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Mobs
attacked this school, govt gave a Rs 1,000 cheque. It bounced
WSN
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DELHI: The proudly displayed ISO 9000 plaque on the façade is the
first thing that catches your eye as you enter Guru Harkrishan
Public School in Vasant Vihar. Most traces of the attack that took
place on campus on November 1, 1984, the day after the assassination
of Indira Gandhi, have disappeared.
A dull
black mark on a shutter in the basement and a damaged portion of the
main gate (deliberately not replaced) bear mute witness to the
savagery.
One of the
few places to be attacked in South Delhi during the '84 riots, this
primarily Sikh school was closed after Indira Gandhi's assassination
and students rushed home.
It were the
staff members staying on campus who came face-to-face with a
50-strong mob. School caretaker Sharanjeet Singh, the only member of
the present staff to have witnessed the 1984 attack, remembers how
they managed to ward off the crowd and lock the gates. The trouble,
however, was far from over.
Around 11
am, two buses followed by a crowd broke open the gate and burnt
three school buses. The crowd had swelled to thousands by then.
The mob
then reportedly set the basement on fire and began to strip the
building of whatever they could lay their hands on — fans,
tubelights, even taps.
"Two
policemen sent to the school told physics teacher, Mr Hashmi, "Khada
khada kya kar raha hai? Loot le" (Take whatever you can). It was
Nandita Haksar, daughter of P N Haksar who came with a group of JNU
students and shifted all 44 staff members. They were made to stay in
Munirka overnight and then shifted to JNU. The school was opened 25
days later, after the DDA rebuilt it.
"We got a
call from the DPS R K Puram Principal on the day of the
assassination asking us to shift our buses to their campus. Our
school chairman Sardar Tejwant Singh was very close to Indira
Gandhi. 'Hamein kya chinta hai?' Principal H S Singha, had said,"
Sharanjeet Singh recalls.
But not
everyone has come to terms with the sense of betrayal. Sukhdeep
Singh, the school's sports instructor at the time, had kept the mob
at bay. "I have nothing to say," he said. His wife Lakhwinder said
he hid in the nearby Priya Park for two days after he helped
everyone to safety. Even the Rs 1,000 cheque that was given to them
as compensation later bounced
4
November 2009
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