Sajjan Kumar, the rise and fall of a Congress strongman convicted in anti-Sikh riots

Congress’s former Delhi strongman Sajjan Kumar (Express Archive Photo by Virendra Singh) 4 min readNew DelhiAug 21, 2026 02:47 AM IST First published on: Aug 20, 2026 at 04:07 PM IST A three-time Lok Sabha MP, the Congress’s former Delhi strongman Sajjan Kumar was among the prominent party leaders who were involved in the anti-Sikh riots that erupted in the national Capital in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The former Congress leader, who used to be a bakery owner, was considered a close confidant of Sanjay Gandhi and rose through the party ranks after being elected a councillor in 1977. Kumar was among the senior leaders in the Delhi Congress unit and was known for wielding influence in outer Delhi. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980, winning the Outer Delhi seat, a feat he repeated in 1991 and 2004. Kumar, however, resigned from the party in December 2018 after being convicted in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.