AAP ex-MLA Phoolka, lawyer for 1984 riot victims, joins BJP

NEW DELHI: Senior advocate H S Phoolka, a former Aam Aadmi Party MLA best known for his decades-long doughty legal fight for 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims, joined BJP on Wednesday in a boost to the party's outreach to Sikhs ahead of assembly elections in Punjab early next year.

The leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly during its previous term when AAP had emerged as the second largest party after Congress, Phoolka was scathing in his denunciation of its current govt for alleged crime and extortion, drug menace and rampant corruption. He said only BJP can "save" the border state. Though Phoolka is not a conventional politician and has largely concentrated on his legal practice, he enjoys considerable goodwill among Sikhs, providing BJP a bridge to connect with them in Punjab.

He recalled the killings of Sikhs in 1984 and was all praises for the help of the BJP brass, especially Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Madan Lal Khurana. It was a genocide, he said, calling it targeting of Sikhs by Congress and not Hindus, stressing the help rendered by several Hindus. He said he had long provided legal help to BJP in riot cases and has now decided to join it.
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