NEW DELHI, India—Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Sunday questioned the “role” of RSS in the anti-Sikh massacres as a government-appointed panel has recommended the setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the 1984 massacres in Delhi.
“One aspect of the anti-Sikh [massacres] on which the media and others have been very silent is the role of the RSS activists,” the Congress general secretary said while speaking at a function.
In the backdrop of cases against some Congress leaders, Singh said that the issue has been investigated and people have been put to trial in courts.
Singh said that he thinks whatever has to be done or whoever has to be punished is being done in that respect.
The committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (retd) G P Mathur, was set up on December 23 last year to look into the possibility of re-investigation of the 1984 massacres.
It submitted its report to Home Minister Rajnath Singh last week, recommending setting up of an SIT for a fresh probe into the massacres that followed assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, the sources said.
An order to this effect is likely after the February 7 Delhi Assembly polls as the Model Code of Conduct is in place in the national capital now and no such announcement can be made, the sources added.
3,325 people were killed in the pogroms. Of them, Delhi accounted for 2,733. Rest were killed in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.
Opposition parties have slammed the move, saying it was an attempt to influence voters in Delhi as less than a week is left for polling.
“It is deprecating. Justice cannot be an electoral gain… Is it only an electoral ploy or gimmick of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to woo voters ahead of polls? If it is so, then it is deprecating,” said Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Questioning the timing, he asked whether the Prime Minister and his government were “sleeping” for nine months and now suddenly woke up when only a week is left for polling in Delhi.
