kakakaoo's blog
One of the striking features of the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 was how quickly rumours spread across the city about Sikhs poisoning Delhi's water supply and trainloads of bodies of massacred Hindus arriving from Punjab. Remember, those were pre-WhatsApp days and rumours had to physically pass from one ear to another. So how did these rumours engulf Delhi within 24 hours of Indira Gandhi's assassination? It happened with a little help from the Delhi Police. A citizen's fact-finding report of that time tells us that they "came across evidence of policemen in vans touring certain localities and announcing through loudspeakers the arrival of the train and the poisoning of water. In certain areas...police officials had rung up residents advising them not to drink water."
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