Parties raking up ’84 riots issue for votes: Arvinder Singh Lovely

 

New Delhi: Accusing rival parties of politicising the 1984 anti-Sikh riots issue, Delhi Congress today said the AAP's move to order an SIT probe was aimed at wooing the community ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

"We welcome all inquiries into the 1984 Sikh riots. But don't order a probe just for vote-bank politics; don't ask for votes based on '84," Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely said.

Representational image. Reuters

"We also want strict punishment for those involved in the riots. But parties are raking up this issue currently for the Sikh votes," Lovely said, adding if the parties are genuinely concerned about justice for the victims, then they must keep the issue alive even after elections.

Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government had on Wednesday decided on a probe by an SIT into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, two days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said some partymen were probably involved in the violence but were punished, in an interview to a televison channel.

Lovely accused Kejriwal of raking up the issue only after Rahul mentioned it in his interview. "In his speech in the Delhi Assembly on his first day, Kejriwal did not mention a single word about the Sikh community. It is only after Rahul Gandhi's interview that he has taken this step," he said, at a function organised by the Punjabi Industrial Society, which also attended by former DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna among others.

Lovely hailed Congress president Sonia Gandhi's decision to appoint Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, as Prime Minister after the 2004 elections.

"No other party will ever think of choosing a prime ministerial candidate from a minority community," he said. Lovely also alleged that 49 FIRs were registered against people close to RSS, but "in these 30 years not even one BJP
member has apologised for it".

Lovely also batted for granting of minority status to the community under Article 25 after the Centre accorded the same to Jain community last week.

He asked Sarna to prepare a memorandum which would be presented to Rahul Gandhi.

PTI