Protesters deface Rajiv Chowk signboard in Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS) Survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on Wednesday defaced a signboard of Rajiv Chowk in Connaught Place and demanded the renaming of the place after revolutionary leader Shaheed Bhagat Singh. A video, which surfaced online, showed the protesters, including women, raising slogans against Rajiv Gandhi as they garlanded the signboard with shoes and slippers and splashed black paint on 'Rajiv'. The incident comes a day after a statute of the late Prime Minister was vandalised in Ludhiana in Punjab by Akali Dal leaders. Holding Rajiv Gandhi responsible for the 1984 riots, the protesters demanded that the area be renamed as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk. "A case has been registered at the Connaught Place police station on the complaint of the New Delhi Municipal Council. The probe is underway and we are identifying the people with the help of CCTV," DCP (New Delhi) Madhur Verma told IANS. The Akali Dal, on Wednesday, said the actions were justified. "We are neither supporting such things nor condemning. All the actions of the survivors are justified. If you are denied justice for 34 years, it is normal to be angry. Their anger against the Congress is obvious as the party has embraced the murders. Morally, the Congress cannot say that the act was wrong," Akali leader M.S. Sirsa told IANS.
--IANS and-sp-akk-nks/oeb/sed