Row over Capt Amarinder Singh’s tweet in May: ‘Issue is being examined, will be responded to legally’

Captain Amarinder Singh (File)

A tweet by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on May 17 this year continues to haunt the state government, even as it is preparing a reply to a notice issued by the National Human Rights Commission. Amarinder had tweeted: “I felt betrayed by then PM Chandra Shekhar after 21 Khalistani militants I arranged to surrender were killed. Never spoke to him after that.” The Punjab CM had tweeted the excerpts of his authorised biography a day earlier in Delhi.

The NHRC had issued a notice to the Punjab government after Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Manjit Singh G K filed a petition against Amarinder over the tweet.

The DSGMC filed a petition in NHRC saying that Amarinder should be directed to disclose the names of 21 youths, whose surrender he had organised and should make it clear why he did not react to the killings at that time, did not press for compensation to the families and did not compensate them after becoming the Chief Minister from 2002 to 2007 and a case should be registered against him and the police officers responsible for the violation of human rights.

In June, the NHRC had issued a notice to the Punjab Chief Secretary seeking a reply in the case within four weeks. The Punjab government has not submitted a reply even after five months have passed. The government is grappling with the reply as it could turn out to be a serious issue, sources said.

An official told The Indian Express that it was being deliberated thoroughly as it was “a state’s CM who had tweeted that he had arranged for the surrender of 21 youths and they were killed and hence it was taking time.”

Raveen Thukral, media adviser to Amarinder, said, “What the CM tweeted was nothing new. He just repeated what was written in the biography. The matter is being examined by legal experts and it will be responded to legally.”

The DSGMC team, on the other hand, said they would not let the matter rest till the Punjab government pays compensation to the families of the youths. “We made an appeal to people through media to locate families of those 21 youths who were in touch with Amarinder then. We have been able to contact two of them. They will be coming to us. Then we will see,” said Parvinder Singh, an office-bearer of DSGMC.