The Akali Dal has asked the Congress president to apologise for the party’s role in the riots, while the AAP has challenged him to a debate.
Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are set to take on the Congress-led Punjab government in the assembly over Rahul Gandhi’s “clean chit” to the party for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
House proceedings for the three-day monsoon session, which began Friday, resume Monday afternoon.
Interacting with British parliamentarians in London Friday, the Congress president had said that although the anti-Sikh riots were a “tragedy”, he did not agree with the belief that the Congress was involved.
The riots were triggered by the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Rahul’s grandmother, by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984. It was meant to avenge Operation Bluestar, a crackdown on Khalistani separatists inside the Golden Temple, earlier that year.
Also read: Congress was involved in 1984 anti-Sikh riots – I saw & reported it.
Various accounts of the riots, including reporters’, have suggested Congress leaders instigated the violence.
Addressing a press conference Saturday, SAD president and former deputy chief minister Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal demanded a formal apology from Rahul for his party’s involvement in the anti-Sikh riots.
“Rahul Gandhi should go to the Darbar Sahib, bow his ahead and seek forgiveness for what his family and party did,” said Badal.
He added that Rahul should take the lead in getting justice for those killed in the massacre.
Senior AAP leader and MLA Harinder Singh Phoolka, who has been fighting for justice for the victims as an advocate, challenged Rahul “to an open debate about the involvement of his father (late PM Rajiv Gandhi) and the Congress in the 1984 Sikh genocide”.
Faced with growing criticism, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh Sunday sought to defend Rahul, saying the Congress “as a party” was not involved though individual leaders might have been.
Lashing out at Badal for the “unwarranted” attack on his party chief, Singh added that any individual involved in the riots should be hanged “irrespective of his/her political affiliations”.
“To blame the entire party for the acts of a few was preposterous and typical of the political immaturity of Sukhbir,” the CM added.
Singh said Rahul’s comments needed to be seen in context with his earlier statements on the riots, wherein he himself had named some Congressmen involved.
A joint opposition
The issue has united the opposition against the Congress, setting the stage for a stormy session the ruling party had not expected. So far, the treasury benches were sure the “fractured” AAP would not be able to pose any danger in the assembly, and saw an inquiry into the emotive issue of Guru Granth Sahib desecration as a weapon to corner the Akalis.
The report of the Justice Ranjit Singh commission, set up in April 2017 to look into cases involving the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib and other holy scriptures in Punjab in 2015, is expected to be tabled in the house Monday. The panel also inquired into the circumstances that led to the killing of two Sikh protesters in police firing in October 2015 during a demonstration against the desecrations.
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The panel has reportedly compiled a 200-page indictment of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda in the desecration. The report also suggests the then ruling SAD granted a pardon to the dera following an alleged deal between Badal and dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan, who is now in jail on charges of rape.
The desecration issue and the killing of the Sikh protesters had snowballed into a major election issue ahead of the 2017 polls, and political pundits credit it as the single most significant reason for the SAD’s loss.
The report of the commission was submitted to the chief minister on 30 June. Its findings are likely to be further investigated by the CBI, the CM had said at the time.