We support Jarnail Singh: Sikh groups

Sikh groups on Tuesday said the incident of shoe-throwing at Home Minister P Chidambaram reflected the long pent-up anger of the community which had suffered in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

"Whatever has happened was waiting to happen for long. The Congress has failed to deliver justice to thousands of Sikhs who have suffered during the anti-Sikh riots instigated by party leaders such as Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar," Shiromani Akali Dal General Secretary Onkar Singh Thapar said.

Echoing similar sentiments, member of the Amritsar Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Kuldeep Singh Bhogal said, "We are very happy. Whatever has happened was right."

"It is most unfortunate for Sikhs that a culprit like Tytler has been given a clean chit by a central investigation agency when the country is led by a member of the community," said Bhogal.

"Giving Lok Sabha tickets to Sajjan Kumar and Tytler has just rubbed salt into our wounds," Thapar added.

Babu Singh Dukhiya, who heads the National 1984 victims Justice and Welfare Society, a Non Government Organisation, also welcomed the "bold" action by journalist Jarnail Singh and stated that "whatever he has done is nothing wrong. Whatever he did was just right and we support him."

The Central Bureau of Investigation last month gave Tytler a clean chit in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and informed a Delhi court that it wanted to close the matter, which caused resentment in the Sikh community.