Amarinder flays Akali Dal for politicising Kamal Nath issue

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday slammed the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)for politicising the 1984 riots following Congress leader and former union minister Kamal Nath being named as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister.

The Congress is set to form the government in Madhya Pradesh.

Intervening during a call attention motion in the Punjab Assembly on the issue after it was raised by Akali Dal legislator Bikram Singh Majithia, the chief minister said that the law was taking its due course regarding allegations against the veteran leader.

The fact of the matter was that Kamal Nath had been a central minister for more than 10 years after the allegations first surfaced, Amarinder Singh pointed out, adding that a mere reference about the senior Congress leader in the Nanavati Commission report could not be construed as his involvement in the case.

"Only the law alone could decide the role of any individual," the chief minister said, adding that nobody should exploit the sensitive issue of the 1984 riots for their political ends.

The chief minister also showed pictures of Akali Dal patron and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal presenting a bouquet to Kamal Nath and Sukhbir Singh Badal and Parminder Singh Dhindsa attending a meeting with the former union minister to highlight the fact that the Akali leaders were just trying to politicise the issue for their petty vested interests.

Opposing the move by the Congress to name Kamal Nath as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, SAD had said on Thursday that the Congress was "rewarding the perpetrators of genocide against the Sikhs".

"Apparently, the Gandhi family still rewards Congress leaders who were directly involved in the genocide in 1984, a period of shame for humanity as rioting against the innocent Sikhs was perpetrated by the Congress leaders," Akali Dal leader Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal said in a statement here.

He alleged that Kamal Nath led a mob against the Sikhs in the Rakab Ganj gurdwara area, where young innocent boys were burnt to death while he stood there.

Kamal Nath was removed as the Congress in-charge for Punjab in 2016 following objections from Congress leaders in the Sikh-majority state.

--IANS

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