Kin of Anti-Sikh Riots Victims Deface Rajiv Chowk Signboard

The victim families demanded removal of ‘any trace of Rajiv Gandhi from Hindustan.’

‘Blood on His Hands’: YAD Workers Blacken Rajiv Gandhi’s Statue

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Adding to the series of defacement acts to express their anguish, victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots defaced Rajiv Chowk signboards in Delhi on Wednesday, 26 December. The victims demanded removal of “any trace of Rajiv Gandhi from Hindustan.”

In addition to protesting against Rajiv Gandhi, the protesting families raised slogans denouncing Jagdish Tytler, Kamal Nath and HKL Bhagat.

A Rajiv Chowk sign board defaced with black ink amid anti-Congress protest in New Delhi.(Photo: PTI)

They further demanded that Rajiv Chowk, a landmark in the heart of Delhi, be renamed Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg.

The incident comes a day after a youth Akali Dal leader was arrested for allegedly vandalising the statue of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in Ludhiana.

Out of the two accused men, police said they have arrested Youth Akali Dal leader Gurdip Singh Gosha and another person, identified as Meet Pal Singh Dugri, will also be nabbed soon.

According to police, six to seven people were accompanying the two accused persons and they too will be identified soon.

The miscreants sprayed red and black paint on the statue at the Salem Tabri area in Ludhiana, police said, adding that they carried out the act in full public view and blamed Rajiv Gandhi for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

"He has blood on his hands," said Gurdeep Singh Gosha, President of Youth Akali Dal.

“We demand that the khel ratna should cease to be in his name, and that his Bharat Ratna be returned.”

Gurdeep Singh Gosha, President of Youth Akali Dal

A video purportedly showing the entire episode has also gone viral on social media. The incident also triggered strong protests by Congress supporters at various places in the state.

The protesters threw black paint on posters of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Strongly condemning the incident, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asked Sukhbir Singh Badal to stop indulging in petty politics and warned him that such acts would backfire on his party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"Indulgence in such petty and condemnable actions will not absolve you or your family of the many sins of omission and commission against the Guru Granth Sahib and the Sikh community," he said in a statement issued.

“They are well aware of the fact that the Gandhis were never named or implicated in the 1984 riots, yet they continued to drag the family into the case to further their own political agenda.”

CM Capt Amarinder Singh

He said he would not let the state's hard-earned peace be disturbed by anyone.

Lashing out at the Akalis, he said in their desperation to win public support, "which the party had completely lost due to its criminal acts of commission and omission in the 10 years of SAD-BJP rule, the Badals and their supporters were stooping to abominable levels."

“Sajjan Kumar had already been sentenced to life term by the court and others involved in the perpetration of the riots would also face legal action.”

CM Capt Amarinder Singh

The SAD has stepped up attack on the Gandhi family after the conviction of Sajjan Kumar.

On Saturday, the party had demanded that a special sitting of the Punjab Assembly be convened to pass a resolution for revocation of Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna.

(With PTI inputs)