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In a gathering held at the residence of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta joined the Union Minister to meet with victims and survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, reaffirming support and hearing firsthand accounts of the tragedy.
The meeting focused on the lasting human cost of the violence that swept through the national capital, as survivors shared their painful memories and ongoing struggles for justice. Reflecting on the testimonies shared by the victims during the interaction, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta strongly condemned the historical violence while emphasising the emotional weight carried by surviving families,"What happened in 1984 was a massacre of innocent people... People were dragged from their homes and brutally killed... Hearing out from these mothers and sisters is deeply distressing. Their suffering is something that cannot be forgotten..." The interaction at Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri's residence served as a platform to listen to the grievances of affected families, discuss ongoing relief measures, and address the historical injustices faced by the community. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and CM Rekha Gupta interacted closely with elderly women and family members who lost relatives during the 1984 violence. The leaders reiterated their commitment to supporting the victimised families, ensuring welfare measures, and remembering the lives lost during one of the darkest chapters in the capital's history. This comes as the ruling BJP mounted a counter-offensive to the INDIA bloc's "Chalo Delhi' rally with a march in several zones of the national capital to remember the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, accusing the Congress of holding a political rally on the anniversary of the violence. On November 1, Union Minister Puri participated in a march held from Hari Nagar Depot to Tilak Nagar Metro Station, where Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra, Delhi Government Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ashish Sood, MPs, MLAs, party functionaries and a large number of members of the Sikh community and residents of Delhi also participated. Puri accused the Congress of deeply hurting Sikh sentiments by staging a political demonstration on the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence. Rejecting the term "riots," Puri classified the 1984 tragedy as an organised "genocide" and a "crime against humanity," citing official figures of 2,733 deaths in Delhi and 3,325 nationwide. He questioned the official narrative that the 1984 anti-Sikh killings were a spontaneous outbreak of anger following former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination. Regarding what happened in Delhi 42 years ago, there is quite a lot of information available. But I feel that, the mind plays tricks, great efforts have been made to claim that what happened- the violence that occurred in Delhi- was spontaneous, driven by public anger. This statement is simply not true," he said. (ANI)
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