Visit by 3 MPs to Sajjan Kumar's house painful, unfortunate: Punjab BJP chief

Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon on Saturday termed the visit by three BJP MPs to the residence of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar to offer condolences after his demise as "extremely painful and unfortunate".

Dhillon said the BJP had nothing to do with the visit and that the Punjab unit of the party condemns it in the "strongest possible terms".

BJP president Nitin Nabin on Saturday summoned the three MPs from Delhi -- Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Yogender Chandolia -- and expressed displeasure over their visit to the Congress leader's residence.

Kumar, who was serving two life sentences in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, died at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital on August 20.

In a statement, the Punjab BJP chief said Kumar was the same person who had been sentenced to life imprisonment by a court for serious charges related to the killing of innocent Sikhs in 1984.

"Expressing any kind of sympathy towards such a person amounts to rubbing salt into the wounds of thousands of victim families who lost their loved ones in the massacre and is an insult to their suffering," Dhillon said.

Dhillon said Nabin had taken serious note of the incident, immediately expressed his displeasure and strongly reprimanded the three MPs.

He said the action clearly demonstrated the BJP central leadership's sensitivity towards the sentiments of the victims of 1984 and thanked Nabin for taking an "immediate and firm stand".

He said while the Congress party had pursued a policy of "protecting and patronising" those accused in the 1984 massacre for 35 years, it was the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that constituted Special Investigation Teams, leading to the accused being sent behind bars decades later and opening the way for justice.

The Punjab BJP president reiterated that the party had always stood with the families of the victims of 1984 and would continue to do so.

"Our sympathy and compassion are only for the victims and their families who continue to suffer the trauma of that tragedy even today. Our policy leaves no room for the guilty," he said.

NATIONAL CHANDIGARH