Arun Jaitley blames Congress for triggering 1984 anti-Sikh riots, praises Modi, Vajpayee governments

A day after a Delhi court awarded death penalty to convict Yashpal Singh and ordered life imprisonment to another, Naresh Sherawat, in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the Congress for instigating violence against the Sikh Community that followed assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. The 1984 anti-Sikh riots left nearly 3,000 people dead and several injured.

In a Facebook post, Jaitley also praised the governments led by Narendra Modi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee for ensuring that those guilty for the 'massacre' were punished in accordance with the law of the land.

Accusing the then Congress government and the Prime Minister's Office of allowing the militancy in Punjab to go unchecked, Jaitley further said that 1984 would always be known as “amongst the worst for Indian governance”.

The Union Minister was referring to several incidents that occurred in 1984, such as the change in Jammu and Kashmir governance Operation Blue Star. Bluestar succeeded in hurting the psyche of India’s most patriotic community. A myopic Government did not consider the political cost of this move,” he added.

“Those, whom the Congress had created to counter the Sikh influence of Akali Dal had gone out of control. The Operation Bluestar proved to be a historic blunder,” Jaitley wrote.

“Congressmen led violent mobs. The Police colluded with them. It did not fire, lathi charge or even teargas the mobs. The rioters were given a free hand to kill and loot. Places of worship of the Sikh community were damaged. Sikh houses were burnt. Their trade establishments were looted. Thousands of innocents, men, women and children were burnt, were mutilated. The Police did not even register the First Information Reports,” he said.

Jaitley recounted how the first NDA Government led by Atal Bihar Vajpayee appointed the Justice G.T. Nanavati Commission of Enquiry for probing the violence. He further pointed out that the Narendra Modi Government appointed a Special Investigative Team (SIT) in 2015 which was headed by Justice G.P. Mathur, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court.

The finance minister also added that the case in which Delhi Court recently convicted two people, sentencing one of them to death was prosecuted after decades by this SIT.

Arun Jaitley further said that though success has been achieved in one case, the Indian society and particularly the Sikh community wants a closure of the horrible memories of 1984.