Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna Row: AAP, Alka Lamba Backtrack

The resolution moved by AAP MLA Jarnail Singh regarding the 1984 riots was passed by a voice vote in the House.

The Delhi Assembly on Friday, 21 December passed a resolution demanding that Bharat Ratna awarded to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi be withdrawn over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

(Photo altered by The Quint)

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, 22 December, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Rajiv Gandhi was not mentioned in the resolution that was passed regarding the 1984 anti-sikh riots.

He also denied reports of Alka Lamba resigning from the party over her non-compliance on the resolution with respect to Rajiv Gandhi’s revocation of the Bharat Ratna.

Amid the row, Assembly Speaker Ramniwas Goel clarified that MLA Jarnail Singh's proposed amendment for taking back the "Bharat Ratna" from Gandhi over the 1984 ant-Sikh riots in the "original resolution" was not adopted as he did not inform the House beforehand, reported news agency PTI.

The "original resolution" had no mention of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's name, he said.

Lamba, who had earlier tweeted that she has been asked to tender resignation for opposing reference to Gandhi, on Saturday said she was happy with the party's stand and would not quit.

The Delhi Assembly on Friday, 21 December had adopted a resolution on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which it was reportedly demanded that Bharat Ratna awarded to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi be withdrawn, but the AAP swiftly distanced itself from the reference to the former prime minister.

AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed the lines about the former prime minister were not part of the original text placed before the house and it was a handwritten amendment proposed by a member that cannot be passed in such a manner.

The resolution moved by AAP MLA Jarnail Singh was passed by a voice vote in the House.

The Delhi government should “strongly” convey in writing to the Union Home Ministry (MHA) that justice continues to elude the families and near-dear ones of the victims of the worst “genocide” in the history of India’s national capital, the resolution said.

The House directed the government to impress upon the MHA that it should take all important and necessary steps to specifically include crimes against humanity and genocide in India's domestic criminal laws, as recommended by the Delhi High Court in its recent landmark judgment sentencing Sajjan Kumar and other convicts to life imprisonment.

The matter became a major crisis with AAP MLA Alka Lamba alleging she was "put under pressure" to support the resolution, which she resisted and boycotted.

Responding to Bharadwaj, Jarnail Singh said, "At the last moment Somnath Bharti (MLA) gave me the third point about Rajiv Gandhi. The technical issue is that the third point was not there in the copies distributed to the members of the House. But everything happened on record despite the technical shortcoming."

As the controversy raged, Bharti said the reference to Rajiv Gandhi "was not part of the passed resolution" as the amendment was not put to vote separately. Also the party had no opportunity to see the same, he tweeted.

During the proceedings in the House dominated by the AAP, Jarnail Singh read out the one-page resolution which also mentioned the demand to take back the award from Gandhi. After that Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Nivas Goel told the House that the riots were a “very serious issue” and all the MLAs should support the resolution by standing up.

Following this, all the AAP MLAs stood up. Goel then said the resolution is adopted by voice vote.

"The House passed my resolution seeking to take back the Bharat Ratna to the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who commented on the massacre saying a big tree falls, the earth trembles," Jarnail had earlier told reporters outside the House.

During the discussion on resolution, the ruling AAP MLAs slammed the Congress. Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain said that both the Congress and the BJP are responsible for riots in the country.

"Congress is responsible for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots while the BJP was for the 2002 Gujarat riots," Jain alleged.

A former Congress MP, Sajjan Kumar has quit the party following his conviction in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Rajiv Gandhi, who took over the reins of the party and the government following his mother's demise, was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, in 1991.

AAP Showing Its True Colours: Congress

Dubbing the AAP as the "B Team" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress's Delhi unit said it was showing its "true colours".

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken asserted that Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed his life for the country, in reply to ruling party's attacks on the former prime minister in the House, and the alleged resolution that demanded taking back the country's highest civilian award bestowed on him.

“Sh Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed his life for the country. True colours of AAP have come out in the open! I have always believed that AAP is the B team of BJP! AAP fielded candidates in Goa, Punjab, MP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh just to cut the votes of Congress and help the BJP (sic),” Maken said in reply to a tweet.

(With inputs from PTI.)