New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta joined Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday to meet victims and survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots at Puri's residence in Delhi, where the two leaders heard firsthand accounts of the tragedy and reaffirmed support for the families, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Dev Discourse

Reflecting on the testimonies, Gupta said: "What happened in 1984 was a massacre of innocent people... People were dragged from their homes and brutally killed... Hearing out from these mothers and sisters is deeply distressing. Their suffering is something that cannot be forgotten." The interaction served as a platform to hear the families' grievances, discuss ongoing relief measures and address the historical injustice faced by the community, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Dev Discourse

Puri rejected the term "riots" for 1984, classifying the violence as an organised "genocide" and a "crime against humanity", and cited official figures of 2,733 deaths in Delhi and 3,325 nationwide. He also rejected the narrative that the killings were a spontaneous outbreak of anger after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination, saying that claim was "simply not true", ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Dev Discourse

Also present at the meeting were Lakshmi Puri, former senior UN official; Delhi BJP MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah; and senior advocate H. S. Phoolka, who has spent decades litigating cases on behalf of riot victims, Nation Press reported. Visuals from the meeting showed the Chief Minister consoling one of the victims, ANI reported via Daily Prabhat.

Source: Nation Press

On rehabilitation, Gupta committed the Delhi government to ensuring government employment for the remaining eligible dependants of riot victims, saying government jobs have already been provided to a number of dependants. Her post did not specify how many positions have been filled or how many applicants remain, Nation Press reported.

Source: Nation Press

The meeting comes a week after the November 1 march from Hari Nagar Depot to Tilak Nagar Metro Station, in which Puri, Gupta, Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra, Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa and members of the Sikh community took part, as the BJP mounted a counter-offensive to the INDIA bloc's "Chalo Delhi" rally and accused the Congress of holding a political rally on the anniversary of the violence, ANI reported. What happens next: the families and their advocates will watch whether the jobs commitment is followed by a published count of the remaining eligible dependants and formal appointment orders.

Source: ANI via Dev Discourse