Chandigarh, Sep 2 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader H.S. Phoolka on Wednesday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of playing politics with victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre and using their pain for electoral gains instead of genuinely fighting for justice.

Phoolka told the media here that the AAP’s recent protests on the issue were an example of political hypocrisy.

He particularly questioned the participation of an AAP MLA Ram Singh Netaji in a condolence meeting organised for former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was convicted for the 1984 massacre.

Noted Supreme Court lawyer Phoolka said the victims had waited for decades for justice and that their suffering should not be reduced to a political tool.

“Those who genuinely stand with the victims cannot simultaneously express solidarity with those convicted in cases relating to crimes against them,” the BJP leader asked.

Recalling the history of compensation, Phoolka said after the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014 the then Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced an additional Rs 5 lakh compensation for each victim family of the massacre.

He said the Centre directed states to distribute the compensation at the earliest because the victims had already waited nearly 30 years.

While compensation was distributed in several states, it was delayed in Delhi after the AAP government came to power.

“I repeatedly requested the AAP government to distribute the compensation. The money had already been sanctioned by the Centre. But I was told that there was no point in giving it immediately and that it could be given closer to the Punjab elections,” he said.

Phoolka said he resigned from all party posts in September 2015 in protest against the delay.

Subsequently, on November 1, 2015, the Delhi government distributed the additional compensation at an event in Tilak Vihar.

“The victims had already waited 30 years. Their suffering should never have been viewed through the lens of electoral calculations,” he said.

Phoolka added that his association with the BJP on the issue of justice for 1984 victims dates back nearly four decades, even though he formally joined the party recently.

He recalled that during Madan Lal Khurana’s tenure as the Delhi Chief Minister, he served as his adviser and BJP lawyers, including senior leaders Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad, appeared in cases relating to the massacre.

He also recalled former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s efforts to highlight the actual scale of the killings and stand with the victims despite political pressure.

It was during Vajpayee’s tenure as the then Prime Minister and now during Narendra’s Modi’s tenure as the Prime Minister that people responsible for the massacre received punishments, Phoolka added.

–IANS

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