The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in Punjab has launched State-wide protests against the former Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Amritsar, Captain Amarinder Singh, for denying the role of his party colleague Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Mr. Singh, in an interview to a television channel, said: “I am not the CBI, I am not the court. I am telling you what I saw and felt. I was in Delhi and went to all the camps and everyone I met took all these names I have told you, except Jagdish Tytler. When did Jagdish Tytler’s name come up? It came up when he was fighting Madanlal Khurana in Delhi and that was months later.”
The comment triggered uproar in Punjab and Delhi with SAD-BJP workers staging protests outside Congress offices on Monday.
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The Akalis have planned more protests in Amritsar, Ludhiana and other parts of the State on Tuesday.
Clarifying his comment on Monday, Mr. Singh said his words were being distorted by the Akalis as they were “badly losing across Punjab and Amritsar.”
“I have been saying this about Tytler for last 30 years but the Akalis and the BJP are protesting now,” he said.
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Mr. Singh’s main rival in Amritsar, Arun Jaitley of the BJP, wrote in his blog, “It is for the investigating and judicial process to find the truth ...”