Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said no action was taken to deliver justice to the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots till the Narendra Modi-led NDA government came to power in 2014.
Calling the riots “politically motivated”, the Home Minister said no civilised person can forget what happened in the country in 1984.
“Until the formation of the Narendra Modi government in 2014, no one was arrested, and no one spent a single day in jail. Probe commissions were set up, but no concrete results ever came from them. Modi set up an SIT and reopened 300 cases, leading to the imprisonment of the guilty. Cases are still ongoing and the Modi government will ensure justice for the victims,” Shah said while addressing a programme of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee here.
He said it was PM Modi who provided financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each to 3,328 families of riot victims and restored the glory of Jallianwala Bagh memorial. “The Centre has opened the way to give citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act to Sikh sisters and brothers who were tortured in neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he said.
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Paying glowing tributes to the Sikh gurus, he said the Sikh community has moved forward taking religion and work together. “When it comes to sacrificing one’s life for the religion, a true Sikh never looks back and Sikhs have made the maximum sacrifices, from Independence (struggle) to protecting the country. The country can never forget the teachings and sacrifices of the Sikh Gurus,” he said.
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“Apart from the Sikh community, there would rarely be any other community which would have such a long tradition of struggle and sacrifice against the injustice of the invaders for 10 generations. No one in the whole world can match the sacrifices made by Sikh Gurus for humanity and the country. We can never forget the sacrifice of the ninth Guru Tegh Bahadur-ji. Guru Tegh Bahadur-ji on the plea of Kashmiri Pandits, who were facing the atrocities of Aurangzeb in Kashmir, reached there on foot and made the supreme sacrifice,” he said.
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Shah said the PM has ensured 33% reservation for women in state legislatures and Parliament for women-led development. “The tradition of women empowerment started years ago in the Sikh panth with the teachings of Mata Khivi’s langar… The history of our freedom struggle is full of sacrifices of brave Sikhs, and after the Independence of the country, the Sikhs have made the maximum sacrifices for national security,” he said.
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