NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said justice to the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots started being delivered only after the Narendra Modi government assumed office in 2014.
Addressing a programme of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee here, Shah said 300 cases related to the 1984 riots were reopened and compensation of Rs 5 lakh was given to the family of each of the victims after 2014.
“No one can forget the riots of 1984. No one was punished in those riots until the Modi government assumed office. Many inquiry commissions were formed but did not yield results. But Modi formed SIT, reopened 300 cases and started sending those who were guilty to jail,” he said.
The home minister said that after so many years, the process of giving compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the 3,328 victims was done by the Modi government.
Paying glowing tributes to the Sikh gurus and the Sikh community, he said the Sikhs move forward taking both religion and karma equally and when it is an issue of sacrificing one’s life for religion, a true Sikh never looks back.
He said that from the days of independence struggle to the security of the country now, the sacrifice of Sikh brothers is unparalleled.
Shah paid tributes to the Sikh gurus and said: “I bow my head to the Guru tradition of the Sikh religion. Guru tradition of 10 generations of Sikh Panth has set before the world an excellent example of struggle and sacrifice against injustice and barbarity before the invaders.” He said the contribution of the 9th Guru Teg Bahadur to the country can never be forgotten.
His supreme sacrifice against the atrocities of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb on the people in Kashmir shows his greatness, Shah said.
The home minister said when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had decided to celebrate a festival in memory of Guru Teg Bahadur, then it was decided that his admiration will begin from the same spot of the Red Fort from where his martyrdom was announced.
On the founder of the Sikh religion Guru Nanak Dev, he said Guru Nanak Dev preached equality of all religions in many countries through ‘Char Udasiyaan’.
“His feet have been found from Karnataka to Mecca. No one can even imagine about traveling so much on foot in those days to spread the message of selfless love,” he said.
Shah also referred to the tradition of empowering women in Sikh religion and said it began years ago with the teaching of Mata Khivi’s langar.
“From the fight against the rule of the Mughals to the movement against the British and the struggle for independence and even now, the Sikhs have always been at the forefront in making the supreme sacrifice to secure the borders of the country,” he said.