party. She was assassinat ed by her Sikh bodyguards . 4 The Sikhs have five identity markers: Kesh (Hair) Kara (Bangle) Kanga (comb that they keep in their tur ban) Kirpan (Little sword) and Kachaira (Underwear) . Indi@logs, Vol 4 2017, pp. 63 - 78 , ISSN 2339 - 8523 65 R ELIGIOUS I NTOLERANCE AND C INEMATIC R EPRESENTATIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- identity marker. The Sikh - men/families were spotted and targeted. Different behavioral patter ns were visible amongst the targeted Sikhs as many people cut their hair and shaved off their beards to mingle with crowds , in order to save their liv e s . This event led to a “dramatic and a sudden transformation of the community” (Chakravarti , 1994: 2722) A community that was known for its valour , being targeted by the state (Mitta , 2007: 40) , suddenly seemed vulnerable. Followed by thirty - one years of injustice on the legal front, evidence against t he prominent leaders, (that was being continuously suppres sed 5 ), seem to be an attempt at weakening the surviving victims by contro lling their capacity to counter organise. (Dawson , 1999: 48) The site during the pogrom was a site where “symbolic dominanc e” of the language through slogans 6 acquired control over t he masses.