Ravi Shankar Prasad says two blots stain Punjab’s soul: anti-Sikh riots, and drugs

BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad. File | Photo Credit: ANI

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP and former Union Minister MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday (November 4, 2026) said two blots stain Punjab’s soul — the wounds of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the agony of drug addiction — and they could not heal without “uncompromised justice”.

Mr. Prasad was speaking at a day-long conclave, organised here by the Punjab BJP on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots titled ‘Zakhm 84 De’ (the wounds of 1984).

“Two deep blots stain Punjab’s soul today — ‘84 ke zakhm’ (the wounds of 1984) and ‘chitte di peeda’ (the agony of drug addiction). These wounds cannot heal without uncompromised justice,” Mr. Prasad said, even as he took a dig at the Congress, alleging it was rubbing salt into these wounds by earlier staging a rally in Delhi on November 1, and by holding a political event in Punjab on November 5.

“The Congress had never cared about those killed in the anti-Sikh riots but only moved heaven and earth to shield three or four of the party’s key leaders,” Mr. Prasad said. “It was only when the Narendra Modi government stepped in, formed the Special Investigation Team and Justice Dhingra’s recommendations were enforced that convictions like Sajjan Kumar’s were secured,” he said.

“The community that forgets its past forgets its future. We have neither forgotten 1984 nor will we allow it to be forgotten,” Punjab BJP President Kewal Singh Dhillon said.

Published - November 04, 2026 06:03 pm IST