Why ‘Riots’ Is Not the Right Term
There needs to be a shift in the language used to describe the events of 1984. The continued use of the phrase ‘anti-Sikh riots’ downplays the magnitude of what occurred, doing an injustice to the victims whilst concealing the true nature and extent of what took place.
The double-speak continues today both in India and the West. When a BBC radio programme in 2013 was confronted with its repeated use of the word ‘riot’ to describe 1984, they responded by saying that they saw it as a ‘neutral’ term.
The current narrative, in both academic and in common parlance, continues to downplay the massacres and their ongoing consequences. This trivialisation has unfortunately passed on to the new generation. Journalist Hartosh Singh Bal notes that the new generation of liberals have “refused to engage with the reality of what happened in 1984….