No need of SIT for Nov. 1984 cases: Parkash S. Badal; Kejriwal should first refute Congress support for Delhi Govt.: Sukhbir Badal

New Delhi, India (January 30, 2014): Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has a different stand on Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal’s efforts for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe cases related to November 1984 Sikh massacre.

Senior Badal, who has been critical towards successive Congress governments for failure to take action against culprits of November 1984 Sikh massacre, has reportedly rejected a demand by his Delhi counterpart for setting up a SIT.

Addressing the media in Goniana village in Muktsar district Parkash Singh Badal said there was “hardly any need for it (SIT probe) as several earlier high level inquiries conducted on the matter have pointed towards the role of Congress leaders in this planned mass massacre of Sikhs”.

He said the “need of the hour was to take exemplary action against the Congress leaders involved in this dastardly act so that succour could be provided to the victim families”.

It was time to give justice to the victims instead of setting up another SIT, he said.

On the other hand Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal has challenged the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi, asking them to refuse the support of “guilty” Congress to prove their sincerity in demanding an SIT probe into the November 1984 massacre.

SAD (Badal) president Sukhbir Singh Badal reportedly said AAP must “go beyond playing to the gallery” in their demand for the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the riots.

Asking for a probe against the Congress role and accepting support form the same party for staying in power looks a contradiction in itself, Junior Badal reportedly said in a statement.

It must be remembered that Sukhbir Badal’s own party Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) terms it to be permanent ally of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Badal Dal has been extending unconditional support to BJP while BJP’s Hindutva agenda rejects the distinct identity of Sikhs. Moreover, BJP’s term in center was no different from that of Congress party governments so far as the matter of denial of justice to the victims of November 1984 is concerned.

BJP’s senior leader L. K. Advani, in his auto-biography “My Country My Life”, maintained that it was BJP leadership that pressed then Congress President and PM of India Indira Gandhi to launch armed attack on Darbar Sahib (Amritsar) and other Sikh Gurdwaras in June 1984.

Given the faulty position of Badal Dal, Sukhbir Badal lacks any moral grounds to ask Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to refuse external support extended to it by the Congress party in Delhi Assembly. It may be recalled that AAP is running a ‘minority government’ in Delhi with external support of Congress party as no party was able to get clear majority in last assembly elections held in last December.