Amarinder names 4 Cong leaders ‘involved’ in 1984 riots

Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has said that people who were staying in the camps after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots had named some individual Congress leaders including HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar, Arjan Das and Dharamdas Shastri for their alleged ‘involvement’.

He said, on his visit to the affected areas and the camps in the aftermath of the riots, the situation had been bad and bodies of victims could be seen rotting on the roads. He said he has already revealed these names before the public.

The CM added that he has been naming these people for the past almost 34-years.

The CM however categorically reiterated on the floor of the house in the Punjab assembly that the Congress was not connected with the 1984 riots and any involvement of a few Congress leaders could have been only at an individual level.

He strongly reacted to SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia’s statement in the Vidhan Sabha on the issue, saying the former minister must have been in a pram when the riots took place and had no knowledge about the issue at all.

Majithia raised the issue of Rahul Gandhi’s recent statement on the 1984 riots where he had said that the Congress was not involved in the riots. A pint was raised to expunge the names of those cited by the CM, but Capt said there was no need to expunge the names as these members had been in public debate for the past 34 years and had already been exposed in the public eye.