Congress not involved in 1984 riots, says Rahul
Cong set to unleash frontal attack on Badals accusing them of ‘underhand deals for votes and playing politics over religion’; Sukhbir promises ‘sensational expose’
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has described the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as a “very painful tragedy” and said he was “100%” for the punishment for those involved in any violence against anybody.
Nearly 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the riots in 1984 following the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards when the Congress government was in power at the Centre.
Rahul, who is on a two-day visit to the UK, told the audience of UK-based parliamentarians and local leaders on Friday that the incident was a tragedy, but disagreed with the view that the Congress was “involved”.
“I think any violence done against anybody is wrong. There are legal processes ongoing in India but as far as I’m concerned anything done that was wrong during that period should be punished and I would support that 100%,” he said.
“I have no confusion in my mind about that. It was a tragedy, it was a painful experience. You say that the Congress was involved in that, I don’t agree with that. Certainly there was violence, certainly there was tragedy.”
Later, during an interactive session at the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) when he was again asked about the anti-Sikh riots, Rahul said: “When Mr Manmohan Singh spoke, he spoke for all of us. As I said earlier, I am a victim of violence and I understand what it feels.” He was referring to the killing of his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE in 1991.
“So, I am against any sort of violence against anybody on this planet. I get disturbed when I see anybody being hurt. So, I condemn that 100 per cent and I am 100 per cent for punishment for those involved in any violence against anybody. That’s crystal clear,” said Rahul.
He said that people, who have not had violence inflicted upon them, think that violence is what one sees in movies.
“That’s not what it is. I have seen people who I loved very much being killed. I have also seen the person (Prabhakaran) who killed my father being killed. “When I saw Prabhakaran lying on the beaches in Jaffna (Lanka), when I saw him being humiliated, the way he was, I felt sorry for him, because I saw my father in his place and his children in my place,” he added.
“So, when you are being hit by violence, when you understand it, it has a completely different impact on you.” Rahul said most people do not understand violence which is a horrible thing.
As far as I’m concerned, anything wrong that was done during that period should be punished and I would support that 100%. RAHUL GANDHI, AICC chief
In a state where politics thrives on dare for a dare, the rumblings within the Congress and outside it have been that it did not take on the Akalis on coming to power after 10 years in political wilderness. Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s ‘no-vendetta’ line meant no skeletons were to tumble out of the closet of the previous regime.
But the report of Justice Ranjit Singh Commission set up by Amarinder to probe sacrilege incidents of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing on Sikh protesters at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura is damning for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as it threatens its very foundation of Panthic politics.
The Congress is all set to launch a frontal attack on the Akalis based on report’s indictment of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and SAD chief, Sukhbir Badal, for the Akal Takht’s pardon for dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim in September 2015. The report states this had a ‘devastating effect and may have played a catalyst for sacrilege incidents’.
The panel also says though there were enough hints of involvement of dera followers in the sacrilege incidents, they were only caught after the change of guard in the state.
The report has put ex-CM Badal, too, in the dock for the police firing, saying he either allowed the then Punjab police chief Sumedh Singh Saini to fire
at protesters at Kotkapura or was “too helpless” to stop him from doing so.
CONGRESS LINES UP BADAL-BAITERS
In the state’s competitive panthic politics, the report has given the Congress a handle to outmanoeuvre the Akalis who have been targeting it after Operation Bluestar and 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The party has lined up its firebrand Badal-baiters to lead the charge and may telecast the
debate live to pin them down, whether or not they boycott it.
“We will expose how the Badals made underhand deals for votes and played politics over religion. Religious faith is above votes. They are now bribing and intimidating witnesses who appeared before the panel. They made the Akal Takht a puppet for meeting their political ends. When the dera did not vote for them in 2007 polls, they went after the sect head and made the Akal Takht issue an edict against him. When they wanted dera votes, they got him pardoned,” Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, one of the speakers lined up by the party, told HT.
He added, “The previous government ordered police firing that killed two. Yet no heads rolled. Saini was only transferred. What action was taken against him? Did he give firing orders without Badal’s permission. Or orders came from the top. It is not political vendetta. We are answerable to people.”
Other than Dhillon, minister Sukhjinder Randhawa, who the Akalis are accusing of coercing witnesses to appear before the panel, says he will give Akalis a befitting reply in the House.
According to Congress insiders, the action taken report to be tabled in the House on Monday, along with the panel’s report, and the concluding speech of Amarinder will deal the final blow on the Akalis. When it comes to harnessing panthic issues, Amarinder can give others a lesson or two. He had resigned from Congress after the Operation Bluestar and has been espousing the cause of Sikhs, including forcing the BJP regime at the Centre to offer compensation to Jodhpur detainees of Operation Bluestar recently.
The Badals now bribing and intimidating witnesses who appeared before the panel. They made the Akal Takht a puppet for meeting their political ends. KUSHALDEEP SINGH DHILLON, Faridkot Congress MLA