NEW DELHI: The controversies around the death of 1984 Sikh riots convict Sajjan Kumar have claimed three new victims — this time on the opposite side of the political spectrum. A few days after Congress leader Deepender Hooda was intensely criticised by his party colleagues for praising the controversial figure, three BJP MPs have now come under fire for visiting his house to offer condolences.
Sajjan Kumar, 80, died earlier this month while serving his life sentence for killing five men during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. His appeal was pending before the Supreme Court. The former Congress leader had been suffering from health issues such as high blood pressure and Parkinson’s disease. Some Haryana Congress leaders, including Hooda, were quick to condole his death, and were chastised owing to Kumar’s chequered past and the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections.
BJP chief Nitin Nabin has summoned the three MPs – Ramvir Bidhuri, Yogender Chandoliya, and Kamaljeet Sehrawat.
“They shouldn’t have gone,” he said.
Sajjan Kumar became a Lok Sabha MP in 1980, winning the election from the Outer Delhi constituency on a Congress ticket. Even after the 1984 riots, he was elected twice on Congress tickets – in 1991 and 2004.
In 2010, he was charged with murder, rioting, criminal conspiracy, and inciting violence during the riots. Witnesses claimed he had given inflammatory speeches and provided rioters with Rs 100 and liquor.
In 2018, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 1984 riots. In 2025, a Delhi court convicted him in a second case for instigating and participating in the murder of Jaswant Singh and his son, Tarundeep Singh, on November 1, 1984.
Even after his death, he remains a deeply controversial topic in Sikh-dominated Punjab.
It is for this reason that several Congress leaders, including former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, slammed Hooda.
The BJP was not far behind in slamming Kumar and Hooda. The visits of the three MPs, however, have provided the party’s political opponents an opportunity to target it.
“Now the real face of the BJP has also come to the fore. On the occasion of Sajjan Kumar’s final bhog, three BJP Members of Parliament were present. These included West Delhi MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat, South Delhi MP Rambir Singh Bidhuri, and Northwest Delhi MP Yogender Chandolia,” said AAP leader Baltej Pannu.
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