Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today came out in support of his party president's comment on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and said Rahul Gandhi cannot be held responsible for something that took place when he was 13-14 years.
Chidambaram, who is on a visit here, said former prime minister Manmohan Singh had apologised in Parliament as had former party chief Sonia Gandhi for the "terrible thing" (anti-Sikh riots) that took place when the Congress was in power.
Rahul Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to the UK, had told an audience of UK-based parliamentarians and local leaders in London on Friday that the incident was a "very painful tragedy", but disagreed with the view that the Congress was involved.
Chidambaram said, "Congress was in office in 1984, nobody is denying that. A very terrible thing happened in 1984 for which Dr Manmohan Singh has apologised in Parliament. We are not saying that the Congress is absolved. Mrs (Sonia) Gandhi has also apologised and on numerous occasion, some of us have also said what happened in 1984 was a terrible thing."
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