1984 riots: Akali protest Amarinder's remark on Tytler

New Delhi, Apr 21: Hundreds of

protesters belonging to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today staged a protest outside Congress headquarter against its Amritsar Lok Sabha candidate

's "clean chit" to fellow party leader

in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

Led by Delhi SAD president Manjit Singh GK, protesters reached the Congress office at 24, Akbar Road this afternoon, holding placards and raised slogans against Amarinder and Tytler. Police also erected barricades to prevent them from reaching the Congress office and later had to resort to use of water cannons to disperse them. The protests came in the wake of Amarinder recently telling a news channel that while other Congress leaders may be linked to the riots, Tytler played no role in the violence.

But Amarinder today clarified that he had not given a clean chit to Tytler

"I'm not the CBI, I'm not the court. I'm telling you what I saw and felt....I was in Delhi, I went to all the camps.. and everyone I met took all these names that I have told you except Jagdish Tytler. When did Jagdish Tytler's name come up? It came up when he was fighting Madan Lal Khurana in Delhi, that was months later," Amarinder had said.

But Amarinder today clarified that he had not given a clean chit to Tytler. He said while he had heard the names of other Congress leaders including H K L Bhagat, Lalit Maken and Sajjan Kumar, but not Tytler's from the riot victims living in relief camps. "Amarinder's remarks come as the rescue to Congress leader Tytler, who allegedly played role in the violence of 1984.

Amarinder doesn't have any rights to give any clean cheat to Tytler," Manjit, also president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, told reporters here. Manjit also alleged: "He (Amrinder) gave statement on 1984-riots to polarise votes for making senior Congress leadership happy." "We will soon file a complaint against Singh (Amarinder) to the Election Commission of India," he also added. Protesters also had a clash with some police officials when they were stopped from marching ahead.

Terming the statement by Amarinder as "atrocious, shocking and anti-Sikh", Manjit also said that it had angered the Sikhs living all over the globe and has rubbed salt into the wounds of families of innocent Sikhs killed in riots. "Amarinder Singh has no judicial authority to give a clean chit to an accused of a heinous crime. By making such comments he had tried to pressurise the judicial system of the country," he further alleged.

Manjeet along with some of the other protesters were later detained and taken to the Tughlaq Road police station.

PTI