Indian Parliament forced to discuss Genocide of Sikhs
New Revelation: CBI has asked for govt nod to prosecute Tytler, Sajjan Kumar
NEW DELHI: Shamed into making a statement on the floor of the Parliament after an Independent Sikh MP, Tarlochan Singh, pressed a Calling Attention Motion in Rajya Sabha, the Indian Government conceded that 25 years after the anti-Sikh massacres in Delhi and elsewhere, the CBI has actually sought permission for prosecution of Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar for their role in the genocidal killings. India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram was pushed into making the statement after a groundswell of raging storm on the issue following CBI's earlier determined efforts to let Tytler, a former Union Minister, off the hook, a move that had enraged a Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh to fling a shoe across his face at a press conference, triggering massive anger among the Sikhs against Congress.
Chidambaram tried to duck the responsibility by claiming that not he but Delhi's Lt. Governor Tejendra Khanna was the "competent authority to take a decision" on the CBI's plea for prosecution but did not touch the political aspect of the debate as to why the Congress was repeatedly giving top positions in the party and government over the years to leaders accused of leading blood thirsty mobs and instigating and carrying out killings of Sikhs.
Tytler was forced to resign from the earlier Manmohan Singh government after a government-appointed Commission found his involvement in the pogrom of Sikhs.
Tarlochan Singh minced no words in comparing the genocide of the Sikhs to the holocaust in which Jews were persecuted by the Nazis. "What's the difference?" he shouted as stunned Congress benches watched.
Chindambaram then told Parliament that his government would advise the Lt Governor of Delhi to take a decision by month-end on the CBI application seeking permission for the prosecution of Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.
"The CBI has completed investigation/reinvestigation of seven cases registered against Tytler, Kumar and Dharam Das Shastri (now dead). It has sought permission to prosecute the accused in four cases," said the minister.
With egg on the face and possibly memories of Jarnail Singh's shoe headed in his direction, Chidambaram admitted "inaction" during the last 25 years and blamed it on legal hurdles saying a law should have been made to ensure that the guilty were not let off the hook.
The action against Delhi Police personnel for dereliction of duty has been "most unsatisfactory," Chidambaram said, during a five-hour debate."In the last 25 years, the delinquent persons who got away with no punishment is the police," he replied to the motion moved by MP Tarlochan Singh.
Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said, "What happened in 1984 was not a 'riot'. It was a state-sponsored massacre of innocents. It was a revenge killing of thousands with the active connivance of the state." Shiromani Akali Dal Leader Naresh Gujral said his father I.K. Gujral and others had met then Home Minister Narasimha Rao and "begged him to call the Army". "The Army was not called. It just waited for permission, 20 kilometer on the outskirts of Delhi," he added.
He asked the Home Minister to permit the CBI to prosecute all those named by the Nanavati Commission, which probed the 1984 riots, within three days.
CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat hailed the work of activist lawyer H.S.Phoolka on the floor of Parliament and said many persons killed were reported as missing and their families did not get any compensation. She said when the Congress regime displayed a lack of political will to save the Sikhs, the then West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu had dared anyone who attacked the Sikh community in the state and therefore there was no riot.
16 December 2009
New Revelation: CBI has asked for govt nod to prosecute Tytler, Sajjan Kumar
NEW DELHI: Shamed into making a statement on the floor of the Parliament after an Independent Sikh MP, Tarlochan Singh, pressed a Calling Attention Motion in Rajya Sabha, the Indian Government conceded that 25 years after the anti-Sikh massacres in Delhi and elsewhere, the CBI has actually sought permission for prosecution of Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar for their role in the genocidal killings. India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram was pushed into making the statement after a groundswell of raging storm on the issue following CBI's earlier determined efforts to let Tytler, a former Union Minister, off the hook, a move that had enraged a Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh to fling a shoe across his face at a press conference, triggering massive anger among the Sikhs against Congress.
Chidambaram tried to duck the responsibility by claiming that not he but Delhi's Lt. Governor Tejendra Khanna was the "competent authority to take a decision" on the CBI's plea for prosecution but did not touch the political aspect of the debate as to why the Congress was repeatedly giving top positions in the party and government over the years to leaders accused of leading blood thirsty mobs and instigating and carrying out killings of Sikhs.
Tytler was forced to resign from the earlier Manmohan Singh government after a government-appointed Commission found his involvement in the pogrom of Sikhs.
Tarlochan Singh minced no words in comparing the genocide of the Sikhs to the holocaust in which Jews were persecuted by the Nazis. "What's the difference?" he shouted as stunned Congress benches watched.
Chindambaram then told Parliament that his government would advise the Lt Governor of Delhi to take a decision by month-end on the CBI application seeking permission for the prosecution of Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.
"The CBI has completed investigation/reinvestigation of seven cases registered against Tytler, Kumar and Dharam Das Shastri (now dead). It has sought permission to prosecute the accused in four cases," said the minister.
With egg on the face and possibly memories of Jarnail Singh's shoe headed in his direction, Chidambaram admitted "inaction" during the last 25 years and blamed it on legal hurdles saying a law should have been made to ensure that the guilty were not let off the hook.
The action against Delhi Police personnel for dereliction of duty has been "most unsatisfactory," Chidambaram said, during a five-hour debate."In the last 25 years, the delinquent persons who got away with no punishment is the police," he replied to the motion moved by MP Tarlochan Singh.
Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said, "What happened in 1984 was not a 'riot'. It was a state-sponsored massacre of innocents. It was a revenge killing of thousands with the active connivance of the state." Shiromani Akali Dal Leader Naresh Gujral said his father I.K. Gujral and others had met then Home Minister Narasimha Rao and "begged him to call the Army". "The Army was not called. It just waited for permission, 20 kilometer on the outskirts of Delhi," he added.
He asked the Home Minister to permit the CBI to prosecute all those named by the Nanavati Commission, which probed the 1984 riots, within three days.
CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat hailed the work of activist lawyer H.S.Phoolka on the floor of Parliament and said many persons killed were reported as missing and their families did not get any compensation. She said when the Congress regime displayed a lack of political will to save the Sikhs, the then West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu had dared anyone who attacked the Sikh community in the state and therefore there was no riot.
16 December 2009
