Human Rights in Punjab

Yesterday marked the conclusion of India’s elections for the lower parliamentary house, the Lok Sabha.  During the final round of elections on May 10, Delhi went to the polls to vote for or against two perpetrators of the 1984 carnage against Sikhs and one of their defenders.

Sikh residents reacted to the use of the 1984 carnage as a major election issue with feelings ranging from cynicism to activism:

‘‘They are bringing up a 20-year-old issue. How is it that nobody remembered this issue before? The people are being fooled,’’ said Sarabjit Kaur, a voter from Karmapur in Sadar. ‘‘If the Congress is responsible for the riots then the BJP is responsible for its failure to bring the guilty to book,’’ he added….

In Outer Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, the BJP’s month-long efforts to woo the Sikh community were negated today, with most Sikhs staying away from the polling stations. Tilak Nagar houses many victims of the ’84 riots and had formed a focal point of BJP candidate Sahib Singh Verma’s rigorous campaigning…

The few who did turn up were determined to show their angst against the Congress. ‘‘How could the Congress field Sajjan Kumar? I usually don’t vote but I have come this time to make my point,’’says Manpreet Kaur.

The results of the elections will be declared on May 13.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2004 at 12:38 pm and is filed under 1984. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.