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Congress MLA and former Haryana Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma has urged Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to remove Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda from the Congress Working Committee (CWC) over his remarks praising former party leader Sajjan Kumar.
In a letter addressed to Congress president Kharge on Sunday, Sharma said Hooda's remarks had sent "shock waves" among the Sikh community and reopened wounds associated with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Sharma said several Sikh friends from Haryana and Punjab had expressed their resentment over what he termed an "irresponsible statement" by Hooda. He further claimed that the Sikh community had overwhelmingly supported the Congress after the farmers' agitation but said the controversy surrounding Hooda's remarks could lead to "afterthoughts" about supporting the party, particularly ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections. "It is felt through a cross section of the public at large that in order to heal the wounds that have now been reopened Mr. Deepender Hooda should be removed from the CWC so as to demonstrate bonafides of the Congress Party," Kuldeep Sharma said in his letter. Sharma also alleged that the remarks had harmed the interests of the Congress and provided an opportunity to Opposition parties to target the party politically. A political controversy had erupted over the 1984 sikh riots after Hooda paid tribute to the late Congress leader Sajjan Kumar following his demise and described him in glowing terms. Talking to reporters on August 20, Hooda had said in Hindi, "Today, the country's political landscape has suffered an irreparable loss. Sajjan Kumar ji was in Delhi, rural Delhi and in the entire North India a personality whose connect with people remains a misaal (role model). Across the entire country, he is cited as an example for the way he stood by people in their joys and sorrows... His contribution to the development of Delhi is remembered to this day, and examples are given of it. His passing is a very big loss." Congress MP and former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi strongly condemned Hooda's remarks, describing Sajjan Kumar as a "murderer of the Sikh community" and a "traitor." Channi alleged that Kumar was involved in the conspiracy behind the killings of Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and criticised attempts to portray him as a role model. "People in our Congress are trying to make him a role model; regarding them, I say that he is a murderer. For this person to even be considered a role model, even taking his name is a sin," Channi had said. In a statement on his X platform today, Hooda said, he had "no intention of hurting anyone's sentiments." "Look, I clarified this yesterday as well. For the past two days, I have been seeing that some people are... twisting and distorting my statement and presenting it before the public. "My request is that, first of all, I did not even use that word - the English word... 'role model'... the word that is being linked to my statement, I did not say it at all. The word I didn't even use, I had no intention whatsoever of hurting any of our brothers. I cannot even think of hurting our brothers from the Sikh community. Nor did I ever have any such sentiment. "But still, the Sikh community is our own family. If any brother's... sentiments have been hurt, then I am your brother, and I express my regret. "My intention or objective was never to hurt anyone's heart. The Sikh community is a proud community of our country, and we... and I am proud of such a community, whose... the sacrifices they made, the sacrifices made for all of us, we can never forget them," he said in his statement posted on X. Sajjan Kumar, 84, died at Safdarjung Hospital on Thursday. Hospital authorities said he had a history of high blood pressure and Parkinson's disease and died at 12:30 pm despite resuscitation and life-support measures. A former three-time parliamentarian, Kumar was convicted in cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The Delhi High Court in December 2018 overturned his acquittal in the Raj Nagar case and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He had remained in jail since then. In February 2025, a Delhi court awarded Kumar another life sentence in the Saraswati Vihar murder case involving the killing of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh during the 1984 violence. (ANI)
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