Sikh groups, angry over a trial court decision to let off Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984,on Sunday tried to take out a march to the Prime Minister’s residence. However, they were prevented from doing so by the police who blocked the protesters.
“Today (on Sunday) we wanted to march to the PM’s residence, but we were stopped by the police. Tomorrow (on Monday) we will adopt a different strategy. We will fight till justice prevails,” said Manjeet Singh, president of Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee.
Meanwhile, the protests against the verdict continued unabated across Punjab as well as here. The indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar by one of the victims, Nirpreet Kaur, completed its third day on Sunday.
Kaur, whose father was killed by the violent mob that went after innocent Sikhs in the aftermath of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s killing by her bodyguards,had written to the PM urging him to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the massacre. For the Congress, though, the protests do not augur well since it could undermine its poll prospects, with the Delhi elections scheduled to take place later this year.
The Congress had withdrawn the nominations of Sajjan and Jagadish Tytler in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections after a Sikh journalist threw a shoe at then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.
It is the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the main political ally of the BJP in Punjab, which is spearheading the protests.The widespread protests by the activists belonging to various Sikh religious and political groups resulted in several trains being held up.
Also, a number of Chennai, Mumbai and Howrah-bound trains originating from Amritsar and Delhi were disrupted for several hours.