Emotions ran high in both the Houses of Parliament, on April 29, when Shiromani Akali Dal MPs supported by the BJP, Left, AIADMK and the BSP accused the government of misusing the CBI for shielding the 1984 anti-Sikh riots accused Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned at 12 noon after the opposition MPs (led by SAD’s Sukhdev Dhindsa and BJP’s SS Ahluwalia) trooped into the well of the House, protesting cosmetic action in the case. The Lok Sabha also saw unprecedented and heated exchanges between SAD member Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal and UPA ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Pawan Kumar Bansal.
The latter termed the 1984 Sikh carnage as the most shameful event in the Indian history and said the Prime Minister had already apologised for the same in the House, and even promised to reopen cases against the accused, if needed. Bansal accused the opposition of “baking political cakes on the funeral pyres of dead Sikhs”.