Akali Dal protests Amarinder's 'clean chit' to Tytler in riots

Hundreds of Sikh protesters belonging to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday staged a protest outside the Congress headquarters against Amritsar Lok Sabha candidate Amarinder Singh’s “clean chit” to fellow party leader Jagdish Tytler in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

Led by Delhi SAD president Manjit Singh G K, protesters reached the Congress office at 24, Akbar Road, this afternoon, holding placards and raised slogans against Amarinder Singh and Tytler. Police erected barricades to prevent them from reaching the Congress office and later had to use water cannons to disperse the crowd.

The protests came in the wake of Amarinder Singh recently telling a news channel that while other Congress leaders might be linked to the riots, Tytler played no role in the violence. “I’m not the CBI, I’m not the court. I’m telling you what I saw and felt.... I was in Delhi, I went to all the camps... and everyone I met took all these names that I have told you except Jagdish Tytler. When did Jagdish Tytler’s name come up? It came up when he was fighting Madan Lal Khurana in Delhi, that was months later,” Amarinder Singh had said.

But Amarinder Singh on Monday clarified that he had not given a clean chit to Tytler. He said he had heard the names of other Congress leaders but not Tytler’s from the riot victims living in relief camps.

Manjit Singh, also president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, told reporters here: “Amarinder’s remarks come as the rescue to Congress leader Tytler, who allegedly played role in the violence of 1984. Amarinder doesn’t have any rights to give any clean cheat to Tytler. He (Amarinder) gave statement on 1984-riots to polarise votes to make senior Congress leadership happy. We will soon file a complaint against (Amarinder) Singh to the Election Commission of India.”

Protesters also had a clash with some police officials when they were stopped from marching ahead.

Terming the statement by Amarinder Singh as “atrocious, shocking and anti-Sikh”, Manjit Singh also said it had angered Sikhs across the world and has rubbed salt into the wounds of families of innocent Sikhs killed in riots. “Amarinder Singh has no judicial authority to give a clean chit to an accused of a heinous crime. By making such comments he had tried to pressurise the judicial system of the country,” he further alleged.

Manjeet Singh and some protesters were later detained and taken to the Tughlaq Road police station.