Shortly after the sentencing of Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, the Government and the BJP on Monday targeted the Congress, saying no one had any doubt on the Opposition party’s role in the riots and alleged that the Congress and its ruling Gandhi family were involved in a “cover-up”.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also took a swipe at the opposition party for choosing Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister, claiming that Sikhs consider him “culpable” in the violence against the community. And BJP president
Amit Shah alleged Congress “leaders and workers went on rampage raising provocative slogans” and “murdering men in cold blood”.
Jaitley dubbed Kumar, who was convicted by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 riots case and sentenced him to imprisonment for life, a “symbol” of the anti-Sikh “genocide” and said the country had never seen murders on a bigger scale than this.
The decision may be delayed but at least the process of justice has started, he said, hoping that there will be more verdicts as many cases are being heard on a day to day basis. “It is an irony that the verdict has come on a day when a Congress chief minister, who is held culpable by the Sikh community, is taking oath,” Jaitley told reporters in an apparent reference to Nath.
Shah said victims of 1984 riots had lost all hope of justice because those responsible for crime against them enjoyed political patronage of Congress leadership, Shah alleged in his tweets.
The Delhi High Court’s conviction of Sajjan Kumar has once again assured the victims that criminals of 1984 will not go scot free, he asserted.
“No one ever had any doubt on Congress’ role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Their leaders and workers went on rampage raising provocative slogans, raping women and murdering men in cold blood. Yet no one was ever punished despite multiple commissions and several eyewitnesses,” Shah said.
The BJP chief thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for setting up an SIT in 2015 which, he said, started re-investigation into several cases of 1984 pending for over three decades.
“I am grateful to the court, which has delivered its judgment, bringing relief to the traumatised families,” he added.
