AAP, SAD exploiting 1984 riots issue for poll gains: Captain Amarinder Singh

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress Chief Amarinder Singh today accused AAP and SAD of exploiting Sikh sentiments by raking up the 1984 riots with an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

"The Akalis have been ruling Punjab for nearly 10 years, and AAP has now been in power in Delhi for two years. But neither party even thought of the issue till this moment, when elections in Punjab are round the corner," he said.

The Akalis have a history of raising the issue only during election time and immediately forgetting all about it the moment elections are over, Amarinder said.

He said Punjab is gripped by a "host of serious problems", ranging from unemployment to drug menace, declining industrial and economic growth, and an agrarian crisis among others. "Yet, all these parties want to talk about is an issue which has absolutely no relevance for people today."

The state Congress chief made it clear that he was a staunch opponent of Operation Bluestar, adding that the 1984 riots were the "darkest chapter" in Sikh history.

He said that though he had resigned from the Parliament and the Congress over the riots issue, it was time now for Punjab to move forward.

Charging AAP, which had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking reopening of the anti-Sikh riot cases in the next three months, with "brazen opportunism", Amarinder said that if Arvind Kejriwal's party had been sincere in its intentions it would not have waited for the Punjab polls to take up the matter.