Cong backs Rahul over remarks contrasting 1984, 2002 riots

Congress today fully backed Rahul Gandhi on his remarks on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and on issues of transparency and corruption while the opposition attacked him on his views in an interview to a TV channel.
Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said while the post- Godhra court cases had to be transferred from Gujarat for justice, a large number of convictions did take place in the anti-Sikh riots cases.
"Criminal law does not make a distinction between common people and the leaders of political parties... 482 convictions took place in the 1984 riots. The political career of a number of very senior Congress leaders was affected (because of the riots). Apart from apology, there has been a reconciliation for the last 20-30 years," he said.

Contrasting that with the 2002 Gujarat riots, Singhvi said that for the first time in the country, court cases relating to the riots were transferred to Maharashtra, which is the "clearest vote of no confidence" in the Modi government.
"This was done to ensure an impartial, objective, fair, dependable" outcome which, it was felt, could not be had in the Modi-led Gujarat," he added.
In an interview to a television channel, Gandhi had yesterday said that while the Gujarat government was "involved" in the 2002 riots, the Congress government had tried to stop the anti-Sikh riots.
BJP and Akali Dal have slammed Gandhi for his remarks contrasting the Gujarat riots with the anti-Sikh riots. While SAD leader Naresh Gujaral alleged that Congress had shielded individuals who were involved in the "carnage" against Sikhs, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley has said Gandhi was "ill informed" on the Gujarat riots.

Singhvi said, "He (Gandhi) is quite unlike a number of persons in our political system, who aspire for big office but are habituated to speaking with a forked tongue, who are self- centred and have illusions of infallibility.