Khalistan supporters attempt to disrupt Rahul Gandhi’s event in London

Gandhi, in his interaction with the UK-based Parliamentarians and local leaders in London on Friday, said that the Congress had no role in the 1984 riots that followed after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. “I have no confusion in my mind about that. It was a tragedy, it was a painful experience. You say that the Congress party was involved in that, I don’t agree with that. Certainly there was violence, certainly there was tragedy,” he said.

In 2005, Congress leader and the former prime minister Manmohan Singh had apologised in Parliament to “the Sikh community” and the “whole nation” on behalf of “the government, on behalf of the entire people of this country” for the 1984 riots, saying, “I bow my head in shame that such a thing took place.” Incidentally, during an interaction at the London School of Economics (LSE) later Friday, when again questioned about the anti-Sikh riots, Rahul too referred to Singh’s apology, saying the former PM had spoken for “all of us”.

While Congress leader P Chidambaram came to Gandhi’s rescue saying “we are not absolving the Congress,” Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal accused him of trying to protect the Congress leaders involved in the “genocide”. “Rahul Gandhi has rubbed salt into the wounds of Sikh kaum (community). It shows the thinking of Gandhi towards the Sikh community,” he said. The Congress’ Punjab unit defended Gandhi’s comments and lambasted the Akalis, alleging they were “deliberately distorting” his remarks.

Over 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the riots in 1984. So far, 11 committees, commissions or teams have investigated the clashes. In January this year, the Supreme Court constituted another three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-investigate 186 of the cases.