Chandigarh, September 2:Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and noted Supreme Court lawyer Sardar H.S. Phoolka today accused the Aam Aadmi Party of playing politics with the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre and using their pain for electoral gains instead of genuinely fighting for justice.

Addressing a press conference flanked by State media Head Vineet Joshi , Sardar Phoolka said the AAP’s recent protests on the issue were an example of political hypocrisy. He particularly questioned the participation of an AAP MLA Ram Singh Netaji in a condolence meeting organised for former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was convicted in a 1984 anti-Sikh massacre case.

Sardar Phoolka said the victims had waited for decades for justice and that their suffering should not be reduced to a political tool. “Those who genuinely stand with the victims cannot simultaneously express solidarity with those convicted in cases relating to crimes against them,” he said.

➖ AAP Delayed Compensation for Political Reasons

Recalling the history of compensation, Sardar Phoolka said that after the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014, the then Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced an additional ₹5 lakh compensation for each victim family of the 1984 massacre.

He said the Centre directed the states to distribute the compensation at the earliest because the victims had already waited nearly 30 years. While compensation was distributed in several states, it was delayed in Delhi after the AAP government came to power.

“I repeatedly requested the AAP government to distribute the compensation. The money had already been sanctioned by the Centre. But I was told that there was no point in giving it immediately and that it could be given closer to the Punjab elections,” he said.

Sardar Phoolka said he resigned from all party posts in September 2015 in protest against the delay. Subsequently, on November 1, 2015, the Delhi Government distributed the additional compensation at a function in Tilak Vihar.

“The victims had already waited 30 years. Their suffering should never have been viewed through the lens of electoral calculations,” he said.

➖ BJP Stood with Victims for Four Decades

Sardar Phoolka said his association with the BJP on the issue of justice for 1984 victims goes back nearly four decades, even though he formally joined the party recently. He recalled that during Madan Lal Khurana’s tenure as Delhi Chief Minister, he served as his adviser and BJP lawyers, including senior leaders Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad, appeared in cases relating to the massacre.

He also recalled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s efforts to highlight the actual scale of the killings and stand with the victims despite political pressure.

It was during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure as PM and now during Narendra Modi’s PM tenure that people responsible for 84 massacre got punishments.

➖ “The difference is clear: BJP stood with the victims when it was difficult; AAP remembered them when it became politically convenient. The victims needed justice, compensation and dignity—not political slogans,” Sardar Phoolka said.