CHANDIGARH: As the Congress prepares to hold its ‘Insaaf Rally’ in Sangrur on Wednesday, with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge set to address the gathering, the BJP will organise a one-day conclave in Chandigarh on the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, targeting the Congress over the issue.
Titled ‘Zakhm 84 De’, the conclave will be held at Hotel Parkview in Sector 24. Former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who represented victims in several Supreme Court proceedings, will deliver the keynote address.
The speakers will include survivors and eyewitnesses such as Nirpreet Kaur, a key witness in the case that led to Sajjan Kumar’s conviction; former National Commission for Minorities chairman Tarlochan Singh; and MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney, who lost five family members in the violence.
The legal aspects will be discussed by senior advocate and BJP leader HS Phoolka, who led the legal fight to secure convictions, and retired Justice SN Dhingra, who headed the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) that reinvestigated closed cases in 2018.
Punjab BJP general secretary Rajneesh Dhiman and state media head Vineet Joshi said the conclave aimed to present the facts of the massacre to the younger generation, 42 years after the violence. It will also examine the legal battle for justice and efforts to rehabilitate victims’ families.
A photographic exhibition will be inaugurated by Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon and state in-charge Satish Poonia. BJP national spokesperson RP Singh will moderate the proceedings.
The conclave will have six sessions covering first-hand accounts of the violence, alleged government-level complicity, lapses in investigations, efforts to punish those responsible and rehabilitation of victims. Nirpreet Kaur, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Justice SN Dhingra (retd), HS Phoolka and advocate Ashok Kashyap are among those scheduled to speak. Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa will also participate. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Poonia, Dhillon and Sahney will attend the concluding session.
Meanwhile, BJP national headquarters in-charge and MP Tarun Chugh questioned the propriety of Rahul Gandhi’s forthcoming visit to Punjab and said he must answer questions about the suffering of families affected by the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, their decades-long struggle and their demand for justice.
Chugh said Punjab could not be influenced merely through political speeches and electoral visits, adding that people had not forgotten the violence in which thousands of families were affected.
He said the violence against Sikhs in 1984 was one of the most painful chapters in India's history and that the Congress leadership must answer for its role in securing justice for the victims.
“Families lost their loved ones, women lost their husbands and children, and countless children lost their parents. For these families, justice remains an unfinished struggle. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress leadership cannot continue to turn away from their questions. They must explain what the Congress party actually did to secure justice for the victims,” he said.