VOICE OF EX-SERVICEMEN PUNJAB

U-turn exposes Congress, says Badal

Tribune News Service

Malout, June 16

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the exit of Kamal Nath as Congress’ general secretary in-charge of the state had vindicated the stand of SAD that the 1984 Sikh carnage was a deep-rooted conspiracy of the Congress.

Badal alleged, “Nath was reluctant to accept the post because he was guilty owing to his role in massacre of thousands of innocent Sikhs. He could not muster the courage to face people of the state who are well aware of his role in this barbaric holocaust of Sikhs.”

Interacting with mediapersons on the sidelines of his Sangat Darshan in the Malout Assembly constituency here today, Badal said the people of the state in general and Sikhs in particular would never forgive Nath and other leaders of the Congress “who had planned and executed this heinous carnage”.

He said the National Civil Aviation Policy would prove a boon for the state. “The airport at the Adampur near Jalandhar will soon become operational,” said Badal.

The CM reiterated that there was no law and order problem in the state, saying, “Stray incidents of violence are global phenomena but that can’t be described as a serious problem.”

He led mob to gurdwara in 1984: AAP

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 16

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today demanded a probe against Congress senior leader Kamal Nath foe his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots while asserting that the SIT should register a case against him.

Briefing the media, AAP leader HS Phoolka said Kamal Nath had admitted in his affidavit before the Nanavati Commission that he was present at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj in Delhi when a mob attacked it and killed two Sikhs.

“Kamal Nath is responsible for this and the police should ask him who were the people assembled there unlawfully. He was leading them and yet he hasn’t been questioned. This is a mockery of law,” Phoolka alleged.

Party leader Dilip Pandey said the Congress was forced to remove Nath due to political pressure. AAP MLA Jarnail Singh said the NDA government must ensure that the SIT should register a case against Kamal Nath. He alleged Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was still with the Congress even as party leader Amarinder Singh had named him as one of the accused in the riots case.

Congress cuts its losses

Kamal Nath defrocked of Punjab chargePerceptions do matter and sometimes even win elections. No party realises it better than the Congress, now reduced to less than 50 seats in the Lok Sabha. When it set about setting its Punjab house in order, the Congress thought it had ticked all the boxes. Capt Amarinder Singh became the state party chief while the Punjab party in-charge, the ineffectual and ineffective Shakeel Ahmad was shown the door. But the Congress missed a trick by replacing him with Kamal Nath. With a reputation for ingenuity and resourcefulness, Kamal Nath was the right person for a gruelling, no-holds-barred battle of wits with the Akalis and AAP. The Congress has rapidly realised that Punjab’s DNA is different. The albatross of Kamal Nath’s alleged involvement in the 1984 riots far outweighs his usefulness as a shrewd political operative.

Soon the Akali Dal and AAP targeted the Congress for picking a 1984 riots suspect to oversee polls in a state still awaiting closure on a dark chapter. It is a measure of the dissonance in the Congress that it did not sound out the Captain before replacing Ahmad with Kamal Nath. The upshot was a tempest in Punjab that put Congress’ poll preparations on the backburner while Amarinder Singh lamely defended the high command’s choice. The former Punjab CM cut a sorrier figure when the Congress removed Kamal Nath hours after he had defended his appointment.

For a party short on confidence, luck and public support, the Congress can ill afford a slip-up. It currently has a narrow window of opportunity to prove it will be a worthy contender. AAP’s claim to be purveyors of experimental politics is under challenge. The sword of disqualification hangs on 21 of its Delhi MLAs, half of its original lot of ministers has quit and the first scam under Arvind Kejriwal’s watch seems to be brewing. The Akali Dal is saddled with more than an incumbent’s disadvantages but is not throwing in the towel. Kamal Nath’s appointment is a distraction the Congress could have done without.

Miscalculation led to Kamal Nath fiasco

Damage done, Cong was worried about his safety

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 16

Now that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has relieved senior leader Kamal Nath of the charge of party general secretary for Punjab, the question everyone’s asking is: Why did she appoint him in the first place?

Officially, Congress’ senior spokesperson Anand Sharma and Punjab unit chief Capt Amarinder Singh refused to acknowledge today that the resignation had anything to do with AAP and Akali-BJP pressure over Kamal Nath’s alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

“Kamal Nath sought to be relieved out of anguish. He was being targeted for something he has never been charged with. The right to reputation has been equated by the courts with the right to life. We had to respect his sentiment,” Sharma said, describing the party leader’s resignation as “an act of his own volition”.

Amarinder also trashed the AAP statement that Kamal Nath had to go because they had exposed his role in the riots and that his appointment reflected the Congress’ insensitivity towards the victims.

“That’s not true. Kamal Nath called me yesterday and told me that he was tendering his resignation. He said he had self-respect and was opting out because he was being targeted most unfairly. It was gracious of him to have done so,” the former Punjab CM said.

Posturing apart, insiders admit that the party grossly miscalculated the consequences of naming Kamal Nath, a nine-time MP from Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh) as the Punjab incharge, considering that he had appeared before the Nanavati Commission to explain his alleged role in the riots. Though exonerated, he had faced accusations of involvement in the torching of Gurdwara Rakabganj and the killing of two Sikhs on November 1, 1984, in the aftermath of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

Party leaders said with the issue snowballing in Punjab, concerns about Kamal Nath’s safety also weighed on the Congress’ mind and was one of the reasons why he was relieved.

A senior Congress leader admitted, “We did not anticipate this reaction, considering that 32 years have passed without Kamal Nath’s name being raked up in this matter. He was first named only in 2005 when he appeared before the Nanavati Commission, which let him off. Never before and after was he mentioned in the context of the riots. So, the party did not feel it was something to be worried about.”

The leader added: “Kamal Nath was seen as an important leader whose organisational skills would have helped the party in poll-bound Punjab. He was a natural choice for the Punjab role like Ghulam Nabi Azad was for Uttar Pradesh. We did not think his past would cast such a long shadow on his role. Also, continuing with him would have meant risking his safety.”

After naming Kamal Nath on June 12, the party first adopted a wait-and-watch policy for a couple of days. Soon, it was clear that not only had the issue given AAP and the Akali-BJP combine a handle against the party but also some Congress leaders were upset with the move. Former minister MS Gill went public against the appointment and spoke the language of rivals, saying that it had “rubbed salt into the wounds of Sikh victims”.

With the anxiety taking root, the party decided to relieve Kamal Nath, who bowed out, saying that he did not want “attention to be deflected from Punjab’s real issues”. The fiasco has, however, raised questions about the decision-making process in the Congress, with many leaders asking if the decision-makers even remembered that Kamal Nath was ever named in the anti-Sikh riots.