Rahul ill-informed about 1984 riots: BJP

The BJP said Tuesday that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was ill-informed about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Gandhi said in a TV interview Monday night that while the government tried to stop the violence in 1984, the Gujarat government abetted the anti-Muslim violence in 2002.

"Rahul Gandhi is ill-informed. In 1984, police hardly fired at the rioters," Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley said.

"In Gujarat, 300 rioters died in police firing. Around 65,000 rioters were arrested in Gujarat... More than 4,000 cases have been chargesheeted and hundreds have been convicted," Jaitley said.

"Even the (Gujarat) chief minister has gone through enquiries. What did they (Congress) do in 1984?

"Which Congressman has ended in jail because of 1984?"

Then prime minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards Oct 31, 1984, triggering vicious anti-Sikh violence in New Delhi and elsewhere.

Asked about Gandhi's refusal to apologize for 1984, Jaitley said: "We are not expecting him to go that far. We are just expecting him to have correct lessons of history."

Jaitley's colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad said Gandhi knows "defeat stares at his face".

"Rahul recognizes certain defeat stares at his face," he said, referring to Gandhi's TV interview.