BJP targets Gandhis for 1984 anti-Sikh riots

Thirty four years after the organised anti-Sikh riots in 1984, the ruling BJP and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday cited a Delhi court’s judgment sentencing a man to death and another to life imprisonment in the pogrom, as an indictment of the Congress and its “ruling dynasty” for the massacre of 2,800 Sikhs in Delhi and the adjoining States.

While the SAD leader Sukhbir Badal demanded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the present government in 2015 should include former Congress president Sonia Gandhi as a conspirator in the riots, the BJP fielded Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to target the top Congress leadership, including the principal opposition party’s leading player in the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh — State unit president Kamal Nath.

“Justice has been delivered to the families of those who were systematically annihilated by this pogrom organised by the Congress, because an SIT set up by the BJP has brought the culprits to book,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad, flanked by senior Delhi leader and the party’s Sikh face RP Singh while quoting the judgement pronounced by additional sessions judge Ajay Pandey on Tuesday.

Yashpal Singh was sentenced to death and Naresh Sehrawat to life imprisonment for the murder of two Sikh youths Hardev Singh (24) and Avtar Singh (26) in the riots that raged from Delhi to most northern States in the wake of the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

“Now, it is the turn of the two big butchers of Delhi — (Jagdish) Tytler and Sajjan (Kumar) to face the hangman’s noose. The Sikh community also awaits unmasking the role of Gandhi family and other Congress leaders in the execution of the genocide and hopes they also will be proceeded against as per the law,” said Sukhbir Badal.

Infamous statement

The Law Minister demanded to know why the Congress has not officially dissociated from the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s infamous statement — when a “big tree falls, the earth shakes” — on his mother’s assassination and the subsequent riots, a clear gesture of support for the rioters, most of whom were allegedly led by different Congress leaders.

“I want to know whether the Congress still supports Rajiv Gandhi’s statement. Leaving aside the 11 months of VP Singh’s tenure, the Congress has been in power almost successively for 25 years. What have they done to ensure justice for the Sikh community that suffered enormously during the riots,” asked Prasad. Prasad then targeted Kamal Nath, reminding that the Congress leader had to be removed from the post of the party’s general secretary in charge of Punjab because of his alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots.

“Kamal Nath is in the headlines these days. I would like to ask the Congress why he was removed from his post in Punjab if he is innocent,” said Prasad. The Law Minister said the Congress is culpable in the riots during which the party’s top leadership dictated terms to the Delhi police, which looked the other way when the Sikhs were butchered.

Prasad cited innumerable enquiry committee reports purportedly meant to bring the culprits to book but actually were used to cover up the Congress’ role in the riots. “This is what happens when institutions such as the police buckle under political pressure,” said Prasad.

On 2002 riots

To a question about 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat when Narendra Modi was Chief Minister, Prasad said, “All riots are bad. And just so that we are clear, the present Prime Minister was interrogated for three days by an SIT set up by the Supreme Court which later exonerated him.”