Akali Dal to move resolution in Punjab Assembly seeking Congress' Jagdish Tytler's arrest

Fuming at the inclusion of Jagdish Tytler in Congress panel, Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday, said they will move a resolution in the upcoming Punjab Assembly session seeking his Tytler arrest. He announced that his party will also seek action against the Gandhi family at whose instance the 1984 Sikh massacre was done. Jagdish Tytler - an accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots - has been made a permanent invitee to Delhi Congress recently.

Akali Dal to move resolution seeking Tytler's arrest

Tytler made permanent invitee to Congress

On October 28, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi approved Jagdish Tytler as a permanent invitee to Delhi Congress. Apart from him, former Union Ministers Ajay Maken, Kapil Sibal, and Krishna Tirath along with former MPs Sandeep Dikshit and Kirti Azad are also permanent invitees. The move was slammed by Opposition - BJP,  Aam Aadmi Party and Akali Dal lodged a strong protest over the issue.

Akali Dal spokesperson Manjinder Singh Sirsa accused Congress of not caring about the Sikh community. He said, "This is how they want to apply salt on the wound of the Sikhs by appointing one of the prime culprits and masterminds of the Sikh genocide, Jagdish Tytler, as a permanent invitee to the Delhi Congress. Priyanka Gandhi goes to Uttar Pradesh but does not care about Punjab and its people." 

Similarly, BJP I-T chief Amit Malviya asked, "Sikh lives don't matter for the Congress party? Is Punjab listening? Sidhu had confessed that he barely escaped the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 and now he feels proud of being a leader of the Congress?". AAP MLA Baljinder Kaur also asked Channi and Sidhu to clarify their stand.

Tytler & 1984 riots

Jagdish Tytler - a former Union minister - has faced a barrage of accusations since the last three decades for his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Along with Sajjan Kumar, he was accused of involvement in the anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of then-PM Indira Gandhi in 1984. While Sajjan Kumar has been convicted of killing five Sikhs in Delhi, Tytler has not even had any charges pressed against him. Even though the Nanavati Commission hinted at his role in the riots, he was inducted as a minister in the UPA government. During the second term of the UPA government, the CBI gave a clean chit to Tytler, but the closure report was rejected and an investigation into his role was ordered. Currently, the Supreme Court is hearing 198 cases of anti-Sikh riots closed by the CBI.