Sikhs shout anti-government slogans after being taken away in a police bus following a demonstration against the acquittal of Congress politician Sajjan Kumar outside parliament in New Delhi yesterday.
NEW DELHI: Scores of Sikhs demonstrated in New Delhi yesterday against the acquittal of a senior Indian ruling party politician on murder charges in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
More than 200 turbaned Sikhs demonstrated, blocking the road near the parliament building and calling for the reversal of last week’s court judgment acquitting Sajjan Kumar for lack of evidence.
The protesters hoisted placards that read “Hang Sajjan Kumar” and staged a sit-in in the high-security zone before being taken away in police vehicles.
The government says nearly 3,000 Sikhs were killed in riots following the assassination of then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, while human rights activists put the figure at around 4,000.
Gandhi was shot dead to avenge her decision to use military force to expel Sikh separatists from inside the Golden Temple — Sikhism’s holiest shrine in Amritsar.
At the time, Kumar was an MP belonging to India’s ruling Congress party and he is still a party leader.
Activists accuse Congress of turning a blind eye to the killing of Sikhs and allege leaders such as Kumar and Jagdish Tytler incited mobs during the riots.
Sikh protesters have been demonstrating in Delhi since the verdict was handed down last Tuesday, marching to the residence of Indian Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the nation’s first Sikh premier, and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Some MPs had to walk to parliament on Monday as they could not take their vehicles due to the protesters’ blockade.
Sikhs make up some two percent of Hindu-majority India’s population of 1.2 billion. AFP
