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No clean chit to Tytler in riots case: Amarinder

'It is for investigating agencies, courts to probe and decide'
Last Updated 09 May 2016, 04:28 IST

Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday clarified that it was wrong to say that he had ever defended or given a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler for his alleged involvement in the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi in 1984.

“It is for the investigating agencies and courts to probe and decide”, he said. Capt Amarinder was interacting with Punjabi NRIs who had gathered at Hotel Hilton in New York last night. Replying to another question, Capt Singh said he had never said that the Sikhs should forget 1984. “How can I ask anyone to forget 1984 when I myself resigned from the Parliament and my party to protest what happened at that time?”

“Sikhs can never forget what happened in 1984 and it will always remain etched in our memory”, he asserted, while pointing out, “we have suffered so many massacres in past and they are all part of our history and so is 1984.”

 At the same time Capt Amarinder added that it does not serve any purpose to rake up the issue during every election. Referring to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, he asked, "Why does Badal recall 1984, only during the election days and never before or after that?”

The senior Congress leader supported the demand of several NRIs that there should be no blacklist and nobody should be barred from visiting the country of his roots.

The former Chief Minister said the Akalis had "brutally victimised" and persecuted the NRIs by slapping false cases on them so that they are not able to visit Punjab.

 “We will review all the cases pending against NRIs and ensure that no person facing investigation is arrested”, he said.

To a question as why he did not name Bikram Singh Majithia as an accused in the supply of drugs in Punjab, Capt Amarinder made it categorically clear that he was committed under oath on the holy Book that he will finish drugs from Punjab within four weeks. “And whosoever is found involved, whether Majithia or anybody else, he will face the strictest punishment”, he assured.

“By the way who jailed Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal and rest assured, if need be I will do it again?”

The function was organised by the Punjab Chapter of the Indian Overseas Congress, United States.

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(Published 09 May 2016, 04:28 IST)

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