News Analysis India

Tag: 1984 riots

  • Punjab polls: Ajay Maken in top Congress post irks Amarinder, Akalis

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: Amarinder Singh today lashed out at the Congress high command for appointing Ajay Maken as the Chairman of the Screening Committee for shortlisting candidates for the 2022 assembly elections in Punjab. Maken is nephew of Lalit Maken, who was one of the main culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. 

    Amarinder said that the Congress could not have nominated a worst person than Maken, at a time when the central government is moving ahead with prosecution of another culprit, Sajjan Kumar, while the Congress is rewarding the Makens and that too in Punjab, thus rubbing salt into Punjabis’ wounds.

    “The Congress party should have avoided naming someone like Maken, as the name itself draws derision and revulsion in Punjab for the involvement of his late uncle in the anti-Sikh riots where innocent victims were burnt alive to death”, the former chief minister said, while adding, even otherwise Maken was not qualified enough to head the Screening Committee with veteran leaders like Ambika Soni and Sunil Jakhar being kept under him.

    The Shiromani Akali Dal also questioned his appointment and said that it indicated the concern that the Gandhi family and the Congress high command have for the Sikhs and their sentiments Maken, who is the Congress general secretary, was appointed the chairman of the screening committee for the shortlisting of candidates for the Punjab Assembly polls.

    Singh also dubbed Maken a “failed politician”, saying under him the party lost two successive Assembly polls in Delhi.

    “Maken is the nephew of Lalit Maken, who was one of the main culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. The Congress could not have nominated a worse person than Maken for the job,” the former chief minister said in a statement.

    Singh said while the Centre is going ahead with the “prosecution of another culprit, Sajjan Kumar, the Congress is rewarding the Makens and that too in Punjab, thus rubbing salt into Punjabis’ wounds”.

    “The Congress should have avoided naming someone like Maken as the name itself draws derision and revulsion in Punjab for the involvement of his late uncle in the anti-Sikh riots where innocent victims were burnt alive to death,” he said.

    Reacting to Maken’s appointment, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a statement said, “This is a true indicator of the concern that the Gandhi family and the Congress high command have for the Sikhs and their sentiments.”

    Asking the Congress what message it was sending to the Sikh community by making Maken the chairman of the committee, he claimed that the party was bent upon spoiling communal peace in Punjab by resorting to such appointments.

    “It is clear that the Gandhi family is following its age-old policy of divide and rule by deliberately inflaming passions and creating a wedge among different sections of society,” the SAD leader alleged.

    Majithia also expressed surprise that neither Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi nor his deputy Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa or state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had objected to Maken’s appointment.

    Singh, meanwhile, claimed that Maken was not qualified enough to head the screening committee with veteran leaders like Ambika Soni and Sunil Jakhar under him.

    He claimed that Maken had presided over two successive defeats of the party in the Delhi Assembly elections, drawing back-to-back blanks.

    “With someone who has presided over the virtual wiping out of the party in Delhi, now being handed over the job in Punjab, the fate of the party can be anybody’s guess,” he said.

    “After ensuring that the Congress gets zero seats in two successive elections in Delhi in 2014 and 2019, he has now been dispatched to ensure that the same feat is achieved in Punjab as well,” Singh said.

    The former chief minister said this clearly indicates that the Congress has admitted to defeat before the elections by appointing “a failed politician”, who lost the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, losing even his deposit in the Vidhan Sabha.

    Singh was forced to resign as the Punjab chief minister amid a power tussle with Sidhu.

    He floated his own party Punjab Lok Congress to fight the elections.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • NCM seeks reports from several states on relief steps taken for 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Thirty-seven years after the horrific 1984 anti-Sikh riots claimed thousands of lives, some survivors of the communal violence are yet to receive relief measures announced by the government, the National Commission for Minorities has observed and sought reports from several states in the matter.

    “Though several relief packages were announced by the Government of India and state governments, there are several instances where the relief measures announced have not reached those families. Despite 37 years having elapsed since 31 October 1984, these cases are still lingering,” NCM chairperson Iqbal Singh Lalpura stated, in a communication sent to eight states/Union territories. 

    Delhi, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have been directed to submit reports to the commission and provide “details of the riot victims [in their states], compensation that has been provided so far and the action taken against criminals in each and every case.”

    The NCM passed the order after having received various representations in this regard, the minorities’ panel said. The Commission said it has taken the initiative to ensure that justice delayed is not denied.

    “The 1984 anti-Sikh riots are a dark spot in the country’s history wherein thousands of innocent persons belonging to the Sikh community were brutally massacred, dislocated and harassed physically emotionally and also destroyed economically,” the commission stated as it directed concerned officials of the states to submit detailed reports in the matter.

  • 1984 riots: SC refuses to grant interim bail to ex-MP Sajjan Kumar

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday refused to grant interim bail sought on health grounds to former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who is serving life imprisonment in an 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, saying as per the medical records his condition is stable and improving.

    The apex court, which dealt with the submission advanced by Kumar’s counsel that the former MP be allowed to undergo treatment at a private hospital at his own cost, observed that he cannot be treated as a “super VIP patient”.

    “You are feeling he is the only patient in the country to be examined. He is one of the patients,” a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M M Sundresh told the counsel representing Kumar.

    Observing that Kumar was accused of “heinous crime”, the bench further said, “You want him to be treated as some kind of a super VIP patient. That is what is happening.”

    At the outset, Kumar’s counsel referred to the medical records and said he was examined by the doctors at a government hospital here and the report says his condition has improved and he needed few more days of hospital care.

    The counsel said the doctors have not given any conclusion about the diagnosis of the problem and Kumar has lost about 18 kg weight.

    He said 75-year-old Kumar was earlier treated by a doctor at a private hospital and he could be treated there, even being in custody, at his own cost.

    “No. Sorry. He is being looked after here,” the bench said.

    When his counsel argued that he was only making a request considering that the man should not die, the bench observed, “You are making a very large statement. Who can guarantee that except the almighty.”

    The bench observed that a picture was portrayed before it that something is very wrong but as per the medical reports, these are age related ailments.

    “Merely because he has been, in his time, some high-profile person, does not entitle him to keep coming every time to the court on these issues,” the bench observed.

    The top court noted in its order that the medical report says that Kumar was examined and a medical board was also constituted.

    It noted that as per the report, “his condition is stated to be stable and imporving but he needs some more day of hospital care.”

    The bench said it is not inclined to issue a direction that he must be taken to the private hospital for treatment but if the medical authorities attending to him consider the necessity of consulting the doctor or his examination there, it is open for them to do the needful.

    Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the complainant in the matter, said there are experts at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and it is fully equipped.

    The bench observed that today, people are consulting doctors at USA and all over the world through virtual mode or use of technology and Kumar seems to have faith in the doctor, who had treated him earlier.

    Kumar’s counsel said that regular bail plea of the former MP is pending before the apex court.

    On August 24, the top court had directed the CBI to verify the medical condition of Kumar and file an affidavit.

    In September last year, the apex court had dismissed Kumar’s plea seeking interim bail on health grounds.

    Kumar is serving life imprisonment after the Delhi High Court had convicted him and others in the case on December 17, 2018.

    The high court had reversed the acquittal of Kumar by the trial court in 2013 in the case related to killings of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar Part-I area in Palam Colony in southwest Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.

    The riots had broken out after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards.

    In its verdict, the high court had convicted and sentenced Kumar to imprisonment for “remainder of his natural life” in the case saying the riots were a “crime against humanity” perpetrated by those who enjoyed “political patronage” and aided by an “indifferent” law enforcement agency.

  • 1984 anti-Sikh riots: SC refuses to grant interim bail on health grounds to Sajjan Kumar

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the plea of former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who is serving life imprisonment in an 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, seeking interim bail on health grounds.

    The apex court perused the medical records of Kumar and observed that he has been examined by doctors at a government hospital here and his condition is stated to be stable and improving.

    A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M M Sundresh said it is not inclined to grant him bail on medical grounds.

    The 75-year-old Kumar is serving life imprisonment after the Delhi High Court had convicted him and others in the case on December 17, 2018.

    The high court had reversed the acquittal of Kumar by the trial court in 2013 in the case related to killings of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part-I area in Palam Colony in southwest Delhi on November, 1984, and burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.

    The riots had broken out after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards.

  • ‘Highly condemnable and fabricated’: SGPC demands ban on ‘Grahan’ web series on 1984 anti-Sikh riots

    By PTI
    AMRITSAR: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur has demanded that ‘Grahan’ web series based on the incidents of the 1984 riots be banned immediately as it portrays a Sikh character in an “objectionable manner”.

    She demanded that the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry should ban the series, which is scheduled to be released on Disney+Hotstar platform on June 24.

    Addressing the press conference here on Monday, Kaur said, “A Sikh character has been portrayed in an objectionable manner in a web series called ‘Grahan’ based on the 1984 Sikh genocide. In the web series, the charge of Sikh genocide is being levelled against a Sikh character which is highly condemnable and fabricated.”

    “A legal notice has been sent by a witness of the genocide Nirpreet Kaur to Ajay G Rai, producer of ‘Grahan’ web series and Sunil Ryan, head and president of Disney+Hotstar. The SGPC also supports this notice,” she said.

    SGPC president Kaur said, “Through this web series, work is being done to rub salt on the wounds of Sikhs which would hurt the Sikh sentiments. Such films also hurt the communal harmony in society. Therefore, the government should enact strict Information Technology (IT) rules to curb such sensitive and objectionable trends.”

    Kaur demanded from the Government of India that it should include Sikh representatives in the Censor board so that controversial scenes related to Sikhs and the Sikh faith could be removed in any film.

    The SGPC president warned the ‘Grahan’ producer and the head of Disney+Hotstar that if the objectionable web series is released, legal action would be taken against them by the SGPC as well.

    Meanwhile, Bibi Jagir Kaur has strongly condemned the construction of a replica model of Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib in a park near Punjabi Bagh in Delhi.

    She said the Sikhs could never tolerate a replica of the Golden temple anywhere in the world.

    Kaur said, “When this issue came to light, I was in regular contact with the president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) Manjinder Singh Sirsa since yesterday. Today, the DSGMC in support of the Delhi Sangat has immediately removed the replica of Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib.”

    Kaur said, “With such actions, some people are deliberately trying to provoke the Sikh sentiments. Such acts cannot be tolerated and should be stopped immediately. Strict action should be taken against the culprits so that no one could play with the Sikh sentiments.”

    Kaur said about two months ago on April 7, 2021, the SGPC had written a letter to Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey about the alleged hate-filled tweets by some users against Sikhs in India and abroad.

    But the SGPC has neither received any response from Twitter nor any action as yet, she claimed.

    Kaur further said, “The threats to repeat the 1984 genocide of Sikhs on social media platforms are common which spoil the atmosphere and has created a lot of resentment in the minds of Sikhs.

    But no action was ever taken against those who spread hatred against the Sikhs.

    “Such hate propaganda has increased by many folds after the farm agitation was launched against three farm laws passed last year and many Sikh organisations including the SGPC supported the same.”

    She said the support to farmers’ agitation irritated certain elements in India and their supporters abroad.

    “We all know about this certain lobby and how it works in an organised and very vicious way. There has never been any legal action against those indulging in hate-filled propaganda against Sikhs and the utterly communal and anti-Sikh elements multiplied their efforts after the farm agitation”, said Kaur.