No parallel between 1984 and Gujarat riots, says Badal

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Thursday said it was wrong to draw a parallel between the killing of innocents in 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Talking to media persons here, over 250 km from Chandigarh, Badal said the Gujarat violence in 2002 took place after the killing of people in Godhra town whereas the Sikhs' carnage in Delhi and other places in 1984 was at the behest of the then Congress government at the centre.

"Riots (like in Gujarat) are always a result of clash between two communities, whereas what happened in 1984 was a planned execution of Sikhs as the then union government had used all its might to kill Sikhs by targeting them," Badal said.

"The central government had deliberately allowed the killings of Sikhs to take place by becoming a mute spectator to this dastardly act," he said, trying to defend the Gujarat government headed by Narendra Modi for the 2002 killings in Gujarat.

Badal said that mobs led by Congress leaders had killed the innocent Sikhs in full public view, and added that several inquiry panels have indicted the Congress leaders for their role in the 1984 massacre.

"Despite the evidence, the culprits of this heinous crime were still roaming free. Instead of taking any action against them, the Congress party has been rewarding them with the coveted posts," Badal said.

Thousands of Sikhs were killed in various parts of India, especially in Delhi, in November 1984 in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.