The Aam Admi Party (AAP) received a major setback due to disclosure of the fact that crucial file related to constitution of the Special Investigation Team to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riot has gone missing.
On the other hand the Delhi Government is making a desperate attempt to trace it and bureaucracy is on tenterhooks in relocating the file so as to escape major controversies surrounding the entire episode.
The political establishment chose to mis-inform and mislead over the issue but they are silent on the circular. It was a proxy defense to safeguard the interest of the party in view of the Punjab Assembly polls in 2017.
The missing file report related to constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage took a new turn with opposition parties accusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of playing politics with the sentiments of the affected parties to gain “publicity” for the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. Hours after reports suggested that the file had gone missing from the APP Government’s Home Department since March 16 last year, a senior AAP functionary claimed that the document had been traced.
AAP leader Ashutosh said at a Press conference that some news channels walked into the trap laid by BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal and ran an unsubstantiated news item, which turned out to be false.
If one goes by AAP leader’s claim, the question arises how could be file traced after media reports. Also, why was it not traceable for the last nine monthIJ
Interestingly, the Delhi Government did not issue any written clarification on the matter. A highly placed source said the Government was in the process of recreating the same file.
After coming to power for the first time, it was the Arvind Kejriwal Government which took initiative to form the SIT in 1984 massacre of Sikhs and had recommended its formation to the Centre after getting endorsement from the State Cabinet.
The “missing file” issue surfaced at such a juncture when AAP was putting all its energies to contest the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. The party had won four of Punjab’s 13 lok Sabha seats with a vote share of 25 per cent. The CM himself has been canvassing for the Punjab Assembly polls.
Senior lawyer HS Phoolka said the missing files of the SIT related to 1984 riots ordered by Kejriwal during his 49-day Government in 2014 had no bearing with the current SIT formed by the Centre. He said that the previous SIT made by the AAP government was never made functional and after Kejriwal resigned, the lieutenant Governor did not constitute any SIT.
The AAP Government had landed in an embarrassing situation after Deputy Secretary (Home) Ashish Kumar issued a circular to all the departments on January 8 requesting if they traced the file it should be returned to his department. He had specified that the file had been last marked to then Home Minister Jitender Singh Tomar, who is now out on bail in connection with his fake degree case. The circular had been issued with the prior approval of the competent authority.