• 1984 Delhi Riots
  • video (warning)
  • Das (2007)
• What is ethnic violence?

• Political Conflict in state of Punjab

• Rise of Sikh Nationalists

• Amritsar and Operation Blue Star

• Assassination of Indira Gandhi by Sikh Bodyguards

• Widespread killing of Sikhs in Delhi

Is this ethnic violence?

What makes this ethnic violence (or not)?

What happened during the 1984 riots at a local level?

• Neighborhood of Sultanpuri
• Marginal area on outskirts of Delhi

Sikh communities largest in:

• Blocks A4, B2, B3, C3, D2, D6, E3, F2, F4

Where was the violence?

What explains these uneven patterns?

Block A4 and Block A2

• Neighboring communities of Siglikars (Sikhs)/Chamars (SC Hindu)
• both migrants to Delhi, relatively low status
• insecurity of legal tenure to households

This produced …

• dependence on local politicians (fixers)

Block A4 and Block A2

• status divisions between groups: Siglikar Sikhs had remittances from Middle East (nicer homes, consuer goods)
• disputes between Siglikar/Chamar pradhans (neighborhood leaders) over status in patronage network
• pradhan status threats from gurudwara

Local patronage leader was intermediary between:

• state/local government
• local organized crime, muscle
• local laborers
• police

Block A4 and Block A2

How the violence happened:

• started with taunts between A2 and A4 pradhans
• targeting of Sikh pradhan with police standing by
• participation of local organized crime
• violence spread, murder of men, looting of houses
• invocation of status reversal, murder of Indira Gandhi

Block B2-B3

Sikhs told by neighbors:

• violence in A4 was between Chamars and Siglikar Sikhs
• property not worth looting

Block D

• Organized self defense, with help of Hindu neighbors, fended off mobs

Block F

• Minimal violence

Personal motives?

• killing of paramours
• looting of material goods

Revisiting…

Is this ethnic violence?

What makes violence ethnic?

• the perpetrators? Who is doing the violence?
• the victims? Who is targeted in the violence?
• the form of the violence? What is the technique?
• discourse about it? How do people present and label the violence?
• the audience? Who is observing/reacting to the violence?

• Whether violence is ethnic: not always easy to decide
• Real-world violence is complex, challenges our narratives
• Link/disjuncture between what physically happened and the narrative