Modi rakes up anti-Sikh riots to counter Rahul

Asks Rahul Gandhi whether the COngress vice-president was angry over the massacre of Sikhs, in which Congress cadres were accused

Narendra Modi, who faces attacks on Gujarat riots, today raked up the massacre of Sikhs in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi and questioned Rahul Gandhi whether he was angry over these killings in which Congress cadres were accused.

The BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate took a dig at Gandhi saying he had not come here to "shed tears", an apparent reference to the Congress leader's emotional speech in Churu, Rajasthan, where he had spoken about his angst over the assassination of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi.

"I heard about the speech of the shahzada (prince). I want to raise serious questions. He said he was angry when his grandmother was killed. I want to ask the shahzada, is it true that all Congressmen got angry?

"Is it true, that you and your partymen in that anger had burnt thousands of Sikhs alive and not a single person has been punished? I understand your anger at the death of your grandmother, but were you angry, pained at the death of those thousands of Sikhs," Modi said addressing a rally.

Modi claimed that now that the elections were round the corner, Gandhi had rubbed salt into old wounds. He said "anyone who believes in humanity cannot pardon the language used by the Congress Vice-President".

"There was anger in me for long and I suppressed it... Then, I realised this anger is not natural but spread by others," Gandhi had told the gathering in Churu on Wednesday which included a number of Sikhs.

Rahul also narrated an incident where an MLA from Punjab visiting his office recently telling him that had they met 20 years ago he would have killed the Congress Vice President due to anger.

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence in Delhi.