Chandigarh, Nov 4 The BJP on Wednesday demanded an apology from the Nehru-Gandhi family for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, with several speakers at the day-long ‘Zakhm 84 De’ conclave here describing the Sikh massacre as a “premeditated conspiracy orchestrated by the Congress”.
The ‘Zakhm 84 De’ (wounds of 1984) conclave was aimed at bringing people face-to-face with what the organisers described as the “horrifying truth” of the massacre.
The speakers at the conference also questioned the failure to deliver justice over the past 42 years and the repeated attempts to shield those responsible. Across six sessions, victims and other speakers said that instead of healing their wounds, the Congress had “repeatedly reopened them”.
The rallies organised in Delhi on November 1 and in Sangrur on November 4 were cited as the latest examples.
The conclave came days after the BJP questioned the Congress’ moral authority to organise the rally on November 1, alleging that the party had not answered for the violence that erupted following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
The BJP said it held the conclave to bring together survivors, eyewitnesses, legal experts and political leaders to discuss the circumstances surrounding the massacre, alleged conspiracy, legal battles and rehabilitation of victims.
The conclave began with the inauguration of an exhibition on the 1984 Sikh massacre by Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon and the party’s national general secretary and Punjab in-charge Satish Poonia. Former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was also present.
Prasad lashed out at Rahul Gandhi over the Sikh massacre.
He said it was the BJP government which formed a special investigation team in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that sent many of those who were responsible for the massacre behind bars.
“I have to ask some questions to Rahul Gandhi, who is visiting Punjab today. On October 31, 1984, the Sikh genocide took place. Your late father, Rajiv Gandhi, had said: When a big tree falls, the earth shakes,” Prasad, who is also a Lok Sabha MP, said.
“Rahul Gandhi, you must answer whether you consider this comment given by your late father right or wrong. You should reply honestly,” he added.
Asking the second question from the Congress, Prasad said former prime minister Manmohan Singh had once apologised in the Parliament.
“I was there, but no action was taken because Singh did not have any power, which lay with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Have they (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi) ever apologised for the Sikh genocide?
“Today, I would like to say this very clearly and categorically Mr Rahul Gandhi, you justified this also in London that the Congress party was not involved. Will you apologise?” he asked.
Condemning what he described as four decades of institutional “cover-ups”, Prasad said that the Congress had consistently followed the policy of “delaying, diverting and denying” justice.
Referring to the successive commissions constituted over the years, he said the Congress had never been genuinely committed to securing justice for the victims.
Senior advocate and BJP leader H S Phoolka recalled the prolonged struggle to secure justice for the victims of the 1984 Sikh massacre.
He said that progress was made during the V P Singh government, while the struggle subsequently witnessed years of stagnation. During the Vajpayee government, the Nanavati Commission recommended the registration of cases against Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, he said.
Phoolka said that legal proceedings gained momentum during the Narendra Modi government, resulting in life imprisonment for Sajjan Kumar and convictions in other cases as well. According to him, the case against Tytler is still ongoing, while action against Kamal Nath remains pending.
Exposing how the justice system was systematically undermined, former Delhi High Court judge Justice Shiv Narayan Dhingra (retd) said that the 1984 Sikh massacre was a planned massacre carried out under government patronage.
The criminal trials that followed under successive Congress regimes were executed like a “fraud” on the nation’s conscience, he claimed.
He said, “In 1984, mobs from resettlement colonies were mobilised, armed and handed specific lists to target Sikh households. The state machinery and our inherited colonial legal apparatus completely gave in.”
Justice Dhingra explained how administrative, police and judicial institutions had systematically worked to protect those accused of the massacre.
During the second session, victims of the massacre shared horrifying accounts of the atrocities committed against them. The atmosphere turned deeply emotional, with both the speakers on stage and members of the audience breaking down in tears.
Addressing the gathering, Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon paid tributes to the victim families present at the venue.
He said, “A society that forgets its past also forgets its future. We have neither forgotten 1984 nor will we ever allow it to be forgotten.
“While Rahul Gandhi is holding rallies in Sangrur and speaking about ‘justice’ for a political show, the people of Punjab know that justice can never come from those responsible for inflicting these wounds,” Dhillon said.
Atma Singh Lubana, Bibi Nirpreet Kaur, Darshan Kaur, Satpal Kaur, Sonia Kaur, Jagsher Singh and several other survivors shared their personal experiences and challenged Rahul Gandhi to an open debate.
A photographic exhibition at the conference documented the horrific killings, arson, looting and destruction witnessed during the 1984 Sikh massacre.
Large display panels featuring archival black-and-white photographs accompanied by captions in Punjabi brought the events of 1984 before the younger generation.
The photographs depicted Sikh homes and shanties being set ablaze in Trilokpuri, Sikh-owned shops being torched in Connaught Place and scenes of devastation across the streets of Delhi.
(PTI News)
