As the BJP sought to counter the INDIA bloc rally at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi of “deliberately choosing” the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots to hold its protest.
Speaking in Chandigarh after launching a slew of projects, Shah said, “In 1984, Rajiv Gandhi (who became Prime Minister after the assassination of Indira Gandhi that triggered the anti-Sikh riots) made a statement that when a big tree falls, the ground shakes. Today, his son Rahul Gandhi has organised a major rally in Delhi on the very same day to rub salt into the wounds of the riot victims.”
BJP president Nitin Nabin too slammed the Congress over the INDIA bloc rally.
Addressing a ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao Padyatra’ in Haryana’s Rohtak, Nabin said, “The Congress should have sought atonement and offered an apology for the acts committed against the Sikh brethren. Instead, it has come out to stage a protest.”
He said because the Congress did not receive the mandate, it is “disappointed” and “frustrated” and is “blaming the constitutional institutions for this”.
He dared the Congress leaders to “first put an end to the “rajtantra” (monarchy) “centred around Rahul Gandhi” and establish democracy within their party.
In Chandigarh, Shah told a gathering that the BJP had initially assumed that Rahul Gandhi might not have been aware of November 1’s historical significance, given his age at the time of the 1984 riots and “lack of interest in history”.
But the Congress, Shah said, insisted on holding the rally on November 1 despite the appeals to reschedule it.
He said the BJP had publicly urged the Congress to avoid November 1, 2 and 3, citing the sentiments of the Sikh community. “Thousands of Sikhs were burnt alive. Many were forced to leave their homes, children were orphaned, women widowed and houses burnt,” he said, adding that the country and Punjab would never forget the violence.
Invoking Gandhi’s slogan of “mohabbat ki dukaan”, Shah said the Congress, by choosing November 1 as its rally date, had only hatred to offer, not affection.
“If the Congress wishes to hold a grand rally on the dark days of the massacre, then Rahulji, nothing except hatred can be taken away from your ‘mohabbat ki dukaan’,” he said.
Reminding the gathering that the Narendra Modi government reopened cases related to the 1984 riots after coming to power in 2014, Shah said, “India had never witnessed, and would never witness again, riots of such a nature instigated by a political party.”
He also accused the Congress of disregarding the concerns of Delhi’s traders, who, he said, had repeatedly appealed to Gandhi to postpone the rally because this was peak Diwali shopping season.
He said traders had written letters and held press conferences seeking a change of date, saying that the rally could disrupt business during one of the most important trading periods of the year.
“Three to four times they held press conferences, wrote letters and pleaded, asking them to hold the rally after Diwali. But they (the Congress) insisted on holding it on the very day associated with the massacre of Sikhs,” he said.
Warning the Congress of electoral consequences, Shah said, “In the last three elections, you failed to open your account in Delhi. Remember my words, even in the next three elections, your account is not going to open there,” he said.
He also took a swipe at the Opposition’s “public impeachment” of the Chief Election Commissioner Saturday. “If you want to become Prime Minister, remain in the ‘mock Parliament’ for your entire life. Your number is never going to come,” he said.
Shah accused the Opposition of spreading misinformation, creating anarchy and disrupting parliamentary proceedings.
Hina Rohtaki is a Special Correspondent at The Indian Express, bas... Read More
