Happy to take responsibility for INC's past mistakes: Rahul to Sikh student

At Brown University, Rahul Gandhi said he was not in politics during the 1984 riots but is willing to take responsibility for Congress's historical wrongs, including towards Sikhs

During his recent US tour, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi participated in an interactive session at the renowned Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, where he answered multiple questions from the audience.

 

One such question to Gandhi was asked by a young Sikh student, related to the 1984 riots and the steps undertaken by the Congress to reconcile with the Sikh community.

 

In the video of the session uploaded on YouTube, the youngster can be seen alleging that there are many “Sajjan Kumars in the Congress party”. Notably, Sajjan Kumar was convicted for his role in orchestrating the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which several Sikhs were killed on the streets of Delhi.

 

 

Responding to the question, Gandhi said that the 1984 incident happened when he was not in the party. However, he added that he was more than happy to take responsibility for everything the party has ever done wrong in its history.

 

Gandhi further added that he has publicly stated multiple times that what happened in the 1980s was wrong.

 

The student also pointed out Gandhi's statement made during an earlier visit to the US, in which he had said the fight he was fighting was about whether Sikhs would be allowed to wear a turban in India or not.

 

In his reply, Gandhi clarified the context in which the statement was made.

“I don’t think that anything scares the Sikhs. The statement I made was that, do we want an India where people are uncomfortable to express their religion?” he said.

 

The Rae Bareli MP added, “I have been to the Golden Temple multiple times, I have an extremely good relationship with the Sikh community in India and a loving relationship with them.”

 

Tagging this segment of the interaction, BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya was quick to attack Gandhi.

 

“‘You haven’t reconciled with the Sikhs’, a young man tells Rahul Gandhi to his face, reminding him of the unfounded fear-mongering he engaged in during his last visit to the US... It is quite unprecedented that Rahul Gandhi is now being ridiculed not just in India, but around the world,” Malviya alleged.  (With inputs from PTI)