Chandigarh, December 17 – Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today demanded action be taken against the Gandhi family for extending political patronage to the perpetrators of the 1984 Sikh massacres as enumerated by the Delhi high court while convicting family loyalist Sajjan Kumar in a case of mass murder, even as she asked Congress President Rahul Gandhi to tell why he lied that the Congress was not involved in the genocide.
Addressing a press conference here along with senior SAD leaders Bikram Singh Majithia and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema in the aftermath of the Delhi high court judgement against Sajjan Kumar, the union minister thanked “Guru Sahab” for the verdict even as she said it was also made possible due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to reopen old cases which had been closed by the Congress and constitution of a SIT to investigate them afresh.
Stating that not only Sajjan, but the entire Congress party had put placed in a dock due to the verdict, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said “now the courts have also made it clear that justice was denied to the 1984 victims due to political patronage”. She said action should now be taken against UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi who should be questioned about her role as accomplice of former PM Rajiv Gandhi in the 1984 massacres. “Similarly Rahul Gandhi should also tell the people why he lied some months back that the Congress party did not have any role in the 1984 genocide”.
Asserting that today’s verdict against Sajjan gave hope to the victims; Mrs Badal said “I am hopeful that Jagdish Tytler and Kamal Nath will also meet the same fate soon”. She also castigated the Congress for continuing to patronize Kamal Nath by nominating him as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.
Mrs Badal also thanked the honourable High Court for the historic verdict saying people’s faith in the judicial process had been further strengthened. She said the wheels of justice, which were moved by former PM AB Vajpayee and the Nanavati Commission, had been stalled by repeated Congress governments who had protected the accused. “The SAD raised this issue with PM Narendra Modi in 2014 and formed the SIT which reopened old cases leading to the conviction of two accused Naresh Yadav and Yashpal in one of the 1984 cases”.
Asserting that she had seen the 1984 tragedy up close and was lucky to survive unscathed, Mrs Badal said she could understand the grief of the widows who were waiting for justice even now 34 years after the tragedy. “I have worked in the refugee camps as a young girl trying to reunite families torn apart by the tragedy. I even chose to speak on this issue during my maiden speech in parliament”.
Speaking on the occasion, Bikram Majithia said it was unfortunate that Sajjan was defended in court by Amit Sibal, the son of senior Congresssman Kapil Sibal. “This apparently can happen only due to personal intervention of the Gandhi family”. Senior leader Dr Daljit Cheema said it was his personal opinion that now that the courts had accused the Congress party of patronizing the accused the Election Commission should derecognize the party immediately.
