Addressing a press conference here, senior leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal said though senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had recently asserted that PM Indira Gandhi took a wrong decision in ordering an attack on Sri Darbar Sahib, he said the leader had wrongly dubbed it as a collective decision of the police, military and civil government.
“The attack on Sri Darbar Sahib was ordered by Indira Gandhi who even sidelined Lt Gen SK Sinha for opposing that.” He said it was also a known fact that foreign agencies, including the United Kingdom government were also consulted on the feasibility of the attack. Asserting that the Congress had never disassociated itself from the decision, Grewal said both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should explain their stand on the issue after Chidambaram had admitted that it was a wrong act. “The leaders should tell why they had never condemned an act that was aimed at destroying Sikh traditions and institutions besides striking at the very roots of the religion.”
Asserting that Chidambaram could not wish away his responsibility, Grewal said the Congress leader served as Home Minister during 2008-12. “He had access to all relevant files regarding the attackas well as massacre of Sikhs in 1984. He never took any corrective action. He is liable to tell why he did not do that,” he said.
The allegation comes as ruling AAP and the Congress have upped the ante against the Haryana’s BJP government over the suicide by senior IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, allegedly due to caste-based discrimination.
Former Union minister and BJP leader Vijay Sampla told reporters here that AAP’s Khadoor Sahib MLA Manjinder Singh Lalpura, convicted and sentenced to four years for assaulting a Dalit woman, had neither been expelled from the party nor disqualified from the Assembly.
Sampla, a Dalit leader and also a former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, alleged that the MLA continued to “enjoy privileges in jail”.
Sampla aslo reminded the ruling outfit that before the state Assembly polls, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal had promised to appoint a Dalit deputy chief minister, a promise yet to be fulfilled. Sampla said of the AAP’s 13 Rajya Sabha MPs, none was from the community. He alleged that since AAP came to power, Dalit icon BR Ambedkar’ statues had been vandalised multiple times in Amritsar and Phillaur.
Bathinda: Meanwhile, Paramjit Singh Kainth, vice-president of the BJP SC Morcha, said AAP had failed to give due respect to the Dalits, who constitutes nearly 32 per cent of Punjab’s population. “Its true character towards Dalits has been exposed,” he claimed. Kainth said Punjab had seven Rajya Sabha seats, and the bypoll for one of these seats was scheduled for October 24, but the ruling party did not pick any Dalit leader.