Bharat Jodo Yatra in Punjab: 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims protest against Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi started Day 2 of the Punjab leg of his Yatra in the morning from Khanna of Ludhiana. He will reach Samrala Chowk in the city, via Doraha, Sahnewal, and Dhandari, around noon and address a gathering.

The victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots held a protest against the Congress party in Ludhiana Thursday.

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The victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots held a protest against the Congress party in Ludhiana Thursday on the second day of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Punjab. The protesters burnt an effigy and raised slogans like “Rahul Gandhi wapis jao (Rahul Gandhi go back)” against the Congress party leaders at Clock Tower.

Gandhi started Day 2 of the Punjab leg of his Yatra in the morning from Khanna of Ludhiana and later reached Samrala Chowk.

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Surjit Singh, president, Danga Peerit Welfare Society Punjab, an association of the 1984 riot-hit families, alleged he was put under house arrest since around 4 am Thursday. Singh also said the police landed at his home in Guru Gyan Vihar in the Dugri area to stop his movement.

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“They said they won’t allow us to protest today as Rahul Gandhi is in the city but we spoke to Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu who permitted us to protest at Clock Tower Chowk. We burnt an effigy and raised slogans against Congress which was responsible for butchering thousands of Sikhs in 1984,” Singh said.

He said, “We demand immediate implementation of the Dhingra committee report by the Centre and registration of fresh murder cases against Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and Kamal Nath who were a part of the entire conspiracy.”

At least 10,000 riot-hit victims live in Ludhiana and have been allotted flats for rehabilitation.

Divya Goyal

Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on “Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers” had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More

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