New Delhi: Hitting out at the Congress for Sam Pitroda’s comments on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his statement was reflective of his party’s “mentality” and “arrogance”.
Modi said that Pitroda’s comments must not be taken as an individual’s statement, but as an overarching sentiment of the Congress party.
Invoking former PM Rajiv Gandhi once again, he said, “They have done this for years. Rajiv Gandhi had said 'when a big tree falls earth shakes',” referring to the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
“They even made Kamal Nath in-charge of Punjab, now made him MP CM. So don’t take this as an individual's statement,” he told news agency ANI after the rally. The CM of Madhya Pradesh has been accused of being involved in the riots in Delhi where at least 3,000 Sikhs were murdered and several others were displaced.
Modi also claimed that Pitroda’s comments would end up harming Congress’ electoral prospects in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. “This is Congress's arrogance which got them 44 seats (in 2014) and now people of India will ensure that they slip even further,” he said.
"One of the tallest leaders of the Congress said '84 ka danga hua to hua'. Do you know he is very close to the Gandhi family? This leader was very good friend of Rajiv Gandhi and Guru of Congress 'naamdar' (dynast) president,” he said at the rally.
Pitroda, who is a close advisor to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and is the Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress, caused a stir on Thursday after he appeared to have casually dismissed the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots by saying “hua to hua” — if it happened, it happened.
The comments have been condemned by several other leaders of the ruling BJP, including party president Amit Shah and Union Minister Arun Jaitley.
This is not the first time that Pitroda has courted controversy with his comments. In March, he questioned the diplomatic approach of conducting an air strike against Pakistan, which drew the ire of BJP leaders.
“Attack happened in Mumbai also, we could have then reacted and just sent our planes but that is not right approach. According to me that’s not how you deal with world,” Pitroda had said.
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