By Mili Agarwal:
October 31, 1984, was one of the most violent days in the history of India’s capital, Delhi. In the morning, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards. As the news spread, anti-Sikh riots broke out in various parts of Delhi. Ruthless mobs massacred Sikhs, torched their religious places and destroyed their properties. It was mayhem all over Delhi. More than 3,000 Sikh men, women and children were killed by rampaging mobs. The government had come to a standstill position. The policemen and women turned into mute spectators as they watched burning, looting and killing of the innocents while members of the ruling Congress party were widely accused of encouraging the violence.
In the middle of this stood a young civil engineer with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Sajid Raza Khan, an amateur photographer, who tried to capture some of the most horrific scenes as he wandered around West Delhi. For 30 years, he has lived with those haunting images. There has been no sense of closure for him. In February 2015, he retired from the DDA, picked up his camera and decided to visit all those places where he had taken pictures of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
‘1984: Images Revisited‘ is an exhibition of photographs of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 by Sajid Raza Khan:
Watch the interview with the photographer here:
