Asserting that no one involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots will be spared, Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal on Monday promised to set up fast track courts to try cases and ensure justice to victims of these riots.
Releasing the party’s manifesto here, Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that a commission of inquiry will be set up under a Supreme Court judge to “inquire into the entire political conspiracy behind the massacre and expose and punish the real conspirators.”
“The scope of the commission will also cover the entire sequence of events to bring to book those who shielded the guilty after the conspiracy of mass murders had been meticulously executed. No one will be spared,” declared Mr. Badal, also the Punjab deputy chief minister.
The manifesto also promises the setting up of fast track courts to try cases and ensure justice for the victims of the 1984 massacre.
“There will be four-dimensional approach to ensure speedy and total justice in these case cases. These fast track courts to try on-going cases. Cases that have been closed will be re-opened and challans presented. Complaints on which no action has been taken will be reactivated,” Mr. Badal said.
The Akali Dal, which has been running an alliance government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab since 2007, is an integral part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Hundreds of Sikhs were killed in riots in Delhi and other places following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence.
The Akali Dal manifesto also promised an economic package for Punjab with 100 per cent waiver of central excise and income tax for industry.
While promising to scale up the industrial and IT sectors, it has promised incentives, including crop insurance, for Punjab’s farmers.
All 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab go to polls April 30. The main contest is between the ruling Akali Dal-BJP combine and the Congress. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also fielded its candidates in Punjab this time.
