1984 anti-Sikh riots: Amarinder Singh should present himself before SC as key witness, says Sukhbir Singh Badal

Chandigarh: Former deputy chief minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday demanded that Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh should present himself as a key witness before the Supreme Court in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and get all the accused convicted. Sukhbir Badal, while addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, said that the Punjab chief minister on the floor of the House had admitted that he visited New Delhi on the day 1984 anti-Sikh riots broke out and was apprised by the people affected in the national capital that HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdas Shastri, Arjun Das allegedly caused the massacre. Badal asserted that the statement by the Chief Minister made him a prime witness in the case. [caption id=“attachment_4293471” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. AFP[/caption] “Captain Amarinder Singh today on the floor of the House said that the day anti-Sikh riots took place, he visited the national capital. This statement of his, makes him a witness. He should present himself before the court and apprise the court. There could be no better witness than him in the case. The Punjab chief minister said, the day riots took place, he landed in Delhi, the situation there was tense. After enquiring, he got to know that HKL Bhagat , Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdas Shastri, Arjun Das have caused the riots,” Sukhbir Badal said. “Captain Sahab should write to the Supreme Court that he is a key witness. Being in a responsible position he should take the necessary step. I will say, we don’t need any more evidence, Captain Sahib’s statement in this connection is more than enough to ensure the conviction of these leaders. He has the highest level of proof. As a true Sikh he needs to approach the court and say that he (Capt. Amarinder Singh) is the main witness,” he added. Raising the issue of Singh not naming his party colleague Jagdish Tytler, the prime accused in the Sikh riots case, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader accused the chief minister of having a soft corner for Tytler. “According to the Punjab Chief Minister, these people (HKL Bhagat , Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdas Shastri, Arjun Das) have caused the riots. But interestingly he did not take Tytler’s name as he has a soft corner for him,” said Sukhbir Badal. He further said, “The other interesting thing Captain sahab said was that all the people he named caused riots in their individual capacity not as Congress leaders. I would like to ask, what is this individual capacity?” The Punjab Assembly Monday witnessed a stormy session over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The chief minister reportedly named five Congress members allegedly involved in the riots, while underscoring that the Congress as a party was not involved in the massacre. Later, addressing a press conference, the chief minister reiterated his comments. “The incident took place when Indiraji was killed, at that time Rajiv Gandhi was at an airport in Bengal. There was no Congress involvement other than some people. I have named few people, Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdas Shastri, Arjun Das and two more people.” Recently the Congress and the BJP got into spat over Congress president Rahul Gandhi's recent remarks denying Congress party's involvement in the riots, while calling it a tragedy.