Chandigarh, Aug 23 (PTI) Senior Haryana Congress leader Kuldeep Sharma on Sunday wrote to party president Mallikarjun Kharge seeking the removal of Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda from the Congress Working Committee for his remarks “extolling the virtues” of Sajjan Kumar.
Controversial former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who was serving two life sentences in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, died at the age of 80 on Thursday.
Hooda has been facing flak for allegedly calling Kumar a role model and describing his death as an “irreparable loss”, with the SAD, BJP and AAP in Punjab hitting out at the Congress for its “anti-Sikh mindset”.
Sharma, a former speaker of the Haryana Assembly, said Hooda’s remarks reopened the wounds of the Sikh community and could hurt the party’s prospects in poll-bound Punjab.
“Ever since Deepender Hooda, a permanent invitee to the CWC, issued a statement extolling the virtues of Sajjan Kumar, since deceased, as a role model, it has sent shock waves among the Sikh community.
“A few of my Sikh friends from Haryana and Punjab called me to express their resentment over such an irresponsible statement,” Sharma said in his letter to Kharge.
Sharma said after the farmers’ agitation against the since-repealed farm laws, “the Sikh community overwhelmingly voted for the Congress, but the community is having afterthoughts about supporting the party after such a statement”.
“Even the opposition parties are taking up the issue for political gains,” he said.
“Such a statement by Deepender Hooda on the eve of Punjab elections has not only harmed the party’s interests, but has opened the wounds of the Sikh community all over again. It is needless to say that the Congress had disassociated itself from Sajjan Kumar completely,” Sharma wrote.
He added that to heal the wounds, Hooda should be removed from the CWC as his “immature and irresponsible remarks have weakened the Congress, especially in the eyes of the Sikh community, which is very relevant in Punjab that will soon go to polls, and also the Sikh diaspora”.
Sharma and Deepender Hooda’s father and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were once close associates before falling out.
Deepender Hooda on Sunday tried to clarify his remarks, saying he never used the words “role model”, nor was there any such sentiment.
Speaking to reporters in Gurugram, the Rohtak MP said, “I did not use the words, nor did I harbour any such sentiment. These words are being put in my mouth by those who wish to play politics by undermining the spirit of brotherhood.
“As for the Sikh community, people know that we have always stood by them and supported them in every way.” Commenting on the matter, Haryana BJP president Archana Gupta said that clamour is growing within the Congress against Deepender Hooda.
“The demand to remove Deepender Hooda from the CWC has not come from an opposition party, but from a senior leader of the Congress, who wrote to his party leadership,” Gupta said.
“The pain of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots lives on in the memories of thousands of Sikh families. The Congress leadership must clarify what action it intends to take as the issue has now been raised by one of its senior leaders,” she added. PTI SUN ARI
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