08-09-2005, 12:17 AM
Pioneer
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Brazen Cong may burn bridges with Sikhs </b>
Sidharth Mishra/ New Delhi
The attempt to brazen itself out of the tight situation will lead to an irreparable loss of credibility for the Congress party. <b>The shameless effort to 'exonerate' its two stalwarts from their 'complicity' in the 1984 holocaust against the Sikh community</b>, would definitely mean a loss of moral ground for the Congress in times to come and make them unfit to charge their opponents of allegedly perpetrating a similar carnage.
The Nanavati Commission report, and the angry outburst against the attempts to water down its recommendations, has once again put the charge of orchestrating the carnage like an albatross around the neck of the Congress. While two individual leaders, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar have a degree of difference in their exoneration or complicity, whichever way you interpret the report, the larger question of the willingness of the Congress to punish the perpetrators of the 1984 riots stands bigger than ever before.
<b>The party in the city is sure to face the backlash from the well-knit Sikh community, which did not even hesitate to teach a lesson to Dr Manmohan Singh when he contested the Lok Sabha polls from South Delhi in 1999. Dr Singh on the eve of the election committed the blasphemy of blaming the Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS) for instigating the riots against Sikhs. The Sikhs came out in large numbers to vote the next morning and ensured that Dr Singh was routed.</b> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Now with Dr Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister presiding over the biggest ever cover-up of the carnage could well provide the much-needed elixir to a dormant BJP in the Capital. It was after several attempts at mollification by the Sheila Dikshit government that the Sikh voter was won over by the Congress ensuring a second consecutive term for the party at Player's Building. With Monday's developments, the Congress leaders and cadres would find it difficult to justify the Centre's stand on the issue.
While people would jump to the conclusion that with Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler in a spot, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit would be able to put dissidence behind her, the bigger challenge she would face would be from the voter, as the party goes to polls for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2006.
Despite its dismal performance in the last few polls, <b>the Congress has never been able to rout the BJP in the Sikh-dominated constituencies of West Delhi</b>. A revival of angst against the Congress could be a citywide phenomenon with the Capital's Sikh community hitting back with vengeance. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Brazen Cong may burn bridges with Sikhs </b>
Sidharth Mishra/ New Delhi
The attempt to brazen itself out of the tight situation will lead to an irreparable loss of credibility for the Congress party. <b>The shameless effort to 'exonerate' its two stalwarts from their 'complicity' in the 1984 holocaust against the Sikh community</b>, would definitely mean a loss of moral ground for the Congress in times to come and make them unfit to charge their opponents of allegedly perpetrating a similar carnage.
The Nanavati Commission report, and the angry outburst against the attempts to water down its recommendations, has once again put the charge of orchestrating the carnage like an albatross around the neck of the Congress. While two individual leaders, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar have a degree of difference in their exoneration or complicity, whichever way you interpret the report, the larger question of the willingness of the Congress to punish the perpetrators of the 1984 riots stands bigger than ever before.
<b>The party in the city is sure to face the backlash from the well-knit Sikh community, which did not even hesitate to teach a lesson to Dr Manmohan Singh when he contested the Lok Sabha polls from South Delhi in 1999. Dr Singh on the eve of the election committed the blasphemy of blaming the Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS) for instigating the riots against Sikhs. The Sikhs came out in large numbers to vote the next morning and ensured that Dr Singh was routed.</b> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Now with Dr Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister presiding over the biggest ever cover-up of the carnage could well provide the much-needed elixir to a dormant BJP in the Capital. It was after several attempts at mollification by the Sheila Dikshit government that the Sikh voter was won over by the Congress ensuring a second consecutive term for the party at Player's Building. With Monday's developments, the Congress leaders and cadres would find it difficult to justify the Centre's stand on the issue.
While people would jump to the conclusion that with Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler in a spot, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit would be able to put dissidence behind her, the bigger challenge she would face would be from the voter, as the party goes to polls for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2006.
Despite its dismal performance in the last few polls, <b>the Congress has never been able to rout the BJP in the Sikh-dominated constituencies of West Delhi</b>. A revival of angst against the Congress could be a citywide phenomenon with the Capital's Sikh community hitting back with vengeance. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->