Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, November 9 – The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said a failed lawyer in AAP leader H S Phoolka, who had been unable to get even one of the main accused in the 1984 Sikh massacre convicted despite having a carte blanche from the Sikh community to plead the cases of the victims for 30 years, was now trying to politicise the tragedy on the orders of his political master in Delhi.
In a statement here, Union food processing industry minister and Bathinda mp Harsimrat Kaur Badal said before speculating about the efforts made by the SAD to secure justice for the 1984 victims, Mr Phoolka should tell the Sikh community whether he had pleaded the cases of the victims as a social cause or charged fee indirectly for the same. “As per our record the SGPC and the DSGMC paid your juniors for years and years and only when it dawned that they were unsuccessful in nailing even one of the main accused that the DSGMC started pursuing the cases itself”.
The SAD leader said the DSGMC had recently pursued the case against Congress leader Jadish Tytler vigorously. She said victim Lakhwinder Kaur had appealed against the clean chit given by the CBI to Tytler at the instance of the DSGMC. She said in this case, which involved the burning of the Pulbangash gurdwara, the Delhi high court had reserved its judgement.
Mrs Badal said in another case involving Congress leader Sajjan Kumar one of the victims Sheela Kaur, whose case was being fought by the DSGMC, had approached the high court claiming her statement against the Congress leader had been wrongly recorded by a lower court.
The Bathinda mp said in both these cases, which were being fought by the DSGMC, the AAP leader had tried to give an impression that he was also representing the victims. “In both cases you do not represent the victims legally nor do you argue the cases but still you position yourself outside the court rooms on every hearing to give bytes to the media. This speaks of your desperation to be the voice of the 1984 victims despite the fact that you have argued their cases futilely for 30 years without any result”.
Asking Phoolka to come clean as to why he misled the entire Sikh community for 30 years before embarking on his publicity stunt, Mrs Badal though she did not need to give any explanation to the AAP leader it was a fact that she had pursued the cases against the 1984 genocide perpetrators most vigorously. “ Earlier I took up the issue with the prime minister and a few days back I met Home minister Rajnath Singh along with a delegation of the DSGMC to brief him about the disquiet in the Sikh community about the manner in which the cases against Jagdish Tylter and Sajjan Kumar were being handled”. She said besides bringing the CBI role in not recording evidence against Tytler and giving him a clean chit, the delegation had also brought it to the notice of the Home minister that Sajjan Kumar was not being charge sheeted despite clear evidence against him in the Nangloi case.
Stating that the AAP leader must have read about this development in the newspapers, the Bathinda mp said “I fail to understand why you are still trying to politicise this issue. Is it because the Punjab AAP unit is involved in a power struggle and there is a vacuum after the downgrading of Bhagwant Mann due to his alcohol related incidents and you want to fill this slot?
Mrs Badal said Phoolka was free to play politics but should not do so over the dead bodies of the 1984 genocide victims. “You would be well advised to tell your political master in Delhi to ensure compensation given to the Delhi government by the NDA for genocide victims is distributed in full. You could also ask your master to give office staff and clerical staff to the SIT formed by the centre to reinvestigate the 1984 massacre and reopen old cases as needed. Don’t you think a cycle rally to the Delhi chief minister’s office would be more productive for the Sikh community than one in Punjab which is aimed solely at reviving your defunct political career after your failure at the hustings in 2014”? Mrs Badal asked.
