3 Delhi BJP MPs attend Sajjan Kumar condolence meeting, pulled up by Nitin Nabin

Three BJP MPs from Delhi were reprimanded by the party national president Nitin Nabin for attending Saturday's condolence meeting organised for late Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was convicted for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

All three — South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, North West Delhi MP Yogender Chandolia and West Delhi MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat — represent Parliamentary constituencies with a sizeable populations from the Jat community settled across both rural and semi urban villages cross-crossing the city’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

According to party sources, alarm bells began ringing after the three turned up at the condolence meeting following Sajjan's death on August 20. In addition to the BJP’s top brass in the Capital, insiders said, several senior leaders based in Punjab also received complaints regarding the development.

Nabin is said to have reprimanded the three MPs after summoning them to the party headquarters, underlining that the visit was their personal decision. Sources said Nabin spoke to, and demanded, a clarification from each of them separately, and is said to have underlined that their visit went beyond propriety, given the former Jat strongman’s conviction by the Delhi High Court.

“The president is said to have underlined that their landing up together seemed to indicate that they were representing the party as a formal delegation. It was not only completely uncalled for, but also against the BJP’s own stance against the genocide,” a senior BJP leader said.

“Two of them are said to have submitted that they had not initially planned on visiting but did so after their remaining colleague suggested that they do so,” a party source said. The Indian Express reached out to all three MPs via phone and text but none responded to requests for a comment.

Meanwhile, senior Supreme Court advocate and BJP Punjab leader HS Phoolka called for a boycott of the trio. This comes amid the BJP seeking to exude confidence around contesting the Punjab Assembly elections next year on its own.

“Strongly condemn visit of 3 MP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Yogender Chandolia to mass murderer Sajjan Kumar’s residence to offer condolences on his death," Phoolka posted on X. “This when #BJP has always supported our quest for justice against this culprits and supported us in ensuring that he stays in Jail.

Sympathy should be reserved for victims and their families-many of whom live the horror of those days even till now… I call for the boycott of these 3 MPs,” he added. Following Nabin’s meeting with the three MPs, Phoolka, in another post, said, “Greateful to @NitinNabin ji for taking a strong stance on the issue.

This is what leadership should look like, as opposed to the hypocrisy of the Congress all these years…”