SGPC fetes Gen Vaidya assassins

In the backdrop of the recent attack on Lt Gen (retd) KS Brar in London, a controversy of sorts has erupted over the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) honouring the kin of the assassins of former Army Chief Gen AS Vaidya on Wednesday. The cash-rich SGPC manages a majority of Sikh shrines in the country.

Gen Vaidya was in charge of the Operation Bluestar in the year 1984 and was gunned down two years later by Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha in 1986 at his residence in Pune where he settled after his retirement. Following their conviction, both Jinda and Sukha were hanged in 1992.

In a low key affair, the SGPC performed prayers in memory of the two and presented the “holy siropa” to the kin of Jinda and Sukha to mark their death anniversary.  Jinda’s brother and a relative of Sukha were presented the “siropas.” In fact, this is not the first time that such a function has been organised by the SGPC.

The SGPC has been performing a ceremony each year ever since 1993 observing the death anniversary of Jinda and Sukha.

 Sources said a function was also held in Jinda’s Gadli village in the Amritsar district of Punjab. The matter has assumed political overtones as well with the Congress criticising the move.