‘Deliberate Gesture’: BJP Attacks Congress Over Jagdish Tytler’s Presence At Party Event | Politics News

Last Updated:November 20, 2025, 13:42 IST

The BJP said Tytler’s involvement in the 1984 Sikh killings has been established beyond doubt through testimonies, commissions, and decades of pursuit by victims

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya said the Congress chose to seat Jagdish Tytler as a prominent guest at an event honouring former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet with the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize. (Photo: X/AmitMalviya)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday launched an attack on the Congress over the alleged presence of Jagdish Tytler, an accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, at an event of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya said the Congress chose to seat Jagdish Tytler as a prominent guest at an event honouring former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet with the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize.

Malviya said Tytler’s involvement in the 1984 Sikh killings has been established beyond doubt through testimonies, commissions, and decades of pursuit by victims.

“For the Gandhi family to continue patronising and legitimising him sends a chilling message to the Sikh community: Congress has neither remorse nor regret for 1984. This deliberate gesture is not an accident. It is a reminder of how lightly the party treats one of India’s darkest, most traumatic chapters. The Sikh community must see this for what it is: a political signal that the Congress refuses to confront its own role in the 1984 massacre. History cannot be erased. Memory cannot be silenced. And accountability cannot be indefinitely denied,” the BJP leader wrote on X.

Last year, Tytler’s presence at the Congress party headquarters during the Independence Day flag hoisting ceremony stoked controversy.

Malviya, in a post on X, had said: “Jagdish Tytler, the man who unleashed genocide on Sikhs at Rajiv Gandhi’s behest, is once again seen alongside Rahul Gandhi at the Congress HQ. Some stains don’t wash away, no matter how much time passes. The Gandhis are unapologetic too.”

The 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which happened after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, then prime minister, led to the deaths of over 3,000 Sikhs across the country. The worst violence had been reported in Delhi at that time.

Saurabh Verma

Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19

Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19

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