Sirsa hails commuting Beant Singh assassin's death sentence, says 'dark day for Congress'

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) on Monday hailed the Centre's decision to commute the death sentence of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh's assassin and claimed it as a "dark day for the Congress, which murdered many Sikhs."

"It is a dark day for the Congress because they killed over 1 lakh young Sikhs. This did not happen anywhere in the country and the world that people of the same party committed massacres in many places in the country including 1984 Sikh riots and killings in Sri Raj Darbar. It is really a dark day for Congress," DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa told .

The Union home ministry on Sunday approved the commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment Balwant Singh Rajoana for his role in Beant Singh's assassination on August 31, 1995.

On Sunday, Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu termed the commutation of Rajoana's death sentence as "a dark day in the history of Punjab, democracy and justice".

However, DSGMC president slammed the remarks and stated the dark days where innocent Sikhs were ruthlessly killed were now over, adding that the former chief minister Beant Singh was a "victim of the same conspiracy against Sikhs".

Manjinder Singh Sirsa also hailed Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah for the decision.

"This was a long-standing demand of Akalis. Sikhs are the pride of the country. We have given and taken life for the country. I want to appeal to the countrymen that those who are opposing the government's decision to understand the pain of Sikh community."

Sirsa said it was "wrong" to question this decision of the government as it gives the message of humty.

"Congratulations are given if the Congress forgives the assassin of Rajiv Gandhi. If the central government changes the hanging of Balwant Singh into life imprisonment, then there is protest" said the DSGMC president.

On August 31, 1995, 17 people, including the then chief minister Beant Singh, were killed in an explosion outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh.

( With inputs from ANI )