PRESS NOTE
Today (5th
November, 2012), Students for Society (SFS) organized a protest
against the 1984 Sikh genocide at the Student Centre, Panjab
University, Chandigarh. The students demanded justice for the victims of ’84
anti-Sikh carnage and also of all other communal violence. The gathered
students burnt the effigy of ‘communal politics of ruling class’ and
‘unitary structure’ of India. They shouted slogans against such fascist and
communal forces in the society. On the occasion, Raminder Singh, President SFS,
said that students shall come forward and wage a struggle against all such
communal forces. He said that whenever such incidents took place, it’s always
the minority which is at the receiving end, be it the 1984 anti-Sikh
carnage or the 2002 Godhra genocide of Muslims. The role of State in all
such incidents is a naked truth. The State plays an active role in all these
pogroms. The perpetrators of such crimes shall be brought to justice even all
the political figures involved. The protest also marked the twelve years of
the struggle of Irom Sharmilla against AFSPA. The students opposed AFSPA and
all other such draconian laws. Raminder Singh said that, right to self
determination shall be given to nationalities which are a human right as
per third generational human rights charter of UN. He said that the
movement of 1984 was not just a communal movement; rather it had roots in the unjust
Centre-State relations prevailing in the country.
Also he said that in a country like India, Centre-State relations are not well
founded as it’s a multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-national country, so if
we want to keep India united, it can’t be done by sheer force. He said that all
separatist movements are result of this unitary structure. Earlier, postering
about the same issues was also done by Students For Society (SFS) on
the same issues. During the protest, leaflets about 1984 and Godhra pogrom were
distributed.