Cutting across the party lines, Punjab’s politicians, including Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, on Monday hailed the conviction of senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in 1984 riots case.

Right from the leaders of the opposition parties, including SAD, BJP, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), leaders from the ruling Congress too joined them in welcoming the Delhi High Court’s verdict awarding life term to the former Congress MP.

Saying that the “justice has finally delivered to the victims”, the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh defended the Gandhi family reiterating that neither the Congress nor Gandhis were involved in the conspiracy, while lashing out at the Badals for dragging their names.

“It is a case of justice finally delivered to the victims of one of the worst instances of communal violence in independent India. The reversal, by the High Court, of the earlier acquittal of Sajjan by a trial court has once again proved that the judiciary in India continues to stand tall as a pillar of the nation’s democratic system,” said the Chief Minister.

Capt Amarinder said that the conviction vindicated the stand he had been taking since those dark days of the violence perpetrated on thousands of innocent Sikhs in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

“I have been naming Sajjan Kumar, along with a few other former Congress leaders including Dharam Das Shastri, HKL Bhagat and Arjun Das, for the past 34 years, based on the information I had personally received from the victims in refugee camps in Delhi during the riots,” said Capt Amarinder, hailing the long-awaited verdict.

Incidentally, Sajjan Kumar was the only surviving former Congress leaders implicated in the riots, as the others had since passed away.

“The name of Sajjan Kumar has repeatedly cropped up in my interactions with the victims in the refugee camps”, said Capt Amarinder, who had last month also welcomed the first death sentence awarded in the 1984 riots case.

Capt Amarinder had, through the years, been calling for the strictest of punishment for the handful of individual Congress leaders who had been involved in instigating the riots. “These leaders, who included Sajjan Kumar, did not have any official party sanction and deserved to be punished for their horrendous crime,” he maintained.

Reiterating his stand that neither the Congress party nor the Gandhi family had any role to play in the rioting, Capt Amarinder lashed out at the Badals for continuing to drag their names into the case at the behest of their political masters – the Bharatiya Janata Party, who were clearly shaken by the clear mandate given by the people to Rahul Gandhi’s leadership in the recent Assembly elections in three states.

“There was no Congress conspiracy behind the violence and the names of the Gandhis did not come up even once during his visits to the refugee camps,” he said adding that it was vested political interests that had been trying to draw the Gandhi family into the controversy and the conspiracy for their personal motivations.

Also welcoming the verdict, Punjab Congress president and Gurdaspur MP Sunil Jakhar said that the party has been clear that whoever was involved in the riots should be brought to justice.

“Yes, justice has been delayed but delivered finally. Nobody is above law and anyone who is involved in such a heinous crime should be brought to justice,” he said outside the Parliament.

Jakhar said that Congress leader Kamal Nath's name never figured in the list of those involved in the riots.

SAD SAYS CONG IN DOCK

SAD MP from Bathinda and the Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Monday demanded action against the Gandhi family for extending political patronage to the perpetrators of 1984 Sikh massacres.

At the same time, she asked the Congress national president Rahul Gandhi to tell why he lied that the Congress was not involved in the genocide.

Thanking “Guru Sahab” for the verdict, Harsimrat said that 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.

“Not only Sajjan, but the entire Congress party has been placed in a dock due to the verdict...Now the courts have also made it clear that justice was denied to the 1984 victims due to political patronage,” she said.

Harsimrat, along with former ministers Bikram Majithia and Daljeet Singh Cheema, said that action should now be taken against the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi who should be questioned about her role as accomplice of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 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,” she added.

Asserting that today’s verdict against Sajjan gave hope to the victims, she 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 the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Majithia said that it was unfortunate that Sajjan was defended in the court by Amit Sibal, who is the son of senior Congresssman and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal. “This apparently can happen only due to personal intervention of the Gandhi family,” he said.

Cheema said that 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.

PRAISING PHOOLKA, AAP SAYS JUSTICE DELAYED BUT SATISFACTORY

Haling Sajjan Kumar’s conviction and appreciating the efforts made by AAP leader and senior lawyer HS Phoolka for the same, the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday said that even though it takes very long time to deliver justice to the victim families, “the decision is satisfactory”.

“It is the outcome of Phoolka’s struggle of 34 years that those responsible for killing innocent Sikhs have to feel the heat,” said Cheema.

Cheema said that the journey to justice was long and tiring as even after formation of seven commissions, the culprits were roaming freely. “Had 1984 riot culprits given punishments at an early stage, the religion or caste based riots happened after that could have been avoided,” he said.

Cheema demanded that the cases related to people with political background must be taken on priority basis so that they cannot be saved by their political bosses using power.

Criticizing Congress, BJP and Akali Dal for protecting the culprits, Cheema said that they were provided security by the government despite their names figured in the FIR. “The other leaders of Congress and BJP, who are responsible for 1984 riots, must also put behind bars,” he said.

Cheema, criticizing senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid for his statement that the party will challenge the decision in Supreme Court, said that rather than sacking such leaders, the Congress is still patronizing them.