In March 2014, when Parvesh Verma was campaigning as the BJP’s candidate for the West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, a woman travelling on a two-wheeler gestured to the roadshow organisers in Ashok Nagar, wanting to be heard. When she was given the microphone, she narrated an incident about Verma’s life from 30 years before that stunned everyone.
During the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Verma’s father — the former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, a prominent Jat leader — had helped shelter the Sikhs in his neighbourhood, and his sons, Parvesh aged just short of 7 and his brother, about to turn 4, had been active aides in the endeavour.
Verma, 47, is now among the frontrunners for appointment as Delhi chief minister after he defeated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi assembly seat in the election this month.
Days Of Horror
One of the beneficiaries of Sahib Singh Verma’s support during the 1984 bloodbath was the family of Raminder Kaur alias Sherry Sethi (nee Kheda). Sethi, who now lives in the Harinagar area of Delhi, spent her childhood in the Keshavpuram locality and the Vermas were neighbours. “(Sahib Singh) Verma uncle saved several Sikh families from likely attack and death. And little Parvesh, who must have been 7 or 8 years old then, was an important player in the plan uncle put into action,” Sherry Sethi told ABP.
“Uncle was a councillor for Trinagar ward, and his daughter and I were friends. There were several Sikhs families adjacent to the Verma family’s house as well as many across the street, on the main road, and in the inner lanes,” Sherry Sethi recalled, discussing how vulnerable they felt in the immediate aftermath of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The anti-Sikh riots in Delhi began almost immediately after Indira Gandhi’s assassination on the morning of October 31, 1984. Initial attacks on Sikhs were reported in the vicinity of AIIMS on the Ring Road that same evening. The violence escalated significantly on November 1, 1984, and continued for several days. The riots resulted in the death of thousands of Sikhs, and widespread destruction of property.“My father was about to leave for his shop in the morning (must have been November 1) when Verma uncle stopped him from starting the scooter. ‘Don’t go,’ he said. He stopped several Sikhs from our locality from venturing out,” Sethi said. “As for me, aunty (Mrs Verma) took me into their house to stay with her daughters so that my security in those perilous times was assured.”
Parvesh Verma, she added, was far younger to them. “He and his brother Bunty would take food, milk, groceries, essentials etc to the Sikh households as none of the Sikh families… could dare venture out for fear of being caught by a mob,” she said, adding that the stories pouring in — of burning tyres strung around men and infants thrown into fires, had everyone horrified.
“Several Sikh families in the area went into hiding fearing for their lives, but the elders and youngsters in the Verma household ensured that we remained safe and unnoticed.”
Sethi said her father’s family hailed from Gujranwala (now Pakistan) and built their lives and business brick by brick, penny by penny, in Delhi after the Partition. Her father’s shop in Azad Market, which dealt in bicycles, sewing machines, and fans, was burnt to ashes by the rioters. The damage included fresh stocks that had arrived the day before.
But Sahib Singh Verma, she said, helped the affected businesses rebuild and reopen after the riots.
Attempts to reach Parvesh Verma for a comment on the report didn’t elicit a response.
Gratitude Persists
Life went on and, now, 40 years later, all the children are adults settled in various parts of the country and globe. But, according to Sethi, the Sikh families sheltered by the Vermas still recall the events with gratitude.
That is why, in 2014, when Sethi was riding a scooter past Parvesh Verma’s road show, she requested for the mic, so as to narrate this story. Verma eventually won the election, defeating Jarnail Singh, AAP candidate whose claim to fame then was flinging a shoe at veteran Congress leader P. Chidambaram. He also won the 2019 election.