BJP attacks govt for inaction on 1984 anti-Sikh riots

BJP today attacked the government for "inaction" on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and borrowed home minister P Chidambaram's words to project that the riots were carried out by political leaders and workers, an allusion to the ruling party.

Participating in a Calling Attention motion in the Rajya Sabha on the issue, leader of opposition Arun Jaitley asked the home minister, "Is he willing to judge the party (Congress) and his government" on whether it was "majorityism" and "xenophobia" that led to the massacre.

During the debate on the Liberhan Commission report last week, Chidambaram had said "majorityism" could be based on ideology and politics, and not religion. Majority based on religion would be a "step short of xenophobia", he had said.

In the riots, following killing of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, Jaitley alleged that different institutions including police and judiciary had collapsed.

The senior BJP leader alleged that there were no masses, only political leaders and workers were there in the riot. Even a convoy of the then president Zail Singh was attacked at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), he added.

He described the riot as State-sponsored killing, and said both police and political establishments turned deaf ears to the entire episode. "The then prime minister almost rationalised the killing," he said.