RSS Sikh wing demands Centre’s relief for Jodhpur detainees; calls on Rajnath
Rashtriya Sikh Sangat leader Avtar Singh Shashtri claims Union minister has given ‘positive response’ to demand
AMRITSAR: A day after Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced to give full compensation to Jodhpur detainees if the Centre fails to release its share, Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has also supported the cause of the detainees.
Along with leaders of Bhoma faction of All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), Rashtriya Sikh Sangat president GS Gill, general secretary Avtar Singh Shashtri and BJP leader Hans Raj Hans on Tuesday met Union home minister Rajnath Singh at New Delhi and urged him to withdraw the Centre’s appeal in Punjab and Haryana high court against compensation to Jodhpur detainees. They also appealed Rajnath to release compensation for them.
AISSF president Manjit Singh Bhoma, who was among the 365 detainees, chief adviser Sarabjit Singh Jammu and general secretary Amarjit Singh Pathankot were also part of the delegation which met the Union minister and submitted a memorandum to him. RSS leader Avinash Jayaswal and BJP national secretary RP Singh also accompanied them.
Talking to HT, Shashtri and Bhoma said Rajnath Singh has given a “positive response” to their demand.
As many as 365 persons were arrested from the Golden Temple complex during the Operation Bluestar in 1984 and kept in Jodhpur jail of Rajasthan.
They were later released in three lots between March 1989 and July 1991.
Of them, 224 appealed for compensation alleging wrongful detention and torture. But the CBI contested the case and won it in the lower court in 2011. Some of them died and others did not pursue the case further. But 40 detainees went in appeal against the order to the Amritsar sessions court and were awarded ₹4 lakh each as compensation with 6% interest (from date of filing of the appeal to payment of compensation) in April last year.
The court had held the Union and state governments as jointly liable for payment of the compensation. Though the Punjab government had given an undertaking to the court to pay half the amount, the Union government moved an appeal in the high court against the order.
Meanwhile, Bhoma and Shashtri said they also raised many other issues related to Sikhs in their meeting with Rajnath.
They requested the Union minister to declassify the documents related to Operation Bluestar, return rare manuscripts of the Sikh Reference Library and costly items of ‘Toshakhana’ of the Golden Temple, release Sikh prisoners lodged in various jails in the country, rehabilitate the Sikhs affected by the 1984 riots, punish perpetrators of the antiSikh violence, rehabilitate Sikh victim of Shillong violence and scrap black list of the Sikhs living abroad.
Bhoma said, “The home minister told us that the central government is sending officials to Shillong to resolve the issue of the Sikhs”.
› Thanks @rajnathsingh ji for your prompt response to our request for compensation to Jodhpur detainees. A long pending demand will finally bring some relief. Capt. Amarinder should stop making political gestures & release Punjab’s share on which he is sitting for the last 10 months! HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL,
Union minister on Twitter › It is obviously a panic reaction on the part of Harsimrat Badal. Had the Akalis ever been serious about the rights of the Sikh community… the issue would not have lingered on all these years and it would not have been left to my government to once again come to the relief of Jodhpur detainees.
AMARINDER SINGH, chief minister