New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Nabin has reprimanded three of the party’s Delhi Lok Sabha MPs over their visit to the family home of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar. The MPs — Kamlajeet Sehrawat, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Yogender Chandolia — recently visited Kumar’s residence and met members of his family. The BJP president expressed his displeasure over the move, according to party sources.
Kumar, who died on August 20, was serving two concurrent life sentences for the murders of Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. His prayer meeting is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on Saturday. The visit sparked criticism, particularly from BJP leader HS Phoolka, who joined the party in April this year. The BJP, when contacted for a response, said the three MPs had visited Kumar’s home in their individual capacity and not as representatives of the party.
The BJP’s reprimand comes ahead of Kumar’s scheduled prayer meeting in the national capital and amid renewed attention on the party’s longstanding position on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the cases involving Congress leaders accused in connection with the violence. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case and was also serving another concurrent life sentence in a separate 1984 riots case.
Even after his death, he remains a deeply controversial topic in Sikh-dominated Punjab. It is for this reason that several Congress leaders, including former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, slammed Hooda. The BJP was not far behind in slamming Kumar and Hooda. The visits of the three MPs, however, have provided the party’s political opponents an opportunity to target it. Delhi AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj also took a swipe at the BJP, saying the hearts of the three MPs beat for the riot convict.
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