Harsimrat Kaur Badal held the House spellbound afternoon when she made a special mention of the victims and survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.
She spoke and the Lok Sabha heard with rapt attention. It rarely happens that a first-time MP from a smaller party in the Opposition benches is heard without a murmur. But Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the 43-year-old Akali Dal MP from Bathinda, held the House spellbound on Wednesday afternoon when she made a special mention of the victims and survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, and how even after 25 years they have not been given justice.
“Shame, shame” from Opposition benches were the only words that punctuated her short, intense, heartfelt speech. It was an impassioned speech, but there were no theatrics. The language was factual, straight. It was one from the heart. As she described how as a youngster she cowered in fear and hid in the servants’ quarters as the mobs hunted down anyone with a turban, there was a deadly stillness in the House. She spoke in English.
She said that Sikhs who gave up their lives for the sake of liberty — 70% of those killed by the colonial government and 80% of those sent to Kalapani (exile) were Sikhs — were singled out for being Sikhs in those days. Kaur was not content being an accuser. She said that this is something which should never be allowed to happen again.
Her voice remained poised. But the poignant tone in which she narrated the bloody tales of 1984 filled the House with a sad and hushed silence.
All that House leader and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee could say was that he agreed with Kaur’s conclusion that this was something that should not happen again.
He said it was tragic. Kaur and her colleagues added, “It is horrendous”, a word that Mukherjee could not utter himself.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}