Phoolka demands withdrawal of Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna

New Delhi

Senior lawyer HS Phoolka, who has been fighting for the rights of 1984 Sikh riots victims, on Thursday demanded that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna Award be withdrawn, and accused him of justifying the 1984 ‘genocide’. He said in 1984, on this day, nation’s prime minister had justified the killing of 3, 000 Sikhs in his address at the boat club in national capital. He had said that when a big tree falls then the earth shakes. Instead of punishing the culprits of such mass murder, he was justifying it. He said a Prime Minister, who justified and genocide and whose party was responsible for the massacre, can’t be a Bharat Ratna and further demanded Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna’s be taken back. He said that Rajiv Gandhi had not only protected main accused – HKL Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler- of the 1984 riots case, but also awarded them berths in his ministry. He said Rajive Gandhi not only failed to take action against accused Tytler and HKL Bhagat, he made them ministers in his cabinet. On November 16, 1984, the Home Minister of the country announced that the death toll in the Sikh riots was 684. It took him three years to realise how many had died after a report which assessed that 2733 Sikhs were killed. (ANI)

Video of Rajiv Gandhi’s infamous ‘When a big tree falls…’ justification for 84 anti-Sikh massacre released by HS Phoolka.