The brazen lies of Kapil Sibal on Sajjan Kumar

The Congress party is habitual of propagating white lies. After the Delhi High Court’s decision of awarding life imprisonment to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 anti-Sikh violence case, the senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal stated that Sajjan Kumar was neither given a ticket by the Congress nor does he hold any office.

Rebutting allegations against the Congress for saving the convict in the 1984 Sikh pogrom, Kapil Sibal said, “Sajjan Kumar wasn’t given any ticket by our party and he doesn’t hold any office.” However, the claims by Kapil Sibal are brazen lies. Despite strong allegations of Sajjan Kumar’s involvement in organized violence against the Sikh community in 1984, his political career flourished in the Congress party. He was elected three times from the Outer Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. He was given a ticket in the Lok Sabha elections repeatedly by the Congress party.

In the 2004 general elections, Sajjan Kumar defeated former Delhi CM and late Delhi BJP stalwart Sahib Singh Verma from outer Delhi constituency. Sajjan Kumar got more than 8.50 lakh votes.

In 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party withdrew Sajjan Kumar’s nomination ahead of polls, after a Sikh journalist hurled a shoe at the then Home Minister P Chidambaram at the party’s media briefing following the CBI’s decision to give a “clean chit” to Jagdish Tytler who is accused of playing a large role in the 1984 Sikh massacre.

In 2013 Delhi assembly elections, the Congress party fielded Sajjan Kumar’s son Jagparvesh Kumar from the South Delhi constituency of Sangam Vihar. Sajjan Kumar has remained an active part of the Congress party. In September this year, he was leading Bharat Bandh Congress protest in Delhi.

In 2014, the Congress party made him a member of the party’s campaign committee for parliamentary elections in Delhi. The party relied on him for pulling crowds for Gandhi scion’s rally. Kumar had also visited the rally venue at Ramlila Ground in Dakshin Puri in Ambedkar Nagar area. A senior party leader had also said, “Sajjan Kumar has addressed over 70 small and big meetings in South Delhi in the last two days.”

In August 2017, ahead of Bawana Assembly constituency by-election had addressed meetings in the constituency. In September 2018, Sajjan Kumar had participated in ‘Lalkar’ rally at Bawana industrial area organized by the Congress against “illegal sealing” of industries. Sajjan Kumar had also addressed a rally there.

All the instances mentioned above are enough to expose the hollowness of Sibal’s claims. Sajjan Kumar has been an active member of the Congress after 1984 Sikh pogrom.

The Delhi High Court while reading the judgment against Sajjan Kumar rightly observed, “The High Court while reading the judgment said, “In the summer of 1947, during partition, several people were massacred. 37 years later Delhi was the witness of a similar tragedy. The accused enjoyed political patronage and escaped trial.” The Delhi High Court also said that there were ‘large-scale efforts’ to protect Kumar.

Kapil Sibal denied any association of Congress with Sajjan Kumar. In August this year, the Congress President Rahul Gandhi completely denied the involvement of the Congress party in 1984 Sikh pogroms. Responding to a question on Congress’ involvement in the infamous violence against Sikhs, Gandhi had said, “I have no confusion in my mind about that. It was a tragedy, it was a painful experience. You say that the Congress party was involved in that, I don’t agree. Certainly there was violence, there was tragedy.” All this when his father Rajiv Gandhi went to the extent of justifying violence against Sikhs. When asked about the riots, Rajiv Gandhi had then said “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes”.