New Delhi: A controversy has been kicked off over the presence of 1984 anti-Sikh riots accused Jagdish Tytler at the event where Sheila Dikshit took over as Delhi Congress chief.
Tytler who was seen sitting in the front rows has invited accusations against Congress of having “no respect for sentiments of Sikhs” by Akali Dal.
Former Punjab cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia, said," Killing of sikhs in 1984 were not riots but a planned genocide".
He said that it has been more than 30 years when the genocide took place but the Congress has failed to act against its leaders who were involved in the killing of Sikhs."Infact they have always promoted such leaders like Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler who were also defended by Captain Amarinder Singh. I want to question Captain over his defence of these Congress leaders".
Another Shiromani Akali Dal leader Dr Daljit Cheema alleged that the Congress made Tytler sit in the front row which shows that they still back him up. He claimed the Congress is "afraid as it is aware that Tytler and Kamal Nath would also be jailed" in cases related to the anti-Sikh riots.
Tytler, a former Union minister, was named as one of the main accused of the anti-Sikh riots in the report by the Nanavati Commission into the immediate aftermath of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination on October 31, 1984.
Last month, another riot-accused leader Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to life in jail by the Delhi High Court, which cancelled an earlier court order setting him free.