Wall of Truth memorial opens at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj

Who: The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) under its president Manjit Singh GK, which built the memorial; the widows of five victims, who inaugurated it according to The Tribune; Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and other guests; and its opponents, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and former DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna.

What: The Wall of Truth is a memorial at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib to the Sikhs killed in November 1984, the Tesra Ghallughara. It was inaugurated on Sunday 15 January 2017, 32 years after the killings. The Tribune reported about 3,000 names on the wall, including two Hindus and a Muslim woman who died protecting Sikhs. Scroll gave the cost as an estimated Rs 2.45 crore; Wikipedia says Rs 2.25 crore.

The road to it was contested. The Jathedars of the five Takhts were due to lay the foundation stone on 12 June 2013. The NDMC objected on 7 June, and Manjit Singh GK called its notices uncalled for and politically motivated. Sarna petitioned the Delhi High Court against building a memorial on gurdwara premises, saying the site honours the sacrifice of Guru Tegh Bahadur, and in July 2013 the Akal Takht told him to drop the petition. Wikipedia dates the start of construction to November 2014.

At the opening, a group of victims handed the DSGMC plates naming Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and asked that they be engraved as responsible for Operation Blue Star and the killing of Sikhs. Manjit Singh GK said the committee would consider it. Scroll reported that two plaques, titled "Dastan-e-Indira Gandhi" and "Dastan-e-Rajiv Gandhi", were to be added.

Where: Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib, on Pandit Pant Marg near Parliament House in New Delhi, the site where Guru Tegh Bahadur was cremated after his martyrdom in 1675.

Why it mattered: Families who had waited 32 years got a permanent, named record of their dead near Parliament, built over the objections of the city's civic body. The wall has since grown: Wikipedia says it also carries Sikhs killed in hate crimes abroad, including at Oak Creek and in Afghanistan, and the victims of the Chittisinghpura massacre.