1984 anti-Sikh riots survivor, ‘crusader for other victims’, Vajpayee admirer: Who is HS Phoolka, who joined BJP

A native of Bhadaur in Barnala district of Punjab, Phoolka entered politics in 2014, when he joined the then-newbie Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and contested the Lok Sabha polls that year from Ludhiana. Though he lost to Congress’s (now in the BJP) Ravneet Singh Bittu by a whisker, he polled the highest votes in the rural segment of Dakha.

Phoolka during his law graduation at PU Chandigarh, 1981. (Express photo)

In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, the AAP fielded him from Dakha. Phoolka won even as Congress came to power in Punjab. The AAP, the main opposition party, named him Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly.

However, in 2018, Phoolka first resigned as LoP and then as Dakha MLA the same year, necessitating the Dakha bypoll in 2019 (won by SAD). The same year in 2019, he even resigned from the AAP altogether and left active politics.

‘For a larger cause’

He had cited two major reasons for resigning as Dakha MLA and eventually leaving AAP: the Punjab government’s inaction in the sacrilege cases and his commitment to the 1984 cases as an advocate.

Speaking to The Indian Express in an interview with this correspondent, Phoolka while commenting on his resignation as LoP in 2018, had said: “The case of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, an accused in 1984 riots, was coming up for final hearing in Delhi High Court and the Bar Council wasn’t allowing me to appear as I had the status of a Cabinet minister. I had to resign as LoP to appear in that case. The AAP leadership told me not to resign in the party’s interest and asked whether the 1984 cases were more important. I said yes, they are, as I have spent my whole life fighting them. So I told them I will quit politics.”

Eventually, when he resigned as Dakha MLA in 2018, Phoolka attributed his decision to “inaction in sacrilege cases” by the Punjab government.

Termed a “dhokebaaz” (traitor) by several AAP colleagues for resigning mid-term, Phoolka, while justifying his decision, told this correspondent in an interview: “I did not ditch the people of Dakha. In fact, I sacrificed my MLA’s post for a larger cause. My resignation as an MLA was for a larger cause, to protest against the inaction of the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in the sacrilege cases. I first resigned as Leader of Opposition as the Bar Council was not allowing me to fight the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case pertaining to (former Congress leader) Sajjan Kumar”.

“Then on August 28, 2018, the Congress government created a drama in Vidhan Sabha and refused to take any action on the enquiry report of Justice (retd) Ranjit Singh in sacrilege cases. It was then that I announced my resignation as MLA to protest this injustice, as not only I but also the people of Punjab were hurt. Finally, when Sajjan Kumar was convicted in December last year in a landmark judgment, I resigned from the AAP and politics because I did not want this landmark victory for the 1984 riots victims to be used for political gains by any party, not even the AAP.”

Praise for Vajpayee, BJP

In 2018, when Phoolka was still the MLA from Dakha, he praised BJP stalwart and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for “releasing the actual number of 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims.” He said BJP-led governments “have always supported his battle for justice for 1984 victims”.

Phoolka told this correspondent after Vajpayee’s demise: “In November 1984, the Congress government in Parliament claimed that only 600 Sikhs died during the riots in Delhi. But it was then Delhi MP Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who went on to release the actual number of Sikhs killed during the riots. The Congress had then called Vajpayee saab “anti-national” for releasing a higher number, but he had replied ‘I don’t care what they call me’. That list of 2,700 Sikhs killed in riots was compiled by BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana after visiting relief camps and riot-affected areas in Delhi and was released by Vajpayee on November 16, 1984.

“Vajpayee saab had strongly opposed and rejected the claims of the Congress government that only 600 Sikhs were killed. Later on, the number of 2,700 Sikhs killed in Delhi came on record in the Ahuja committee report. Later, after becoming the Prime Minister in 1999, he asked me what could be done best to get justice for victims and their families. By then, Congress had already buried most of the cases against its leaders who led mobs to kill Sikhs. I told him to appoint a commission for re-enquiry and take action. He then constituted the Justice GT Nanavati Commission in 2000, which reopened all cases for a thorough probe.”

In another press conference in 2019 after leaving the AAP, Phoolka said the BJP has “always always supported us in our fight for justice for 1984 victims”.

“I met law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and home minister Rajnath Singh for support, and they backed me. Even the Vajpayee government supported my battle. My proximity with the BJP existed even when I was with AAP.”

After leaving the AAP in 2019, Phoolka announced that he would not contest any polls again, nor would he join any political party, but would continue his activities as a social activist and support non-political groups.

However, in December 2024, Phoolka expressed his wish to join Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to “strengthen a strong regional party”. He clarified that he would join as a volunteer (“sewadar”) to help strengthen the party and that he was not seeking any designation or planning to contest future elections.

A 1984 riots survivor 

In 2017, Phoolka told The Indian Express in another interview that “Hindus did not kill Sikhs, but the 1984 riot was a well- planned mass murder against the Sikhs led by the then ruling Congress party.” “That is the reason why the riot was a genocide,” said Phoolka, who was honoured with Padma Shri in 2019.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Phoolka said that there cannot be a better example than him and his family, who were saved by their Hindu landlord when riots broke out in Delhi, following the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

“We lived in the South Extension area of Delhi and my wife was four months pregnant. The mob attacked our rented accommodation, and it was our Hindu landlord who hid us in his storeroom. The mob came and searched his entire house, but our landlord stood as a shield,” he added.

“Later, on November 5, we were safely sent to Punjab with the help of another friend in an Air India flight. My daughter Prabh Sahay Phoolka was born in April 1985 and had it not been for our landlord, we would have been killed that very day. How can you say that those riots were Hindus vs Sikhs? No, they were not. Hindus saved many Sikh families. It was Congress vs Sikhs,” said Phoolka.