Initiating a discussion on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, AAP MLAs in the Delhi Assembly on Thursday hit out against the BJP and the Congress over incidents of communal violence in the country.
Welcoming the Delhi High Court’s decision on Monday to award Congress leader Sajjan Kumar life sentence in the 1984 riots case, the AAP MLAs raised the issue of justice for the victims of the riots.
Starting the discussion, AAP MLA from Greater Kailash, Saurabh Bharadwaj, said Kumar had incited a mob in 1984 after the assassination of the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31 that year. “Kumar told the mob that they [Sikhs] had killed ‘our mother’ and to ‘kill the traitors’...The slogans were the same, the parties and victims changed. It was the same slogan in 1984, in 1993 in Mumbai and in 2002 in Gujarat,” he said.
AAP MLA from Okhla, Amanatullah Khan, added that if the victims of 1984 had got justice sooner, then “1993 and 2002 [riots] would not have happened”.
Another AAP MLA from Kalkaji, Avtar Singh, sought details of the victims of the 1984 riots, saying “We will get some closure when we can know what happened to thousands of the victims. Where were their bodies cremated? Who were the police officials present?”
After several AAP MLAs spoke, the House was adjourned on Thursday. The discussion will be picked up again on Friday.
