Prominent human rights lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka, who is fighting a long legal battle for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, joined the BJP on Wednesday.
Phulka, a Jat Sikh from Bahadur town in Sangrur, was earlier a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a former Punjab Assembly legislator.
After joining the BJP on Wednesday, Phoolka recalls how he and his wife, who was pregnant at the time, fled rioters in 1984 after their landlord’s family hid them.
He also spoke in detail about the legal battle he fought on behalf of the victims and how the BJP extended support to it. Phoolka was awarded the Padma Shri in 2019 and pursued the case against Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, who were accused of stoking anti-Sikh riots in 1984 after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Phulka entered politics in 2014 with the AAP, where she contested the Lok Sabha elections from Ludhiana, but lost. He later won the Dekha seat in the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections and briefly served as the leader of the opposition in the state.
Two years later, he resigned from the Justice and Development Party and moved away from politics. Phoolka announced his decision to resign from his position after the Delhi Bar Council barred him from practicing law while holding the position as well. He eventually resigned as MLA in 2018 and resigned from the AAP in early 2019 to focus entirely on judicial issues.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who was present during his accession, said it was not appropriate to term the event as a riot, as the community was attacked.
