Hundreds gather in Delhi to pay tribute to Sajjan Kumar

Hundreds of people gathered at Talkatora Stadium on Saturday for a condolence meet held for former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who died at 80 last week.

He was serving a life sentence in cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Kumar died at a Delhi hospital on August 20 and was cremated at Nigam Bodh Ghat the following day. The condolence meet was attended by several MPs, MLAs, other political leaders from Delhi and neighbouring states, Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav, and representatives of social and religious outfits, according to a statement issued by the organisers.

Kumar’s son Jagpravesh Kumar, who addressed the gathering, said he would continue to raise public issues and serve people, inspired by his father.

The Congress leader was sentenced by the Delhi High Court to life imprisonment in December 2018 for the killing of five Sikhs and the burning of a gurdwara during the 1984 riots.

In February 2025, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court in another case concerning the killing of two Sikh men.

Kumar resigned from the Congress following his 2018 conviction. He was brought to Safdarjung Hospital from Tihar jail on August 20 after developing an altered sensorium. Despite resuscitation and life-support measures, he died at 12.30 pm, according to the hospital.

The hospital said Kumar had a history of high blood pressure and Parkinson’s disease and had been admitted several times in the past.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear his plea seeking three weeks’ parole on medical grounds in connection with his ailing wife on the day of his death, but the matter did not come up for hearing. Kumar entered politics as a municipal councillor from Nangloi and later became general secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Outer Delhi in 1980, 1991 and 2004.

Anti-Sikh riots broke out in 1984 following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31 that year.