AMRITSAR SAHIB—Former Punjab Chief Minister (CM) and Congress candidate Captain Amrinder Singh is immersed in yet another controversy after giving a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler in an interview given to Indian news channel NDTV INDIA. Tytler who is a senior Congress leader, is the main alleged perpetrator of mass killings of Sikhs in November of 1984.
Capt Amrinder said, “I am not the CBI, I am not the court. I am telling you what I saw, and felt. I was in Delhi, and 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, and that was months later.”
The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance in Punjab seems in a mood to exploit the opportunity provided by Capt Amrinder. SAD-BJP workers staged protests outside Congress offices in Punjab, and in Delhi, on Monday, April 21, 2014. The Akalis have planned more protests in Amritsar, Ludhiana, and other parts of the State, on Tuesday.
Clarifying his comment on Monday, Amrinder said his words were being distorted by the Akalis as they were “badly losing across Punjab and Amritsar.”
However, his clarification is not satisfactory. He said, “I have not given a clean chit to anybody. What I have stated is the truth. I, along with my brother Malwinder Singh, and cousin Randhir Singh, went to Delhi when we learned of the attacks on Sikhs. We landed at the Safdarjung Airport and went around New Delhi. We could not go to Trans-Yamuna area. We went to gurdwaras and refugee camps. Most of the people were in shock, and were not in a position to utter even a word, but those who spoke to us gave the names of HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar, Makan, Dharam Dass Shastari, but nobody gave the name of Tytler. The name of Tytler cropped up only when Madan Lal Khurana fought an election against him.”
“I am not, nor do I intend, hampering any investigation, or court proceedings. What I am telling is what we were told when we visited the victims. The court is there to decide the case against Mr. Tytler.
Mr. Singh’s main rival in Amritsar, Arun Jaitley of the BJP, wrote in his blog, “It is for the investigating and judicial process to find the truth…”
