Sajjan Kumar, a three-term Lok Sabha member and once a powerful leader of Delhi Congress, whose political career was eclipsed by his conviction in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases , died at Safdarjung Hospital here on Thursday (August 20, 2026) . He was 81.
Family members of 1984 anti sikh killings had protested outside Rouse Avenue Court, as the Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar appeared at the Court, in New Delhi, on Feb. 12, 2025. The Delhi court awarded lifer to Sajjan Kumar in a case related to the murders of two persons in Saraswati Vihar area during the 1984 anti-Sikh killings. Born in 1945, Mr. Kumar began his political career through the Congress organisation and was elected a councillor to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 1977. Kumar entered the Lok Sabha from Outer Delhi in 1980. He was elected again in 1991 and 2004, making him a three-term MP. His political career, however, came under increasing scrutiny over allegations relating to the 1984 violence. The Congress denied him a ticket for the 2009 Lok Sabha election. Kumar’s legal battles were part of the long and uneven pursuit of accountability for the 1984 violence. The cases against him, which remained unresolved for decades, were among those revisited after the Union government constituted a Special Investigation Team in 2015 to examine cases that had been closed or had not resulted in convictions.
His death has left the Congress with a political dilemma, ahead of the Punjab Assembly election. The party has maintained a conspicuous silence on his death, with no immediate condolence from its top leadership. Pawan Khera, chairman of the Congress’s media and publicity department, was the only prominent party functionary to publicly condole the death, expressing sympathy to Mr. Kumar’s family. File | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma His death also marks the end of the life of a politician whose career was closely intertwined with the Congress’s organisational dominance in Delhi in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He subsequently became general secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee and emerged as a powerful organiser in the capital. He was associated with the political network around Sanjay Gandhi. Mr. Mr.
