In a major development with implications for the BJP in Punjab, party president Nitin Nabin on Saturday summoned three MPs for visiting the family home of late anti-Sikh riots convict Sajjan Kumar to pay condolences on his demise.Nabin said Lok Sabha MPs from Delhi Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Yogender Chandolia and Kamaljeet Sehrawat should not have visited Kumar’s residence.Kumar died last week and was serving a life sentence at Tihar jail in two separate cases involving the murder of Sikhs at the height of the 1984 Sikh carnage in the aftermath of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.BJP sources confirmed to The Tribune that Nabin summoned and reprimanded all three MPs and said they should not have gone.All three have been asked to explain their conduct, BJP sources said.The three MPs represent constituencies that were carved out of the erstwhile Outer Delhi parliamentary seat, which Sajjan Kumar represented in the Lok Sabha as a Congress MP.The three MPs belong to the influential community that Kumar represented.The BJP chief’s action followed a strong call from senior party leader in Punjab HS Phoolka, who was the first to publicly condemn the visit of the MPs to Kumar’s home in Piragarhi here.“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,” Phoolka had said yesterday, as exclusively reported by The Tribune today.Phoolka had joined the BJP in April this year.He said the visit of the MPs was especially condemnable considering that the BJP had always supported the anti-Sikh riot survivors’ quest for justice and supported the victim families in ensuring that Sajjan Kumar stayed 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,” said the former Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly.Phoolka has long been the legal representative of the families of anti-Sikh riot survivors in their long and arduous journey for justice.The BJP had, when contacted for comments on the issue, said the MPs went to Sajjan Kumar’s house in their individual capacity.“The three MPs went to the house of Sajjan Kumar in their personal capacity and not as party persons,” BJP spokesperson RP Singh said.The parliamentary constituencies of Bidhuri (South Delhi), Kamaljeet Sehrawat (West Delhi) and Chandolia (North West Delhi) were carved out of the erstwhile Outer Delhi constituency, which Sajjan Kumar represented in the Lok Sabha as a Congress MP.


