GOVT ASHAMED OF SIKH RIOTS

Twenty-five years after the Sikh riots that followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Central Government on December 1 said it was ashamed that the riots took place, and would do the best it could in the interest of justice.  “We can’t remove the agony that the affected persons felt, but we can surely take a vow and draw a lesson that it does not happen in future. I will talk to the Prime Minister …and see whatever can be done in the given situation,” Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee assured the House after the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) member Harsimrat Badal whose emotional appeals for justice moved the members into silence. Recounting the horrors of 1984 killings and subsequent government inertia in the matter, the Akali MP from Bathinda questioned the ruling Congress’s intent behind not punishing the guilty. Her reference was to inexplicable delays in the grant of sanction to the CBI to file a fresh charge-sheet against Sajjan Kumar.