‘A Lot Of Errors Occurred… I Was Not There’: Rahul Gandhi On 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots – News18
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Rahul Gandhi was responding to a query of a Sikh scholar throughout Q&A session at Watson Institute for Worldwide and Public Affairs at Brown College within the US two weeks in the past.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was answering a query at US college. (X)
Chief of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has admitted Congress occasion’s “errors” within the 1984 anti-Sikh riots saying that he was not current when the riots occurred however added that he was completely happy to take accountability for “all the pieces the Congress occasion has ever achieved flawed in its historical past”.
The Congress chief was responding to a query of a Sikh scholar throughout Q&A session at Watson Institute for Worldwide and Public Affairs at Brown College within the US two weeks in the past.
The coed confronted Gandhi over his earlier assertion the place he spoke about India beneath the BJP and questioned whether or not Sikhs could be allowed to put on the kada or tie their turbans beneath BJP rule.
“You create a worry amongst Sikhs about what BJP would appear like, you talked about how politics must be fearless, we don’t simply need to put on kadas, we don’t simply need to tie turbans, we wish freedom of expression, which has not been allowed beneath the Congress Celebration up to now,” he instructed the Lok Sabha LoP.
A courageous Sikh man confronted Rahul Gandhi:Why unfold worry that Sikhs received’t be allowed to put on Turban & Kada beneath BJP?
Congress, which attacked Sikh freedom of speech and shielded 1984 riot accused like Sajjan Kumar, can’t lecture us on rights. pic.twitter.com/kEuVnseUbp
— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) Could 3, 2025
He additional referred to Congress chief Sajjan Kumar, who has been just lately sentenced to life imprisonment in a case associated to killing the father-son duo within the Saraswati Vihar space through the riots, and questioned why the occasion continues to protect such leaders.
“Your occasion lacks the maturity to just accept the errors it has made corresponding to Sajjan Kumar simply now being tried and there are numerous extra like Sajjan Kumar at present sitting within the Congress occasion.”
In response, the senior occasion chief stated that he had questioned he state of non secular freedom in India within the BJP regime.
“The assertion I made was that do we wish an India the place persons are uncomfortable to precise their faith? So far as errors of Congress Celebration are involved, a number of these occurred after I was not there, however I’m more than pleased to take accountability for all the pieces the Congress occasion has ever achieved flawed in its historical past,” he stated.
“I’ve publicly acknowledged that what occurred within the 80s was flawed, I’ve been to the Golden Temple a number of occasions, I’ve extraordinarily good relationships with the Sikh group in India,” Gandhi added.
A video of interplay has additionally went viral on the social media platforms. The session, moderated by Ashutosh Varshney, Director of the Saxena Middle for Modern South Asia at Brown College, was posted by the Watson Institute for Worldwide and Public Affairs on Saturday.
BJP Reacts
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya reacted to the dialog and stated that the Sikh man had reminded Gandhi of the “unfounded fear-mongering” he engaged in throughout his final go to to the US. “It’s fairly unprecedented that Rahul Gandhi is now being ridiculed not simply in India, however world wide,” he stated.
Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa stated, “Rahul Gandhi, who goes overseas and insults India and Sikhs, when it got here to dealing with the reality, backed off citing service at Darbar Sahib. It wasn’t only a video… This was the Sikh group’s expression of ache, anger and cry for justice. What Rahul Gandhi stated was not an apology however a political pretense. His silence, his evasion and his safety of the culprits… that is the true face of the Gandhi household.”
1984 का सिख नरसंहार… एक ऐसा काला अध्याय जिसे कोई सिख कभी भूल नहीं सकता।कांग्रेस और गांधी परिवार की शह पर 8000 से ज़्यादा सिखों को दिल्ली की सड़कों पर ज़िंदा जला दिया गया। गुरु घरों में बेअदबी हुई, माताओं की गोद उजड़ गई और आज राहुल गांधी उस दर्द पर बस ये कहते हैं.. “जो हुआ,… pic.twitter.com/jLEIJgCUpC— Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) Could 4, 2025
Celebration’s nationwide spokesperson RP Singh stated that Rahul Gandhi ought to instantly expel Jagdish Tytler and Kamal Nath from the Congress occasion if he’s genuinely prepared to take accountability for the massacare.
If @RahulGandhi is genuinely prepared to take accountability for the 1984 Sikh bloodbath, step one must be to right away expel Jagdish Tytler and Kamal Nath from the Congress occasion, as each stand accused of involvement within the horrific killings of harmless Sikhs.— RP Singh Nationwide Spokesperson BJP (@rpsinghkhalsa) Could 4, 2025
Rahul Gandhi’s 2024 Comment
Earlier in September 2024, the Congress chief had courted a large row together with his comment on the state of non secular freedom in India, citing the instance of Sikhs, throughout an occasion within the US.
Addressing the members of the Indian diaspora in Virginia, Gandhi had stated that the combat in India is about whether or not an individual, as a Sikh, goes to be allowed to put on a turban in India and would be capable to go to a Gurdwara.
1984 Anti-Sikh Riots
Within the Eighties, the Indira Gandhi authorities suppressed a separatist motion in Punjab led by radical preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The preacher, who was hiding contained in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, was killed when the Indian Military stormed the premises, one of many holiest websites for Sikhism.
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots erupted following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards. Hundreds of Sikhs had been killed, with Delhi being essentially the most affected, adopted by Kanpur.
In 2013, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had tendered an apology within the Parliament for the killings of over 4,000 Sikhs in 1984. Quickly, then occasion chief Sonia Gandhi, too, had expressed regrets over the riots, which was adopted by Rahul Gandhi himself, who stated he shared their sentiments.
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