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Haryana Cong leader seeks Deepender’s removal from CWC over Sajjan Kumar praise
Sharma said Hooda’s comments “re-opened the wounds” of the Sikh community and could hurt the Congress’s prospects in Punjab, where the party faces elections
Former Haryana assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma on Sunday asked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to remove Rohtak member of Parliament Deepender Hooda from the Congress Working Committee (CWC) over his remarks praising former party leader Sajjan Kumar.
In a letter to Kharge, Sharma said Hooda’s comments “re-opened the wounds” of the Sikh community and could hurt the Congress’s prospects in Punjab, where the party faces elections. Hooda and Sharma were once close associates who have since fallen out.
Deepender Hooda had described Sajjan Kumar’s death on August 20 as a “loss to the country’s political landscape”, a role model and praised the former Congress MP’s “connect with people and contribution to Delhi’s development.”
Kumar, 80, was serving a life term in prison at the time of his death and had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court in 2018 for leading a mob that killed five Sikhs and burnt a gurdwara in Raj Nagar near Palam Colony in 1984. Later in 2025, he was convicted again in another murder case related to the riots and was sentenced to life.
Several Congress leaders in Punjab immediately distanced themselves and the party from Deepender Hooda’s remarks on Kumar.
Lok Sabha MP from Jalandhar and former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi said that it was unacceptable to praise Sajjan Kumar, who died in prison for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh violence.
Kumar is a disgrace to humanity, Channi said in a statement after Hooda paid tributes to Kumar. “Far from being a role model, even uttering his name is a sin...He should have been shot publicly,” said the former chief minister.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said Hooda’s comments may be his “personal view”, but stressed that for many, the wounds of the riots were still fresh.
“No person whether a Sikh or a non-Sikh can forget the pain and trauma of 1984. Despite the passage of so much time, the trauma runs deep in people’s minds,” he said.
In his letter to Kharge, the former Haryana assembly speaker said Hooda’s comments could damage the Congress’s prospects in Punjab, where elections are due in 2027.
“Ever since Deepender Hooda, permanent invitee to the CWC, has issued a statement extolling the virtues of Sajjan Kumar as a role model, it has sent shock waves among the Sikh community of India. A few of my Sikh friends from Haryana and Punjab have called me to express their resentment over such an irresponsible statement,’’ Sharma said.
The former speaker said that after the farmers’ agitation, the Sikh community backed the Congress but this could change after Hooda’s statement. “The Congress had disassociated itself completely from Sajjan Kumar. Therefore, in order to heal the wounds that have now been reopened, Deepender Hooda should be removed from the CWC so as to demonstrate the bona fides of the party, as such immature and irresponsible remarks have weakened the party in the eyes of a community that is very relevant in Punjab,’’ Sharma said.
In a statement after the outrage, Hooda said that he did not intend to hurt anyone’s feelings. “We have said this before, that the 1984 riots were a great injustice. Our Sikh brothers should get justice and those guilty should be punished. We stand with the Sikh community.”
