Chandigarh (Punjab): Urging Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to immediately sack Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Union Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal Tuesday said the Congress party should end its policy of shielding the perpetrators of the 1984 genocide.
“It was shocking that Sonia Gandhi had opted to remain silent after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) decided to reopen a case involving the killing of two Sikhs in Gurdwara Rakabganj in New Delhi in which the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister was accused of leading the mob,” Badal was quoted as saying in a statement.
She added that the silence of Sonia Gandhi as well as the entire Congress party is in line with the continuous shelter and even rewards given to the 1984 massacre culprits by the party.
“It seems Gandhi is also bent on following the same line of protecting the culprits as taken by her son Rahul Gandhi earlier. She has chosen to stand with Kamal Nath, who is accused of leading a mob which attacked Gurdwara Rakabganj by two independent witnesses instead of listening to the voice of the Sikh community which has been fighting for justice in the case for 35 years,” she alleged.
She also said the Congress party had adopted a policy to protect and shelter its leaders who had led mobs which had ransacked Sikh properties and Gurdwaras and indulged in gruesome killings in 1984 after Rajiv Gandhi justified the killings by stating ‘Jab Bada Ped Girta Hai To Dharti Hilti Hai.’
“Rajiv’s son Rahul Gandhi continued this policy as the Congress president by stonewalling the truth by stating that no Congress leader was involved in the mass killings of Sikhs in 1984. Now Sonia Gandhi is continuing with this policy by extending her full support and patronage to Kamal Nath,” the Union Minister said.
Badal said former Indian Express journalist Sanjay Suri, who was a witness to the attack on Gurdwara Rakabganj, said he saw Kamal Nath controlling the mob and that he was present on the spot when the mob charged at the gurdwara, adding that the police force did not try to prevent the mob from indulging in arson and murder. (ANI)
