A family member of a victim of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots outside the Rouse Avenue Court in New Delhi on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, ahead of the sentencing of the former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar’s conviction and sentencing in connection with two murders during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots has stirred politics in Punjab.
While the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) asked the Congress party’s Punjab leadership to clarify its position on Kumar’s conviction, the BJP attempted to present its ‘pro-Sikh’ image, claiming that it was the Modi government that reopened the probe into the case.
Also Read | Sajjan Kumar, ex-Congress MP, gets life imprisonment in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case
A Delhi court on February 25 awarded life imprisonment to Kumar for the killings of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984.
Seeking answers from the Congress, former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal said: “Even though we were expecting the death penalty for this inhuman crime, still I welcome the Delhi court’s decision to award life imprisonment to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar for his role in the 1984 Sikh massacre in Delhi. The verdict, which has come after 40 years, proved God’s mill grinds slowly but surely.”
“Now the Punjab Congress leadership must clarify its position on Sajjan Kumar’s conviction and the party’s role in the massacre. We also demand a high-level probe into the role of those who shielded Sajjan Kumar and other perpetrators of this organised crime all this while,” he said.
Punjab BJP spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal said justice for Sikhs had come after 40 years. “This case was never even registered under the Congress rule, because they wanted to erase the truth. It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government that formed the Special Investigation Team in 2015, which reopened the investigation and ensured justice was finally delivered.”
Published – February 25, 2025 10:56 pm IST
