Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Op-ed: Why AAP wants Special Investigation Team for 1984 riots - Blog from Ashutosh

Op-ed: Why AAP wants Special Investigation Team for 1984 riots

Ashutosh, a prominent journalist, quit as Managing Editor of IBN7 to join the Aam Aadmi Party in January.

AAP has completed a month in government. I'm being asked if we are happy with our performance.  Yes, 100 per cent. 

The AAP government's performance should be seen from two perspectives:  a) making impact on the larger polity and,  b) it is because of AAP that integrity and simplicity have become buzz words in a political universe that was running on a 5-star culture. 

Today, we have asked for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the 1984 riots in Delhi. 

The '84 riots shook the basic foundation of India as a nation. As secular state, we can't afford a riot of this proportion and its more worrisome if the perpetrators of the riots go unpunished. It's a shame that even after 29 years neither has a proper investigation taken place, nor have those responsible for the riots could be punished. 

More than half a dozen commissions were formed, several reports were prepared, but justice was never done. It is in this context that Aam Aadmi Party promised to itself, and to the community and India at large, that not only will a proper investigation happen but those responsible for the carnage will be severely punished.

That is why we emphasized this in AAP's manifesto. 

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) must be set up. It must complete its inquiry in a time-bound manner and identify the people responsible. The modalities have yet to be worked out.

It's hilarious that Rahul Gandhi has realised this fact now - that some Congressmen were involved in the massacre. It took him and his party 29 years to reach this conclusion! Rahul Gandhi has the audacity to say that the Congress government tried to stop the riots in Delhi. 

I don't remember any incident in history where a massacre of this magnitude happened despite the government's so-called effort to stop it. This speaks volumes about how incompetent the party leadership was. AAP believes that Rahul Gandhi's assertion that his government was trying to stop the riots is a big farce and he is trying to hide behind that silly excuse. But, people are not foolish. (Also read: Rahul Gandhi accuses Modi of 'abetting' Gujarat riots)

If Rahul Gandhi was so concerned about justice, he would have asked his government to get the riots properly investigated and the perpetrators would have been behind bars. Since he did not do that, I have all the reasons to believe that he is only shedding crocodile tears.

source - NDTV

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