Click to play videoA Sikh journalist on Tuesday threw his shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram to protest against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) deciding not to prosecute Congress leader Jagdish Tytler for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The incident ended amicably with Chidambaram forgiving newspaper reporter Jarnail Singh and the journalist saying that he should not have lost his temper. For the Congress, the end may not be so neat though.
The party already faces Sikh protests in New Delhi and Punjab for nominating Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, party leaders accused of inciting mobs against Sikhs in 1984, in the Lok Sabha elections. Sikh groups question the timing of Tytler getting a clean chit--just before elections. The Congress has said the Government had nothing to with the CBI’s decision but sources tell CNN-IBN it may now consider dropping Tytler from elections.
Has Jarnail Singh action made the Congress’ embarrassment worse? Should the Congress drop Tytler as its electoral candidate? CNN-IBN asked Congress spokesperson Ashwani Kumar, H S Phoolka, the lawyer who is representing Sikh riots victims, and senior journalist Satish Jacob.
Kumar said he didn’t have the authority to speak about candidate selection but the Congress would “address the situation.”
Kumar said Jarnail Singh may felt a sense injustice but he used the “wrong method to express it”. The Congress spokesperson said the matter must rest as Singh had expressed his regret and Chidambaram had forgiven him.
“If a calm and peaceful person like Jarnail Singh can react in this manner one can imagine how anguished people are,” said Phoolka. “Akalis have not been raising this issue (1984 riots) but the people. Please stop playing politics on this issue. It is a matter of the rule of law,” said Phoolka.
Kumar, who insisted that the court could still reject the CBI’s report, denied that the Congress had different policies for the 1984 riots and the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat. “There is no question of the Congress displaying any morality aspect. The Prime Minister, in Parliament, has said and so has the Congress leadership that what happened in 1984 was a national outrage.”
Phoolka rejected Kumar’s defence that the court still could reject the CBI’s report on Tytler. “The government is leaving everything to the court. It is the government’s responsibility to book the guilty. A charge-sheet against Sajjan Kumar has been ready for three months and 11 witnesses have given their evidence…” said Phoolka.
Kumar defended the Congress by saying that the CBI had come to a conclusion in the case. “It is a strange perversion of investigation and judicial course that if an investigation leads to conviction then it is fair,” he said.
“The Congress is conscious of the grief of a particular community (Sikhs) and shares in their national grief. The Congress treats the 1984 riots as a national outrage.
“The Prime Minister has said the we will do our best to assuage the hurt feelings of the community. It for an investigation was announced and Mr Tytler was asked to resign from the council of ministers, so let there not be a debate on the moral high ground,” said Kumar.
Was Jarnail Singh’s protest justified as a journalist? Jacob believed he is being judged too harshly. “He is a member of the (Sikh) community although his profession if of a journalist. He has highlighted the anguish and the anger of his community,” said Jacob.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
 |
 |
 |
|
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.