Rajiv Gandhi's name should be included in 1984 riot cases: Sukhbir Badal

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal demanded that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's name should be included in cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The former Punjab deputy chief minister alleged that accounts of witnesses had made it clear that Rajiv Gandhi was "behind" the riots.

"Rajiv Gandhi's name should be included in the cases registered in connection with the 1984 riots. Rajiv's name should also be removed from all awards and institutions," he said addressing a gathering in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Recent developments as well as accounts of witnesses has made it clear that Rajiv Gandhi was behind the 1984 riots," Badal claimed.

The Congress has consistently denied its leadership's role in the riots.

The NDA government established a Special Investigation Team to probe the 1984 riot cases. There have been convictions in the matter, he said.

The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has resolved several pending issues of the Sikh community, Badal added.

Targeting Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the SAD leader alleged that he has gone back on his promise of complete farm loan waiver and betrayed the farmers of Punjab.

Like the loan waiver in Punjab, those promised by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is also a "hoax", Badal alleged.

Prime Minister Modi has not only fast-tracked development and infrastructure projects in Punjab, but also resolved long pending issues of the Sikh community, he said.

Badal said be it investments on creating a world-class road network or building new airports, sanctioning an IIM at Amritsar and AIIMS at Bathinda or releasing funds for the Shahpur Kandi dam, the NDA government has always kept Punjab first.

This is unlike of previous Congress governments which have always discriminated against Punjab and its people, he alleged.

“If Punjab has got something it is only at the hands of non-Congress governments at the Centre," Badal said.