Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 29: The BJP on Saturday reprimanded three party MPs from Delhi for visiting the residence to pay condolence to the former Congress MP and convict in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots Sajjan Kumar who died in the jail earlier this month while serving his life sentence.
He was convicted for the killing of five people during the 1984 riots that broke out after the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
According to the BJP sources, the party president Nitin Nabin summoned the three MPs, Kamlajeet Sehrawat, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Yogender Chandolia and expressed his displeasure over their visit.
These three BJP MPs’ visit attracted criticism from BJP leader such as HS Phoolka, who joined the party in April this year. Phoolka, a prominent advocate for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, objected to the three MPs paying a condolence visit to Kumar’s residence.
Mr Phoolka, who fought a long legal battle over the Sikh riots case, said, “Strongly condemn the visit of 3 MPs Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, and Yogender Chandolia to mass murderer Sajjan Kumar’s residence to offer condolences on his death. This is when the BJP has always supported our quest for justice against these culprits and supported us in ensuring that he stays in jail. Sympathy should be reserved for victims and their families-many of whom live the horror of those days even till now. I call for the boycott of these 3 MPs,” he wrote on the social media platform.
It is significant that these three MPs represent constituencies that were carved out of the erstwhile Outer Delhi parliamentary seat, which Sajjan Kumar had represented in the Lok Sabha as a Congress leader.
While Bidhuri is the MP from South Delhi, Sehrawat represents West Delhi, while Chandolia represents North West Delhi. The reprimand from the BJP leadership comes ahead of Kumar’s prayer meeting in the national capital, as attention has again turned to the party’s position on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and cases involving Congress leaders accused in connection with the violence.
Sajjan Kumar, who was serving two life sentences in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, died at the age of 80. Kumar is survived by his wife, two daughters and one son, according to his profile on the Lok Sabha website. His prayer meeting was held in New Delhi on Saturday.
Sajjan Kumar was a former Congress MP. He became a Lok Sabha MP in 1980, winning the election from the Outer Delhi constituency on a Congress ticket. Even after the 1984 riots, he was elected twice on Congress ticket – in 1991 and 2004.
In 2010, he was charged with murder, rioting, criminal conspiracy, and inciting violence during the riots. Witnesses claimed he had given inflammatory speeches and provided rioters with Rs 100 and liquor. In 2018, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 1984 riots. In 2025, a Delhi court convicted him in a second case for instigating and participating in the murder of Jaswant Singh and his son, Tarundeep Singh, on November 1, 1984.
Even after his death, he remained a deeply controversial topic in Sikh-dominated Punjab.
It is for this reason that several Congress leaders, including former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, slammed Haryana Congress leader Deepender Hooda, who had condoled Sajjan Kumar’s death. The BJP was not far behind in slamming Kumar and Hooda. The visits of the three MPs, however, have provided the party’s political opponents an opportunity to target it.
“Now the real face of the BJP has also come to the fore. On the occasion of Sajjan Kumar’s final bhog, three BJP Members of Parliament were present. These included West Delhi MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat, South Delhi MP Rambir Singh Bidhuri, and Northwest Delhi MP Yogender Chandolia,” said AAP leader Baltej Pannu. Delhi AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj also took a swipe at the BJP, saying the hearts of the three MPs beat for the riot convict. “The hearts of BJP MPs Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Yogender Chandolia, and Ramvir Singh Bidhuri still beat for convicted 1984 Sikh riots killer Sajjan Kumar,” he wrote on X.