New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) Several party leaders, including Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav, were among the hundreds gathered at Talkatora Stadium here on Saturday for a condolence meet held for former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who died at 80 last week.
He was serving a life sentence in cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The Congress leader died at a Delhi hospital on August 20 and was cremated at Nigam Bodh Ghat the following day.
The condolence meet was attended by several political leaders from Delhi and neighbouring states, and representatives of social and religious outfits, according to a statement issued by Kumar’s family, which organised the meet.
Kumar’s son Jagpravesh Kumar, who addressed the gathering, said he would continue to raise public issues and serve people, inspired by his father.
Earlier in the day, BJP president Nitin Nabin summoned three party MPs from Delhi — Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Yogender Chandolia — and expressed his displeasure over their visit to Kumar’s residence to offer condolences after his demise, a party source said.
BJP leader and senior Supreme Court advocate HS Phoolka hailed Nabin for taking a strong stand on the matter.
“Grateful to Nitin Nabin for taking a strong stance on the issue,” Phoolka said on X.
“BJP has fought for this issue as their own for 40 years,” he added in an apparent reference to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Phoolka had on Friday condemned the three party MPs for their visit to Kumar’s residence, calling for their boycott.
The BJP has been targeting the Congress for years over the role of its leaders in the 1984 riots.
Sajjan Kumar was sentenced by the Delhi High Court to life imprisonment in December 2018 for the killing of five Sikhs and the burning of a gurdwara during the 1984 riots.
In February 2025, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court in another case concerning the killing of two Sikh men.
Kumar resigned from the Congress following his 2018 conviction.
He was brought to Safdarjung Hospital from Tihar jail on August 20 after developing an altered sensorium. Despite resuscitation and life-support measures, he died at 12.30 pm, according to the hospital.
The hospital said Kumar had a history of high blood pressure and Parkinson’s disease and had been admitted several times in the past.
The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear his plea seeking three weeks’ parole on medical grounds in connection with his ailing wife on the day of his death, but the matter did not come up for hearing.
Kumar entered politics as a municipal councillor from Nangloi and later became general secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Outer Delhi in 1980, 1991 and 2004.
Anti-Sikh riots broke out in 1984 following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31 that year.
Thousands of people were killed across the country, with Delhi among the worst-hit. PTI MSJ VN VN
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