With the Shiromani Akali Dal flaying the Congress for nominating Kamal Nath as the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister (CM) despite his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh on Friday slammed SAD for politicising the 1984 riots.

Intervening during a call attention motion in the Assembly on the issue after it was raised by Akali legislator Bikram Singh Majithia, Amarinder said the law was taking its due course as far as allegations against the veteran former union minister were concerned.

The fact of the matter was that Kamal Nath had been Central minister for more than 10 years after the allegations first surfaced, Amarinder pointed out, adding that a mere reference about the senior Congress leader in the Nanavati Commission report could not be construed as his involvement in the case.

The law alone could decide the role of any individual, the CM said, adding that nobody should exploit this sensitive issue of the 1984 riots for their political ends.

Amarinder also showed pictures of then CM Parkash Singh Badal presenting a bouquet to then Union minister Kamal Nath and then Punjab ministers Sukhbir Singh Badal and Parminder Singh Dhindsa attending a meeting with the then Union minister to highlight the fact that the Akali leaders were just trying to politicise the issue for their petty vested interests.

On this, Dhindsa retorted by stating that they had met Kamal Nath as Punjab ministers and it was the Congress which had made him the Union minister. To this the CM said he too meets the BJP leaders who are part of the Union government but unlike Akalis he doesn’t hide such meetings.

Defending Kamal Nath, cabinet minister Brahm Mohindra said no FIR mentions Kamal Nath’s name in the anti-Sikh riot cases. “Kamal Nath was a member of Parliament eight times and Union minister for three times, but this issue (of his link to riots) was never raised before this. He was also the in-charge of Delhi Congress but the issue was never raised,” he said.

Responding to this, Shiromani Akali Dal legislator Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged the law was crushed in the anti-Sikh riot cases. Giving an example, he said the case, in which two accused have been death and life sentence respectively, was closed and re-opened five times. “It was Narendra Modi which formed the SIT in 2015 to investigate these cases,” he said. The SAD staged a walk out on the issue seeking punishment for Congress leaders including Kamal Nath, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.