California assembly passes resolution urging US Congress to recognise 1984 anti-Sikh riots as 'genocide'

The California state assembly passed a resolution, requesting the US Congress to formally recognise the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India as 'genocide'. The resolution also urged the US Congress to condemn the violence.

The resolution, passed on Monday by the California assembly, said the Sikh community in the US had not yet recovered from the physical and psychological trauma of the riots, and urged the US Congress to formally recognise and condemn the November 1984 anti-Sikh violence as a genocide, news agency PTI reported.

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The same resolution was passed by the Senate of New Jersey on January 6 last year, according to a Times of India report.

It was introduced by assembly member Jasmeet Kaur Bains on March 22. It was passed unanimously by the California state assembly.

Bains is the first-ever elected Sikh member of the California state assembly.

The resolution was co-sponsored by assembly member Carlos Villapudua. Only other Hindu member, Ash Kalra, also voted in favour of the resolution.

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The resolution spoke about a 'Widow Colony' in the national capital and said it still housed "Sikh women who were assaulted, raped, tortured, and forced to witness the dismemberment, burning and murder of their families, and who are still calling for justice against the perpetrators".

“In 2015, the California assembly also passed a resolution terming the anti-Sikh violence as pogrom,” Pritpal Singh, president of the American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, was quoted by Times of India as saying.